Google dubbed it the “Zero Moment of Truth” to explain that point at which you realize that the customer, not you, is completely in control. Perhaps we were fooling ourselves all along to think that we did have control of our ordering process, inventory, distribution, customer service and accounting and the truth is we never really did. Alternatively, we could surmise that we lost total control the day that mass penetration of mobile occurred and consumers started doing their own research on our brands–without our involvement.

Regardless of when this ZMOT occurred at your company, we can all agree that nothing will ever be the same. Consumer attention spans are inversely correlated to the product options now available online for purchase. In fact, studies now cite that consumers have an attention span of less than 4 seconds which is below that of a goldfish. What’s worse is that consumers are finicky and will typically spend even less than 4 seconds on your website once they have arrived there from an enticing ad or other promotional hook. The consumer has a seemingly unlimited number of possible products, the power of information and moreso, the power to inform others about their own experiences.

This new reality means that corporations must now shift their viewpoint from one of being internally striving to push products out to a distant market to one that begins and ends with the customer. The movement of shifting one’s entire worldview along with the associated business processes and technological infrastructure is what is typically referred to as digital transformation.

Now that the customer is self-empowered through the ability to find information and product reviews online, the need to understand the customer is at an all-time high. We need to be able to study the customer’s every digital move and take action at the exact right time in order to gain our next sale. We need to understand what the customer is telling us through digital so that we can provide similar products and services that match their online sentiment. This need to not only capture, but predict, what the consumer may do next is at the cross-roads of customer experience and digital.

Given this lens, the intersection of customer experience (CX) and digital is far easier to understand because it breaks down to simple economics. My organization needs as much information as possible about consumers so that we may take the right action at the right time to supply the right product. Digital is the fastest, most measurable, most economical way and typically, preferred channel for consumers to research and make purchases. My conclusion becomes that my organization needs to overhaul our thinking about the customer journey and leverage digital to gain insight.

When you get to this conclusion and you are ready to start taking action to understand how your organization needs to look to support a digital and customer-first operational model, it’s time to contact Expeed.