What is a Digital Experience and why your company needs it

What is a digital experience?

Before the digital era, businesses had a more passive way of thinking about how customers could interact with their brands and experience them.

Most of the focus in a branding strategy was on crucial points:

advertisement: that could sell the concept of the experience;

physical stores and other sales points: where customers would have the chance to consume products and services.

The biggest mistake companies still do today is trying to emulate that same plan in a completely different world.

They think the connection between brand and audience only happens when it is actively purchasing something.

In the mid-1990s and even the early 2000s, there was a common question in quizzes and surveys: how much time do you spend online? This question doesn’t make sense anymore.

We are always online, whether in front of a PC or, even more, with a phone in our hands or pocket. And if we are 24/7 in the digital world, we are always ready to interact with a business or product.

A digital experience is the sum of all online interactions between the customer and the brand. It is part of the buyer’s journey — from discovery to conversion — but it is much more than that.

While investing in digital experiences, you are not only thinking about selling but also creating a solid image and connection with your target audience.

It is a cohesive and well-structured plan that makes any interaction meaningful and memorable. This includes:

a conversation in social media;

offering an app that helps your buyer persona deal with some of their pains;

a browsing experience that makes an online store delightful to use;

the hype for new products that generate excitement;

the way you do customer service;

content that informs and creates identification;

covering a live experience that is important and engaging for your audience.

Therefore, a digital experience is all about branding. It involves how you develop an image, a voice, and a body for your company.

This should resonate with your customer and engage them in new interactions each day, creating a powerful competitive advantage.

What are the benefits of a digital experience?

How exactly does a digital experience strategy help your business stand out from competitors online?

The key is identification, differentiation, and presence. Let’s see some of these benefits.

Sticking to your audience’s mind

An important thing about great user interactions online is that they have a lot more potential to be remembered than passive content.

When the whole experience of getting to know and exploring your brand is powerful enough, you consolidate it in people’s minds — even when they’re not exactly buying something.

Think about all the brands you know and have interacted with, but you never purchased a product from. That’s the power of a good digital experience. That’s how you become known.

Making conversions cheaper

Good digital strategies always make conversions cheaper. We could think of this interaction as an engagement powerhouse.

When your audience has to be active to consume content, they invest more of themselves in the relationship.

This means you move leads faster towards conversion and get more visibility. Referrals, recommendations, social sharing, page retention — all of these benefits from digital experiences can boost your SEO.

Creating a solid user base

When an experience is good, the user always comes for more — this is a golden rule of UX (user experience).

It means a well-done digital experience can make them browse a website to feel that sensation again. They may want to talk to your brand and participate in live events just to be part of it.

With a more solid user base in your digital ecosystem, you gather more information about them. With that data, you can improve the strategy itself and obtain useful insights to improve products and services.

Turning buyers into promoters

We all want to share with people we care about the good experiences we had. That’s human nature. So why not use it in your favor?

Brands that offer engaging interactive content go viral easier. Thus, a customer that would purchase a product not only comes back for more but also starts influencing other potential buyers.

What are other companies doing?

The companies that already understood digital experiences’ power in their Digital Marketing plans are standing out in the market.

This becomes clear when we do some research about what they are doing — the goals, the means, the tools, the approaches.

To learn more about how digital experiences are transforming customer-brand relationships, we’ll show you some examples!