Here is what customers really want from your digital experience.

AI-Generated image of a person buying items on a mobile device.

In a world where digital interactions are the first and often only touchpoints between brands and customers, the competition for attention is fierce. While many brands scramble to incorporate the latest shiny technology, the truth is far simpler, customers are not impressed by gimmicks — they want seamless, intuitive experiences that just work.

Whether they’re browsing, buying, or seeking support, friction is your enemy.

My role is to cut through the noise and help you focus on what matters most, i.e. delivering a digital experience that makes your customers’ journey as easy as possible.

By focusing on a few key areas, you can create a customer-centric digital experience that delights, reduces friction, and creates long-lasting loyalty.

Here are five proven strategies to help you achieve that, ensuring a smooth, rewarding digital journey that keeps customers coming back for more.

Digital First — most customers now first look to see if they are able to solve their requirement using your digital offering, e.g. for booking an appointment, checking the status of their delivery, etc. before they will adopt a human to human interaction.

• Ensure that you give your customer the opportunity to seamlessly interact with your brand at any time of day or night.
• Most customers will now browse and purchase from their mobile devices. Ensure your website is fully optimised for mobile with responsive design, fast load times and easy-to-use touch controls.
• Implement automated self-service options that make use of chatbots, knowledge bases, FAQs and allow customers to troubleshoot issues and find answers without the need to escalate to human interaction.
• Ensure omnichannel synchronisation, so that when customers transition from digital channel to digital channel or to human interaction, their previous interactions (such as chat history, order/account changes, basket, etc.) follow them through the channels to avoid frustration and repetition.

Easy to Use — Customers now expect and demand simplicity. Gone are the days that customers will navigate your challenging digital assets because they value your brand. They now have options and will choose your competitor that makes the process easy.

• Ensure your website is easy to navigate with intuitive behaviours/menus, categorised products and minimal clutter. A clean layout that guides users naturally from browsing, discovering to purchasing is key.
• Ensure you make the website inclusive and accessible for all users by adhering to accessibility standards, e.g. WCAG. This means supporting screen readers, offering text resizing options and ensuring high-contrast designs for the visually impaired. Get your website and mobile applications tested by accessibility experts such as the Shaw Trust (https://shawtrust.org.uk/) to ensure that customers with these disabilities are able to use your site.
  Accessibility is not just a legal or ethical obligation, and it can open up your brand to a broader audience.
• Focus on performance and speed of your website/app, as they need to be fast. Today’s customers expect pages to load and be usable in less than two seconds, especially on mobile devices. Delays in the usability of the website/app drastically affect bounce rates and ultimately conversion.

Easy to Discover — Customers come to your website/app looking to either purchase services/products, or manage their orders. Making sure that customers have the best tools available and are able to quickly locate what they are looking for is key.

• Implement advanced, effortless search functionality that makes it easy for customers to find exactly what they’re looking for. Include modern AI search so that you return the most pertinent results, even when they may not know exactly how to describe what they want.
• Create tailored experiences for them, giving them AI-driven recommendations based on previous browsing history, known data about them and/or purchase patterns.
• Ensure your product pages are jam packed with all the relevant details e.g. high-quality images (360-degree product views or video demonstrations are even better), in-depth descriptions, sizing guides, material descriptions, packaging details and user reviews. Use AI to mine user reviews to highlight what really matters to and impresses your customers, and include this detail.

Easy to Purchase — Once the customer has made the decision to purchase, you want to make sure that there are no points in the purchase journey where they can change their mind. Get all the obstacles out of the way.

• The checkout needs to be simple, fast and secure. Offering things like guest checkout, clear payment options, and secure transparent data handling builds trust. The gold standard is one-click checkouts as they significantly reduce abandonment, and the use of saved payment information and express checkout options makes the process smoother.
• Be transparent from the outset about shipping costs, availability and delivery times. If a customer has to wait till check out to be told that their delivery will take 4 weeks, then they will abandon the cart and not choose an alternative. Being open and showing them an alternative in the browse stage means that they will likely choose the alternative.
• Customers are now used to flexibility in payment methods, including popular digital wallets, buy-now-pay-later options and local payment methods dependent on the region. The more seamless, localised and flexible the payment experience, the better.
• Ensure that you implement post-purchase communication and keep customers updated at each stage of the delivery process, such as shipping confirmations, real-time tracking and delivery updates. Go beyond basic communication to help reassure the customer and reduce anxiety.

Easy to Contact — A strong support system post-purchase is critical. You need to include easy-to-access return policies, follow-up emails with order tracking information and a hassle-free returns process to boost customer satisfaction and encourage repeat purchases.

• Ensure the customer is kept up to date digitally and is able to access the information and returns process on your website/app. The journey to understanding where their order is, and cancelling/returning the items should be as seamless as the purchase process. This will give customers the security of knowing that they can trust you and your product.
• Many customers now turn to social media for customer support, especially if traditional methods have failed them. By the time they get to this option, they are likely to be disgruntled and have the largest audience watching them. Making sure you respond quickly is extremely important. Your customer support strategy should be omnichannel, providing support through live chat, email, phone and social platforms like X (Twitter) or Instagram in that order.
• Consider proactive support options. Leverage the data you have on the orders to proactively identify issues and offer proactive support. For instance, if an order is delayed, notify the customer before they have to ask and offer them alternative options. This pre-emptive communication can mitigate their potential frustration and build trust. Don’t just highlight the issue, but proactively offer alternative solutions.

The above are just five things to consider. There are many more, and there are experts in the field who are able to help you navigate giving your customers the experience they demand.

When your customers are happy, they will come back and stay loyal. This will reflect positively on your bottom line, and will help you grow a sustainably successful business.