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Customers want to support brands that offer exceptional digital experiences. Learn why consistent on-site Wi-Fi connectivity is an essential part of the equation.
The customer experience drives success or failure for many brands. One survey showed that four out of five customers would leave a brand they've been loyal to after having had a poor experience only three or fewer times. And the digital experience is becoming a crucial factor in the overall customer experience.
In many cases, it’s the most important aspect of how people interact with businesses, as customers always have a connected device with them, including when they’re visiting a business or shopping in a store. They want their digital interactions to be seamless, instant, and consistent. Otherwise, they may look elsewhere.
Thus, customer satisfaction and the digital experience work hand-in-hand for many businesses. Here is a look at why it’s essential, how Wi-Fi plays a role, and how to ensure your customers, clients, and patrons are satisfied with connectivity.
The rising importance of digital experiences
The digital experience encompasses all the interactions a customer has with a company on a variety of online platforms and outlets, including websites, social media, landing pages, email newsletters, and more. Sometimes digital experiences occur in-store, as people order items online and pick them up or look up a product on their smart device while on-site.
The experiences along a customer journey inform how people view the brand and their level of satisfaction with the interaction. And they need to have consistent, positive interactions to be satisfied. Data from HubSpot shows that 66% of customers now expect brands to understand what they need, and people will pay more money just to have a better experience.
These trends have driven more companies to focus on being truly customer-centric, putting the needs and wants of customers before maximizing short-term profits. And fortunately, these efforts end up helping the bottom line, with customer-centric brands being 60% more profitable than other companies.
Since most customer interactions are now online for many brands, it’s never been more important for companies to prioritize the digital experience. A great experience means that all platforms and interactions are simple, fast, and intuitive—and this effort includes ensuring consistent network access at a company’s locations.
How poor connectivity impacts the digital experience
Digital touchpoints extend beyond using a computer or smartphone at home and are now closely integrated with the on-site customer experience. Guests want to be able to connect to free Wi-Fi while they’re waiting or dining, usually on their mobile devices. Sports and concert fans want to live stream videos. People want to be able to visit a store, look up an item on their smartphone, and quickly find its location to purchase it. Or they may view the online stock of an item that isn’t available in the store.
Therefore, on-site Wi-Fi access is crucial to today's digital and in-person customer journey. Spectrio data found that 82% of customers use their mobile devices while shopping in a store to help them make buying decisions. And Oracle research found that almost 60% of customers demand in-store Wi-Fi.
People will be more likely to visit places of business that give them the flexibility to connect when needed. Access to strong Wi-Fi can increase satisfaction and lead to repeat customers.
But when free Wi-Fi is offered yet connectivity is poor, inconsistent, or otherwise annoying, it has the opposite effect. Wireless internet is everywhere and viewed as essential, so many businesses that don’t offer seamless connections on premises will lose out on customers.
Solutions for seamless Wi-Fi
So, how do you ensure your customers have a great digital experience on-site? Start with these strategies:
Create customer, device, and usage personas
It's wise to identify who your customers are so you know how they use the Wi-Fi. What kinds of devices do they typically have? What would they be using the internet for when visiting your business? How many people may be using the Wi-Fi at a given time?
This persona enables you to prioritize a Wi-Fi coverage and design approach that works best for your site and its target customers. You can make better decisions about bandwidth, access point (AP) number and layout, and other concerns when Wi-Fi planning.
Ask for feedback
It never hurts to ask people about their experiences. You may think your Wi-Fi is working great, but perhaps there's a specific type of device that's having trouble that you didn't plan for. Send out a survey to assess how people are experiencing the on-site network.
You can also rely on metrics like the customer satisfaction score (CSAT), which measures how satisfied people are with their experiences. Focus on digital experiences and Wi-Fi use in particular.
Use monitoring tools
Knowing the customer and asking them for feedback are important steps, but partially reactive instead of proactive. And you won't know precisely what's going on with connectivity without the correct monitoring tools.
You need continuous, real-time visibility of on-site connections from the perspective of the end user. Otherwise, you won’t catch slowdowns or drops, and customers will start complaining about bad Wi-Fi. You also need the ability to uncover the root cause of an issue so it can be addressed fast and durably.
How 7SIGNAL helps keep Wi-Fi consistent
7SIGNAL’s wireless experience monitoring platform enables you to monitor your on-site network 24/7, telling you exactly how people are experiencing it. Our Sapphire Eye™ measures over 600 KPIs that reveal problems with on-site networks, ranging from interference to inadequate bandwidth to insufficient AP coverage and much more. And our Mobile Eye™ can be installed on company devices, including smartphones, tablets, and handheld scanners, to ensure that employees can leverage the tools necessary to provide a great customer experience.
This visibility means you can spot and fix issues fast, and lousy Wi-Fi never gets in the way of satisfied customers. Consistent connectivity and performance are crucial aspects of the seamless digital experiences they demand, and wireless experience monitoring helps ensure your brand achieves them.
Contact the 7SIGNAL team to learn more about our Wi-Fi monitoring solutions.
7SIGNAL® is the leader in wireless experience monitoring, providing insight into wireless networks and control over Wi-Fi performance so businesses and organizations can thrive. Our cloud-based wireless network monitoring platform continually tests and measures Wi-Fi performance at the edges of the network, enabling fast solutions to digital experience issues and stronger connections for mission-critical users, devices, and applications. Learn more at www.7signal.com.