Technology is ever changing and each year brings a previously unprecedented pace of innovation. As Sir Martin Sorrell recently pointed out “Technological change isn’t just a constant: it’s accelerating. Technology will never again change as slowly as it does today."* New and disruptive technologies are no longer a surprise, they are becoming the norm.
The internet is no exception and the web we have now will not be the same web we are using in a year’s time. The challenge for all organisations, regardless of sector, is to keep on top of and plan for new technologies and how they will affect the customer experience. We have all seen the cautionary tales of those organisations, such as Kodak and Blockbuster, that failed to adapt to digital and watched their resulting demise. Even those organisations who currently have a good grasp of digital must stay agile and adaptable in order to ensure they ride the wave of innovation and don’t become engulfed by it.
A new wave of innovation:
There are a swathe of new technologies on the horizon, ready to disrupt how organisations approach their digital strategy. Some, like personalisation and geolocation are already here, ready to be taken advantage of and being used well by forward thinking organisations and their marketers. Others like wearable tech, crypto currencies and drones are becoming available but have yet to hit mainstream usage. Regardless of how well established these innovations are, organisations need to be aware of them, know their potential and be prepared to alter their digital strategy to accommodate them. Consumers are increasingly living a ‘connected life’, constantly in touch with technology whether at work or play. They are coming to expect that their online experience will be as stimulating and engaging as their offline life, sometimes more so, and have little patience for websites that fail to meet their expectations.
This new wave of innovation brings with it challenges to adapt to, but also huge opportunities for organisations to make their online offering an experience that is both simple and fully engaging. Digital marketers who can foresee how best to make use of these new innovations will be in a strong position to ensure their own websites fit with the new age of the internet.
The rise of the Experience Web:
Within retail, the current website experience is often an involved process, with multiple steps before a consumer can find what they are looking for and ultimately complete a purchase. Customers currently have to go to a website, search for a product and, assuming the website has a fully effective search facility, find the right item. Once they have selected the correct item the purchasing process can begin. Often this means adding the item to a cart, creating an account, adding payment and shipping details and completing the purchase. The customer then waits for the product delivery, usually between 3-5 days, sometimes longer. In such a complex and drawn out process there are multiple opportunities for the retailer to lose the sale. Each step added increases the chances of a consumer changing their mind, becoming bored or frustrated and ultimately not completing the transaction.
The core issue for marketers now is how to make our own websites both a simple and enjoyable experience.
Put your customer head on! By removing elements of the experience that causes friction, we can reduce the potential for frustration and lost customers. Organisations need to look at eliminating the need for consumers to constantly enter their details in to each website they visit. Both by using personalisation tools that instantly recognise previous visitors, but also by allowing social login - access to websites through “identity providers” which hold all of a customer’s details, including shipping and payment, and instantly populate this information - all without the purchaser needing to be a previous customer.
Consumers are coming to expect more from websites and are less and less likely to be patient with a site that doesn’t make it easy for them to buy. In the future the Experience Web will mean consumers will expect an instant, smooth and simple process anytime they are online. It is easy to stick your head in the sand and say that this type of experience only matters for retail or ecommerce sites. The simple fact is, it doesn’t. Optimising the web experience is essential. New situational and contextual data tools can help digital marketers in any sector ensure the messages customers are being shown are relevant to them and their current situation. Organisations must take advantage of each new innovation as they occur to eliminate friction and make online experiences as simple as offline. Almost instant delivery by a drone sounds futuristic but is already being prototyped by organisations like Amazon and all retailers need to be aware of the possibilities these technologies can offer.
Adding benefits:
Along with the merging of the online and offline experience, there is the possibility of making online an experience with added benefits. As personalisation tools advance, sites will need to become personalised to such an extent that customers are not only remembered from previous visits and recommended items based on past purchases, but also shown items that will suit their body type, colouring and even personality. The website itself will become an online ‘personal shopper’ remembering preferences and recommending items based on multiple criteria. Marketers who can deliver these kind of optimal shopping experiences will have truly grasped the potential that the new Experience Web will offer.
The future web:
We are just at the start of the journey towards the Experience Web and the possibilities it will offer. In the future wearable technology like Google Glass will be used to look at an item someone else owns or is using, identify it, locate it online and quickly complete a purchase. The possibility of moving from ‘1-click’ to ‘1-blink’ purchasing is not as far off as it may seem. Demands for simplicity and convenience will ensure that the internet and the new wave of technologies continue to disrupt and alter all industries.
As marketers our responsibility is to make sure that our organisations keep pace with the changing technology landscape and grasp the exciting opportunities that a true “Experience Web” will offer us all.
By Maria McCann, Field Marketing Manager at Acquia.com
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