Why every business is a digital business

By Leon Calverley, Door4.

Is your business a digital business? Is it really?

Having a website is no longer a benchmark of digital awareness, as it was fifteen years ago. It’s a hygiene factor. Standard.

The modern, digital consumer (all consumers are, or at least, you have to assume they are) expects digital interaction, at their pace, at a time that suits them, in a way that fits their needs.

Does your business provide an interface for your customers to interact with you - or do you direct all of them to the telephone?

“But, my customers like to speak to a real person” - we sometimes hear. This is no longer a reliable default stance. If you fail to give them options, they merely put up with what they get, until they get a more convenient option.

The digital consumer wants to minimise unnecessary human contact. Whether we like that, or not.

Yes, they will often want the reassurance of a knowledgeable human being when things are tricky. But there lies the acid test.

Where is the line? What is the threshold where this becomes necessary?

At all other times, the digital consumer wants the information delivered instantaneously, not after pressing 5,1,3 and waiting on hold.

Buying takeaway, ordering a cab, booking a hotel - no longer are these interactions which require extensive and unnecessary personal interaction.

Do you really want to chat to the bloke in the takeaway about your lamb madras? Do you want to spell out your home address to avoid your cabbie going to Pendle Way instead of Pendle Avenue?

Becoming a digital business means understanding user needs. Empathising with your users. The real users, their real issues - not ‘assumed’ wants that are based on bias. Digital First. You’ll get to the future, faster.