How to make digital platforms more ‘human’
Advanced marketing technology can lack basic ‘human’ instinct. How can brands emulate this at scale?
Users are increasingly expecting a more personal and natural experience online. Quentin Ellis, MD ConsultMyApp explores how businesses can interact with their digital platforms to ensure a more human-led approach using conversational examples.
What does it mean to make something more human? It is hard to quantify in an increasingly fragmented world as we become more and more engrossed in the digital aspects of life.
For me, I believe that one’s experience on a digital platform should be the equivalent of having a conversation with someone who is as equally invested in the subject as you are, and is, therefore, more ‘human’. Managing this digitally however requires an intelligent utilization of data and an understanding that people are not always marketing personas.
By carefully crafting marketing technology, brand experiences can be designed to resemble a meaningful and insightful conversation by being more human.
Greeting and engaging with the user
It is common courtesy to engage with people you have just met to learn more about them whilst also acknowledging those you already know. Digital platforms follow the same suit. By learning about a customer’s circumstances, needs and goals, platforms can greet them appropriately and guide them to the right type of products and support to suit them.
Focus on customer interests
The key to a meaningful conversation is to establish common interests and goals between one another.
By obtaining an understanding of a customer’s particular needs, we can focus our insight on the most relevant and applicable information, using this data to further inform our decisions. That way we are not bombarding them with numerous options and instead, directing users toward the areas of the digital platform that are the best fitting for their needs.
Staying on topic
When someone asks a particular question in conversation, it’s expected that an answer would follow.
When a customer has a particular question regarding a product or service, brands need to be capable of providing an answer and information, all whilst keeping the context of conversion in mind and without the need to connect them with someone else.
Maintaining a natural flow and progression
A good conversation and discussion should always move forward smoothly without any added pressure or a conscious effort to keep relations going. Similarly, brands should always help customers explore and provide options available to them to help improve their experiences on digital platforms and evolve their original experiences.
Providing the value exchange
We know in life that when a conversation finishes and both parties have finished engaging, typically, the main goal has been achieved; each side has given meaningful and actionable insights.
In comparison, when users complete their activity on a website or app, they should also feel as if they have gained something valuable – a product that suits their needs or an answer to their question.
By utilizing the best components of a modern martech stack, such as customer data platforms, intrinsic data analytics, and SEO management, we can all help personalize and humanize the experience of the user. The ultimate goal of all digital platforms in this day and age should be focusing on creating that more ‘human’ interaction between platform and user, and by galvanizing on this advanced marketing technology, platforms can expect to achieve that in due course.
This article also appeared in Performance Marketing World