Companies Embrace Digital
September 9, 2021 • 4 minute read

4 simple ways companies have embraced digital to increase customer satisfaction

2021 is a highly digitized world. Consumers of all ages expect services and information at their fingertips. Whether it’s instant messaging, streaming or looking up random facts, users have an expectation to do what they want when they want. This expectation applies to businesses too, and has huge implications on the success of brands. In fact, companies that have higher digital maturity reported 45% revenue growth compared to 15% for lower maturity companies.

The terms “digital maturity” or “digital transformation” can appear vague and intimidating, especially for those expected to lead these ventures within their companies. Taking a step back and seeing real world examples of this can be a useful exercise. Read on to find some familiar examples of how different industries have embraced digital transformations to help understand what this term really means.

Electronic Check Upload

Checks have been used in the United States since the 1700s. Despite our world being almost unrecognizable 300 years later, this form of payment still persists. Although useful for paying bills or sending large sums of cash, the actual process of cashing checks is a pain. Who wants to take time out of their day and stand in line at the bank just to cash a check?

Thankfully banks and financial institutions, as part of their digital strategy, found a better way. In the last decade or so, banks have allowed you to use your smartphone to upload images of your checks and cash them in your account. Quick, secure and from the convenience of your own home. Although not appropriate for checks of large amounts, it’s certainly convenient for those birthday gifts from grandma!

Online Insurance Applications

In past years, applying for insurance (whether this was car, house, or health insurance) was a difficult and stressful experience. Buyers would either have to go in person to an office or speak to agents over the phone to make applications and receive quotes. This elongated process made shopping around for deals almost impossible unless you had the patience of a saint.

Leading insurance providers recognized this and sought a better, more digital first, approach. Instead of a manual process that relies on human agents, applicants can now apply for whichever insurance policy they need at the click of a button. All major insurance providers now allow you to select the policy you want on their website, input a few details and receive a quote in seconds. This streamlined approach helps save consumers both time and money, increasing satisfaction. 

Digitizing the Flying Experience

Millennials and older generations have dark memories of being unable to check in for flights online and having to go to the airport desk to receive boarding passes, all the while experiencing screaming children and waiting behind fellow travelers who seemingly decided to bring their life possessions on the trip. Being able to check in online and print boarding passes alleviated some of this stress, but airlines have taken this further in line with digitized demands.

Since 2018, check-in rates at desks have dropped 25% and the use of airline apps has increased 15%. The ease and simplicity of having your flight information and documentation a tap away makes this behavioral shift unsurprising. The fact that, if traveling without checked bags, you’re able to go straight through security and go to your gate without stopping at the front desk or holding scrappy pieces of paper is a huge time saver, and brings convenience to an experience that tests all of our nerves. 

Ordering Groceries Online

For some the supermarket shop is the highlight of their week. For others, it’s a chore done out of necessity. As with almost everything, COVID-19 changed the game. Suddenly the menial task of buying groceries became a job laden with risk, particularly for the older or immunocompromised population. Thankfully, the digital world we live in had a solution.

Online grocery shopping is nothing new but something that has exploded in demand and popularity over the last 18 months. Online grocery sales rose 54% in 2020 and are expected to hit almost $200B in 2024. The immediate need during the early days of COVID-19 has now progressed into a convenience that few want to give up. It’s hard to argue with having your favorite food and drinks delivered to your front door at the click of a button!

While the listed examples may seem simple and straightforward, at their first inception they were part of digital revolutions for their respective industries. At their core, they are digital solutions that solve customer needs and pain points. And that is what all “digital transformation” projects need to have at their focus.

Learn more about using digital technologies to improve satisfaction and the customer experience with our customer journey mapping resources. 

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