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Using experience performance data to improve the digital customer journey

In an October 2016 article for Data Informed, Dave Page, an expert on IT infrastructure, said that the two main issues facing companies right now in terms of providing an ideal digital experience for their customer are not having data on how the customer is experiencing the end product and the lack of knowledge on how to improve the quality of the digital experience. Correcting these issues, or gaining this information, can help businesses save time and money, as well as improve the overall user experience.

For a customer or user to want to keep using your website, you have to give them something in return: a good experience. A good digital customer experience includes many elements, whether it’s a more organized site map, direct links to targeted products, or a quicker response time from your customer service team. Today, all of this information can be measured using experience performance analytics. By utilizing these tools, you can make sure that your users are getting everything they should be getting out of the time they spend on your website or mobile app.

What are experience performance analytics?

Every digital customer journey is governed by technical metrics, such as how fast a page loads, the ratio of graphics to text, and how a customer responds to the placement of links and advertisements, among many other factors. Experience performance analytics tell a company how the customer responds to each of those features. Knowing what works and what doesn’t can determine whether a customer continues visiting your page, or returns to the search engine to find a different site.

You can utilize this data in a number of ways, whether it be before or after you launch content. You can test out different layouts, use session replay tools to see what went wrong during a customer’s visit to your site, or figure out if technical errors being experienced are a one-time occurrence or the start of a negative trend. All in all, experience performance analytics allow you to react quicker to these issues and improve the user’s experience in real-time.

How can Glassbox help?

Glassbox’s software provides you real-time digital customer analytics and helps to bridge the gap between IT and business. There are many ways in which this software can be useful:

  • Instant replay of any issues during the customer journey
  • Website optimizations can be tested or viewed before completely overhauling the site
  • Get a 360-degree view of how your site is working at all times, including how channel performance issues impact customer behaviors
  • Spot trouble points and identify if they are one-time issues or negative trends

With Glassbox, all departments always have access to the same data, which helps marketing and digital teams to see what the IT team is seeing, and vice versa. This is a valuable tool for all business teams because it unifies the data and helps turn it into useful insights for everyone. Collective problem solving can result in the greatest good for your users, and by allowing equal access, every department can see how one change will impact changes made by another.

So what’s next?

Once you have collected the relevant data, you need to act on it, both with a short-term and long-term plan. For the short term, work on fixing any bugs immediately and improving the small elements that have been causing disruptions. In the long term, you can use this information to develop a more comprehensive digital strategy for the future to help take your business to the next level. All of the data that Glassbox catches can be stored for any given period of time, meaning that you will be able to see if certain trends are persisting or if changes need to be made. Be able to see the changes in user behaviour and update the site accordingly. With experience performance analytics, you can adjust the platform to the user’s needs, rather than the other way around. The user’s goal should always take precedence over the path the company believes they should take. The goal of Glassbox’s software is to help you improve every element of the digital customer experience, from the first click to the last check-out. Experience performance analytics find the holes in that process, and alert your team so that they can be fixed quickly and efficiently. The paths that customers are taking on websites these days are on average twice as long as they used to be, so it is imperative to have as few bumps as possible along the road.