Businesses must up their game in 2021 to satisfy “digitally impatient” consumers, asserts new research fromenterprise-grade assessment platform Questionmark. The firm is calling on employers to ensure that their staff have the skills to create a first-class digital customer experience.
During months of lockdown, consumers have become more digitally savvy. Research from Deloitte shows that 40 percent of people shopped online more during 2020. A third increased the amount of video content they streamed and 14 percent took part in online appointments with health practitioners.
But the increase in familiarity has made people less tolerant of delay and disruption
Some 41 percent of customers believe slow and unresponsive service is at the heart of bad customer service. Forbes magazine has predicted the rise of the “now customer” in 2021. These are impatient customers who expect the goods and services they want to be instantly available and quickly delivered.
“Many businesses have been prioritizing digital delivery for many years,” said Lars Pedersen, CEO of Questionmark, in a news release. “But the events of 2020 and the emergence of the ‘now customer’ mean that businesses need to accelerate their efforts. Customers will not wait for what they want. Nor will they tolerate any decline in standards or quality.
“Employers must ensure their staff have the right skills to play their part in this digital upgrade. Online staff assessments can help employers understand the extent of digital skills across the workforce. They can help employers make better decisions on recruitment, training promotions and development.”
Online staff assessments can help employers measure digital skills among the workforce. They can identify strengths and weaknesses, and gaps across teams and business functions.
Employers can then introduce or strengthen training programs
They can ensure that these programs are tailored or not wasted on those that already have the skills by assessing people before training. Employers can check whether it worked by testing participants during and after training, rather than by experimenting on live customers.
Likewise, they can ensure they are bringing the right digital skills into the workforce, by assessing candidates before deciding to hire.
Questionmark has developed the ready-made “Digital marketing knowledge” test which employers can use to assess the digital marketing skills of the workforce. It can help identify areas for training. It can be used in the recruitment process to ensure people with the right skills are joining the team.