Letting the customer drive your digital strategy is about putting them front and center and making sure what you build stems from their needs. It’s about seeing the world from their perspective and taking every step with their needs in mind. It’s about doing everything for them, not just things for them. That way, when it comes to designing the car of your digital ecosystem (that is, your company), you will already have spoken to many potential customers about what features they would like in a car and which ones are unnecessary.
Build What Your Audience Wants
Successful digital strategies are built on the assumption that people will use them. By designing a compelling digital ecosystem and ensuring it is extremely easy to use, you will make it easy for customers to access the value you provide. If your customers are happy, they will use your services. So, a key first step in digital strategy is to ask customers what they want and need from your digital ecosystem. Let them tell you what features they want, what is missing from their current experience, and what would make it easier for them to do business with you. An easy way to do this is through surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews. By letting customers inform the design of your digital ecosystem, you can be sure the features you build will be what they want and need, not what you think they want and need. You’ll save yourself a lot of time and money by building the right things and you’ll get valuable feedback that will help you improve your products and services.
Put the User First
Digital strategies that put the customer first have a better chance of success than those that put the company first. Put the customer first but only after you have your employees first. Employees are the people who make your company run. They are the people who provide the value to the customer and they are the ones who will be affected by the design of your digital ecosystem. If digital strategies are designed with the company in mind first, digital strategies that put the customer first will end up putting employees first. Letting the customer drive your digital strategy does not mean your employees should be neglected. It does mean you should prioritize your employees above all others. By putting your employees first, you will ensure that your digital strategy is designed with them in mind. This will ensure that the features you build are things they will be able to do.
Identify the Problem(s) to Solve
Once you have prioritized your customers and employees and know what they want from your digital ecosystem, identify the problem(s) you need to solve. The problem(s) you solve with your digital strategy is what the strategy is about. It’s about solving one or more problems that exist in your customers’ current digital ecosystem by building a digital ecosystem that solves those problems. Problem identification is not a new process but rather a part of the process of prioritizing your customers and employees. By prioritizing your customers, you will have identified the problems they have in their digital ecosystem. By prioritizing your employees, you will have identified the problems they face in their current digital ecosystem. By letting customers inform the design of your digital ecosystem, you will have identified the problems you need to solve with your digital strategy.
Define Your Company’s Unique Value Proposition
Your company’s unique value proposition is the promise that you make to your customers. It is what differentiates you from all other companies and it is what makes you special. The problem(s) you solve with your digital strategy is the foundation on which you will build your unique value proposition. You will use this information to identify the promise that you make to your customer. You will then design your digital ecosystem to deliver on that promise. Defining your company’s unique value proposition is important because it will help you and your team stay focused on solving the right problems. It will help you avoid wasting time building solutions that don’t add value for your customers. It will help you avoid creating solutions that only solve one customer’s problems but not others. It will help you avoid building solutions that don’t solve any problems at all.
Develop a game plan to Achieve your Strategy
Once you’ve built a digital ecosystem that addresses the problems your customers face, you will have achieved your strategy. But achieving your strategy is more than just building a digital ecosystem. It is also about making sure potential customers know it exists. If you want your digital ecosystem to be successful, you need to make people aware of it and you need to make it easy for them to access it. You need to be proactive in getting customers to use your digital ecosystem and you need to create incentives for them to use it. Successful digital strategies are built on the assumption that people will use them. By designing a compelling digital ecosystem and making it easy to access, you make it easy for customers to access the value you provide. When you achieve your digital strategy, you will have successfully built a digital ecosystem.
