Content experience embodies the users' access, consumption, and engagement with branded content across multiple devices, channels, and platforms. It appeals to website visitors' senses and emotions, which are vital to conversions.
Perfecting the content experience is a challenge for many online businesses. Even if their products and services are outstanding, most customers want to know and feel how your business offerings work before making a purchase.
Getting others to talk about their experience with your brand provides a virtual mechanism that allows prospective customers to get a sense of your brand experience.
Are content marketing and content experience the same?
The answer is no, they are not. Content marketing refers to the creation, analysis and distribution of individual pieces of content. The content experience is a more comprehensive process across creation, measurement and consumption criteria.
Shoppers don't necessarily seek out pieces of content just for the sake of reading. Instead, they look for resources during their buying journey to educate them and provide more information that will influence their purchase decision.
The content experience starts when a website visitor reads your first piece of content. It usually takes multiple exposures to different brand assets before they're ready to make a purchase.
Your goal should be to keep their interest and keep them engaged with your brand. Subsequent pieces of content, whether in an email or blog post, should accelerate the content journey to increase conversions or sales.
In this article, we will discuss the framework, components, and best practices to boost your clients' content experience and deliver a stellar customer journey.
1. Focus on the customer experience.
The content you share with your customers, if developed and executed well, will make them more eager to interact with you and help them feel closer to your brand.
Customers who experience positive buyer journeys are more likely to become loyal buyers. In other words, brands that focus on keeping their customers happy will outperform their competitors.
Consider these statistics that point to the importance of the customer experience:
86% of customers will pay more money for better customer experience.
According to a Walker study, customer experience will replace price and product as a key brand differentiator by the end of 2020.
Customers will pay up to 13% more if they receive a great customer experience.
62% of businesses will invest in assuring a positive customer experience to meet the changing needs of their clients.
2. Prioritize the mobile experience.
To boost your clients' content experience, you must provide a compelling experience across all channels and devices. Since 52% of all web traffic comes from mobile, make sure your customers' journey is positive on their mobile devices.
The most common issues that can cause a bad mobile experience are slow loading times and reduced site speed. If your customers can't navigate your website with ease, it will frustrate them, and they will leave.
Unsatisfactory mobile experiences can damage your brand. If your site isn't mobile-friendly and responsive, 50% of your website visitors will avoid your site even if they like your business. If they share their negative experience with others, you are jeopardizing your business growth as well.
3. Increase brand loyalty.
Too many businesses make the mistake of focusing only on getting new customers. But retaining the customers you already have and increasing repeat purchases is essential to grow your business.
How can your business stand out from the clutter of competitors and gain the trust of your loyal customers? Focus on your consumers by engaging them at every touchpoint in the customer journey.
Here are some other suggestions to gain loyal customers:
Implement loyalty programs.
Encourage loyal customers to become brand ambassadors.
Keep customers up to date on new products, services and specials via personalized emails.
Engage, interact with and respond to customers on social media channels.
Put yourself in your customers' shoes: Wouldn't you be more likely to choose a company over its competitors when your customer journey is a positive one? For example, if you have a problem or want to make a return, brands whose representatives are polite and responsive have a better chance of keeping you as a customer than those that don't.
Creating content that increases brand loyalty will boost not only the client content experience but also your return on investment.
4. Connect with target prospects.
Do you know what your prospective customers need and want? If you don't, you are missing out on an excellent opportunity to improve their user experience.
It isn't the number of website visitors you get that determines how many sales you will make. Instead, it is how your content is optimized to capture their intent and interest.
Knowing how leads interact on your website will help you connect with their specific needs. A one-size-fits-all method of connecting with target prospects fails to distinguish one lead from another. For example, a website visitor who is at the beginning of their buying journey and in the research phase has very different needs from a consumer who is ready to make a purchase.
Your calls to action should be specific for every step of the buying journey and make it easier for customers to find the right products or services.
Having a firm grasp on your target market and creating content that caters to what they want will increase conversion rates on your website and social media. These are some ways to identify the needs of your target market:
Conduct website or social media polls and surveys.
Review your analytics.
Define the profile of your ideal customer, also known as customer personas.
The more tailored your content is to each specific target audience, the better your chances of making meaningful connections and increasing conversions.
5. Create stellar content.
The customer experience includes content marketing. Everything visitors are exposed to, every action they take that leads up to a sale, is part of their experience.
Well-executed and relevant content will lead to positive content experiences for your potential customers. Deliver your content in a way that draws their focus and that is enjoyable and rewarding in and of itself.
6. Make your content relatable.
The most critical factor in content creation and experience is to empathize with your prospect in a way that connects their experience with your brand's unique selling proposition.
Who are your customers, and why are they visiting your site? How might your content impact the emotional intelligence of your prospect? What is their vocabulary, and how can you use it to make your offer more sensitive to their interests and needs?
As an example, if your company sells beauty products, your content should focus on some of the obstacles faced by people with skin care concerns. It might also educate your audience on things like makeup and skin care routines, provide before and after photographs, and offer reviews from satisfied customers.
7. Use multiple content formats.
Some people respond better to some content formats than others. For example, some prefer watching videos over reading.
Video content is more likely to attract and engage visual learners and people using mobile devices. They are less likely to download a report or read a long post. Take advantage of these potential customers by providing the format they prefer.
Don't forget to add a call to action (CTA) at the end of your videos to prompt viewers toward the next step in their buying journey. These are some actions your CTA could encourage:
Watching another video
Reading content for more information
Downloading a helpful report
Before you can expect potential customers to act on your CTA, you will need to engage them with your video content, earn their trust, and entice them to take the next step.
Using various content formats makes your content relatable to a broader range of prospective customers. These are some other popular formats:
SlideShare presentations
Podcasts
Infographics
Whitepapers
Webinars
E-books
8. Use multiple channels.
You need to interact with their customers wherever they are online, whether through your website, social media or live chat.
While customers understand that service levels will vary slightly according to where they are taking place, they do expect consistency. Try to provide the same level of service across all channels, both offline and online, to boost your clients' content experience.
9. Create better interactions.
When marketing and sharing your content with prospective customers, make sure you are reachable when they need you. Respond to inquiries, reply to questions, like their comments, share their posts, and follow them back on social media to show that your intentions are good.
Your proactive actions and responsiveness will increase customer loyalty to your brand. The content you create and deliver encourages customers to leave comments and communicate with you.
Spend time and effort creating, sharing, and delivering relevant and useful content to your customers. They will be happier and have a better content experience.