All of us are experiencing a technological revolution like never before. It is transforming how we live, work, and connect completely. It is no different for businesses either.
Every business leader has felt the impact of the digital uprising, which has blurred the lines between physical, digital, and biological experiences. Be it the financial sector or retail, the introduction of digital media has reshaped the way businesses design their narratives, engage with customers, develop products, and look to generating value for the overall economy.
Every legacy business that came in the pre-Internet era are now facing this challenge – How do we embrace digital media to improve audience engagement? Inability to adapt to this new environment which centers around unlearning accepted paradigms, their way of thinking and doing business is something that holds them back.
Meeting Consumer Expectations
To meet consumer expectations, legacy brands have begun their journey in evolving their methods of thinking and behavior. The changes made, in many respects for such brands are now a matter of survival. The shift in consumer expectations towards technological progression has replaced the transactional economy with an economy of relationships. Consumers today are accustomed to quick, predictive experiences that are data-driven.
The key is to change their value proposition that will enable legacy businesses to thrive in this new space. Adapting to engagements, modern marketing practices, and levering consumer data are going to be the pillars for companies in this digital age.
To be sure that you direct the transformation in the right direction, it is essential to know what your customers expect of you. Why not create a free online survey to find out? Shortlist a few relevant questions that you can incorporate when you create an online survey.
This certainly broadcasts that your business has stepped into the digital age of customer engagement.
Consumer-centric Delivery is Always a Winner
Every business looks at empathy being its fundamental innovation driver. But most legacy organizations are structured in divisional silos which do act as an obstruction and pulls them away from the very customers that they wish to serve.
When it comes to customer experience, businesses need to understand their needs, challenges, and lifestyle. Companies need to utilize customer surveys and find out what is it that’s going to make them stick with your brand.
The next step is to creatively communicate your value-addition in an innovative fashion through digital media. Within your framework, you will see that a lot of customers may be struggling with certain aspects of your business – it could handle transactions, searching for products or just even if it’s a service related question. Digital transformation can help legacy businesses simplify customer issues, especially ones that they are unable to resolve on their own.
Earning Trust is Essential with Digital Access
Digitization has wholly democratized the buying experience. This has been advantageous for impatient consumers who have now become empowered. Even ten years ago, audience engagement was still a real-world, passive, one-way, analog experience.
Post the digital media explosion; several omni-digital channels have opened up possibilities of two-way communication. This shift to new media transforms customer buying behavior too. What mainly takes place is that customers now are more inclined to create and share via digital communities. This fulfills their desire to remain connected through a secure platform while they switch between multiple devices and channels.
This movement allows legacy businesses to develop that essential relationship with their loyal customer base using digital channels. The idea is to treat them as friends and well-wishers and less as consumers.
Strike the Perfect Balance Between Machine and Human Intervention
It is essential to know the fine lines of dependency on machines. When it comes to data and algorithms, the machine often makes better evaluations in comparison to humans. However, you cannot altogether remove the human touch as that is necessary to keep things in perspective.
It is clear that new age technologies are not that great at gratifying social drives; human touchpoints are the real asset when it comes to high-level, compassionate social skills. At this juncture, businesses must strike the perfect balance between the application of technology that is good at assessments and leaving the social engagement with the audience in the capable hands of humans.
Re-examine Value Propositions
Legacy organizations need to understand if their value proposition is relevant in this digital age at all. Take the example of Netflix that was initially a DVD rental, and Amazon was a bookstore. With time, both organizations evolved through the digital revolution by embracing new avenues. They pivoted to their success by developing new services and products but keeping them in line with their core organizational values.
The fundamental aspect of technology is that it moves very fast, sometimes in ways, that is difficult to predict. In this age of smartphones, every customer is looking for connection within a smart city. The prospect of instantaneous data flow increases integration with every type of consumer product, thus opening new avenues of value propositions across sectors.
Bringing it All in Sync
Be it embracing digital media through intersections of technology and humanity; it is essential that all vertical is in sync. This is the very definition of a successful business. The mantra is continued improvement encompassing customer centricity with seamless and swift evolution.
The journey to innovation for many legacy businesses has been a somewhat trial and error route. Through various ideas, the brands that we’ve engaged with for so long have adapted to the digital ecosystem. This has brought in immense value, made the legacy brands extremely accessible and integrated with their audience lives while helping them to thrive in this new economy.
Author Bio:
Angela White is an ed-tech enthusiast with a passion for writing for the consumer market in the areas of product research and marketing using eLearning softwares. Having a knack for writing and an editorial mindset, she has been writing for ProProfs: a brand that’s known for creating delightfully smart tools such as ProProfs Survey Maker.
