How digital-first CX drives engagement and loyalty

In the digital era, customers expect the brands they love and buy from to meet them on the platform of their choice – and to be available on that platform whenever required.

In response, many businesses now have an online presence that acts as the “front door” of the organization and customer’s journey. In fact, when we asked our network members in the APAC region how they are working to improve customer engagement in 2023, 56 percent said they have taken a digital-first approach to the customer journey.

Technological capabilities however, mean that digital-first journeys can now be offered regardless of the business’s physical presence or heritage. For example, even quick service restaurant McDonald’s now offers a digital front door option to diners in many of its global markets.

This article explains the digital-first customer journey, how organizations are creating holistic and digital-first journeys, the role of orchestration and the benefits for organizations and their customers.

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What is a digital front door?

Before the internet paved the way for websites, mobile apps and social media, the front door of a business had to be its physical front door.

As omnichannel capabilities continue to develop, organizations are now able to create new points of customer contact and engagement – and customers now expect this as standard, regardless of whether a brand is digitally native or not.

Tarv Nijjar, global senior director of CX transformation at McDonald’s, says: “When McDonald’s launched, the front door of the restaurant was the front door of the restaurant. In the world we live in today, the front door can actually be the customer’s mobile phone.”

Every customer journey at McDonald’s ends in a physical interaction, but customers now have a choice in how their individual journey starts and the touchpoints it covers, for example ordering via the McDonald’s app for curb-side collection.

Nijjar continues: “It is about looking at all the different types of customer journeys that exist. For McDonald’s that might be the traditional front counter order in a restaurant, self-service ordering at a restaurant kiosk, as well as drive-through orders and delivery. It all then links to the customer’s loyalty account to redeem and gain points.”

A digital front-door is about convenience and accessibility for customers and it can be applied to both public as well as private sector organizations in any industry, from retail and banking to healthcare.

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Creating holistic, digital-first journeys

The result is non-linear customer journeys, which begin online and then allow customers to engage with an organization on their own terms and in their own time across all available channels.

In response, organizations must offer the range of channels required and review the demand for each frequently, particularly as Gen Z turns away from emails and voice support in favor of video, mobile commerce (mcommerce) apps, social media and virtual assistants.

Philippe Mercier, vice-president of APAC analytics, AI and digital for NICE, explains: “This new age omnichannel experience allows brands to capture and understand the intents and behaviors of customers as they interact with the brand.

“Consumers today have a preference when it comes to choosing the channels they use to engage on. Therefore, it is important that brands are able to support omnichannel experiences that cater to all the needs of their customers.”

Research conducted by NICE has found that around 80 percent of customers start with a digital entry point, according to Mercier.

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Best practice for digital-first CX

The creation of new digital channels requires journey architects to understand customer needs and preferences in order to secure the targeted engagement.

This requires voice of the customer (VOC) feedback from multiple sources and data analytics to evaluate existing channels and how they interlink.

Sharing his advice, CX author and consultant Chip Bell says: “As the customer has developed a desire for effortless and faster service, more ease of access and all those other things, we have moved lots of new technology into the CX space.

“This made CX more sophisticated and given us better tools. We have become good at high-tech, but now I see we are on the threshold to transitioning into being more high-touch and humanistic in how we serve customers, and more concerned for the emotional side not just the quantitative side.”

According to CX Network’s own research, 73 percent of companies invested in omnichannel to support self-service, meaning cohesive self-service journeys are required for channel containment as well as overall customer satisfaction with self-service and their wider loyalty to the brand.

One technology company implemented the cloud-native platform CXone Expert from NICE, to provide a smart start to the customer journey with access to the right content and resolutions in self-service. It set a target to use digital channels for 85 percent of support journeys and exceeded this by more than 10 percent, increasing engagement and lowering cost to serve.

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Managing digital-first journeys with orchestration

For the organization behind the door, the final piece of the puzzle is orchestration of the digital-first journey, whether it is a sales, support or other journey type. This is sophisticated but it brings huge benefits because when a customer pauses or ends their journey the organization can use prompts on other channels and technologies to regain the customer’s interest.
The below diagram illustrates how a customer on a travel website may initiate and progress a non-linear, digital-first orchestrated journey.

As the diagram shows, orchestration allows a customer to pursue any channel combination in any order, without hitting a dead end or facing unnecessary frustration.

Where a customer does not complete the journey in a single session, they can be re-engaged.

Do orchestrated, digital-first journeys work?

In short, yes.

To create an omnichannel journey that builds advocacy and loyalty, barriers in the customer journey must be eliminated. According to Mercier these can include missing support channels and disconnected experiences with the most frustrated customers are more likely to abandon their cart before completion of the purchase.

Cart abandonment caused significant issues in 2022. Statista found that across all industries globally, cart abandonment rates ranged from 79 percent to 98 percent that year. The travel industry had the highest rates, with cruise and ferry companies seeing up to 98 percent cart abandonment and airlines 90 percent.

Window shopping in travel is commonplace, but in retail cart abandonment signals a wider issue.

Knowing what a customer has encountered on their journey and what prompted them to abandon their cart, allows the organization to re-engage the customer and re-start their journey.

Mercier says: “Brands that have a comprehensive omnichannel strategy see the greatest success. They are able to achieve higher customer acquisition when they can connect with their prospects at the very start of their digital journey and offer a seamless experience from there.”
According to Forrester, the ability to proactively engage with customers as they consult a website or mobile app can increase the conversion rates by six percent.

For more on digital-first customer journeys, download the CX Network research report Digital-first omnichannel for modern customer journeys.