Dive Brief:
- More than half of consumers said they will switch to another brand if they are unsatisfied with a company’s digital user experience, according to a Publicis Sapient survey released Tuesday. Publicis Sapient surveyed 7,600 people across Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- Poor UX was the No. 1 cause of unsatisfactory digital experiences across all six industries covered in the survey. The exact share of customers dissatisfied with their user experiences varied by industry, ranging from 27% of healthcare patients to 19% of consumer packaged goods shoppers.
- Globally, nearly 3 in 5 consumers said they wanted clearer descriptions of products and services. One-quarter are seeking more seamless transactions, and just shy of 1 in 5 demand greater personalization.
Dive Insight:
The demand for better digital experiences is universal, but there is no single approach to UX that can solve the problem for every business.
Best practices vary by industry and need to be further refined based on each company’s audience, according to Sara Alloy, North America head of retail experience at Publicis Sapient. Businesses should also ensure their UX is functional in every format, from mobile to desktop.
Leaders must understand what the customer journey looks like for each channel customers use to access their services, Alloy said. That knowledge provides the foundation for a consistent and responsive experience no matter how customers prefer to connect with a brand.
“Well thought out and tested navigation and branding are some of the most important things a company can prioritize for an exceptional experience, so that content is just as easy to find and use on desktop and mobile,” Alloy said in an email to CX Dive.
Understanding your customer is key to clearer content, according to Chad Storlie, director analyst at Gartner. He said that most customers don't necessarily want better descriptions — they want a brand’s products and services to be so intuitive they don’t need descriptions at all.
“But, even with the best and most intuitive products and services, content is still vital,” Storlie said in an email to CX Dive. “So, organizations need to interview and understand what customers mean when they say ‘clearer content.’”
The key to understanding what customers want from digital content is to work backward, Storlie said. Businesses should analyze their most successful content, figure out what made it stand out to customers and then use that insight to shape future efforts.
Expectations regarding experience will differ from customer to customer, and internal analysis is only one step. Alloy noted that companies should make sure they meet accessibility standards, regularly collect customer feedback and continuously develop their digital experiences to ensure they are at their peak.
