Client-centric digital growth strategy for success

In 2019, online shopping firstovertook a major part of U.S. retail. Then, Covid-19 lockdowns triggered unprecedented e-commerce growth—widely recognized as “the moment that changed everything.”

For businesses, the crucial response to these consumer behavior shifts is a “digital transformation.” This means more than a mere “lift and shift”digitization of existing processes. In fact, a common, critical mistake for companies is jumping into front-edge digitalization technologies while missing the opportunity to fundamentally re-evaluate their business model and their customers’ needs. To succeed, a growth-directed transformation strategy must targetcustomer obsession: consistently exceeding expectations throughout the customer journey.

What are these expectations?

● 40% of consumers and 56% of B2B customers would pay more for a better experience and would not buy from a business again if their experience had been poor.

● 80% of consumers abandon purchases because of an unsatisfying on-site search experience.

● Over 80% of shoppersresearch purchases online before heading to a store.

● 75% of online customersexpect help within 5 minutes.

The message is clear: Today’s customer is highly sophisticated, and companies must evolve to meet customer needs. Theymustre-imaginetheir customer experience model,rethink theirtalent and organizational structure, and deploydisruptive,responsivetechnologies.

Customer experience model

What does a re-imagined customer experience look like?Look at Heathrow Airport, whichachievedan industry-leading business transformation as its passenger volume roared back to >75% of pre-pandemic levels, tripling to 61.6 million in 2022.Heathrowfully redesigned and migrated its website,addingreal-time interactive wayfinding technology, anin-terminal digital shopping portal, a food and beverage pre-order service, and an app that records and analyzes passenger feedback on service issue resolutions. The airport’saverage order value rose by 1.4%, its revenue by 29.2% over the previous year, and its conversion rate by 38.9%. Customer satisfaction has bounced back to pre-pandemic levels or above.

Another striking example of customer obsession isDomino’s Pizza. Itstransformation focused on enhanced customer experience, sophisticated data analytics, and disruptive technological infrastructure. Domino’s introduced an integrated digital platform for online ordering, delivery tracking, and customer feedback. Customer experience and satisfaction improved significantly: Online orders now comprise more than 70% of total U.S. sales,and average delivery time is under 30 minutes. Personalized marketing boosted same-store sales growth by 3.9% in 2020. And in 2018 Domino’s surpassed Pizza Hut as the largest pizza delivery company internationally, with a total market share of 18.6%.

Talent and organizational structure

Rethinking and retooling the organizational structure must be supported by a carefully planned digital growth marketingstrategy,aimed at attracting and retaining customers.

Traditional marketing has evolved dramatically: Today, every client touchpoint is a thoughtfully curated,personalized experience moment—an opportunity to educate andinform customers and enhance the customer journey. Teams and tactics must be optimized to deliver on those requirements.

Today, marketing is no longera cost center, but a revenue center. As go-to-market strategist Christina Del Villar writes,marketing is“the one-stop shop where everyone can turn to figure out how the company will meet its revenue targets, where the company is on those goals, and options to implement if the company is behind.” Simply put, marketing fuels business growth by strategically acquiring, engaging, and upselling customers at the lowest possible customer acquisition cost.

Other restructuring strategies that can help build revenue and act as powerful differentiators:

● Articulate and adopt a sales model that offers a range of experiences across the customer preference spectrum—from fullydigital through sales-assisted to sales-led.

● For B2B solution implementation, consider self serve learning modules for Do-it-Yourself (DIY) customers to fully-outsourced implementation and professional services.

● Boost retention through a customer success strategy that prioritizes upselling and cross-selling while continuously deepening the customer relationship.

3. Disruptive, responsive technology

Transformative technology deployment doesn’t require net-new developments in products, services, or business models. Aspiring disrupters can leverage existing technologies or collaborate with tech leaders to create and implement their transformation. Take global healthcare giant Cigna, which hires for 4,000 jobs daily on average, worldwide.

With talent leak costing U.S. companies some trillion dollars yearly, Cigna needed to effectively communicate its open positions internally. It partnered with HR tech unicorn Phenom to build an AI platform that collects data on employees’ strengths, skills, role tenure, and career growth aspirations and delivers tailored internal job recommendations.

Cigna calls it a “game changer.” With the new system, 60% of its workforce have posted profiles on the platform, projected to 100% by year’s end. The company now fills 65% of job postings internally, strengthening its skills base and bolstering its retention rate.

The bottom line: By placing the customer experience front and center, restructuring the organization to support customer needs end-to-end, and deploying disruptive technologies, businesses can differentiatetheir brand, vastly improve productivity and profitability, and help maintain a competitive edge into the future.