Building for the Experience

Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting "Taking the Online Experience Offline" with Jim Yang from Nurun (As an aside Nurun is a great partner and if you are looking for an agency in the interactive space they are one to seriously consider) at Marketing Mag's Experiential Marketing Symposium.

From my perspective the discussion was a very interesting one that evolved around building your online experience and how to bring this offline. I want to spend some time today talking about how to really develop that online experience.

First you really need to understand your brand. What is it that you stand for and what are customers expecting when they start an interaction with you? If you are lucky enough to have an established brand already most of these questions should already be answered and from this you can start to build what your experience should be online.

What this means, in it's simplest sense, is that you should have solid alignment across channels. If you are known for being able to empower people to deal with a problem, find the hard to find product, being the comprehensive source in providing information or always showcasing the newest innovation your online experience needs to match that. Remember that consumers are often interacting with your brand online before they are anywhere else so ensuring you build a positive and aligned brand experience is critical. Your website isn't just a place for simple information but it is an extensive brand experience.

Secondly, after you have understood how to build brand alignment, you need to address a really key understanding of a successful business and that is the concept of customer delight. Are customers delighted with the experience they get when using your site? Is it easy to use, navigate and fun? This is a broad area that covers everything from performance, design and functionally but if people are not delighted, while using your site, why would they ever come back? Build a site that is fast, available, easy to use and fun.

The third concept to address is that of value. Do your users perceive they are getting value in exchange for interacting with your site? Are you providing them the information, tools and resources that meets or exceeds the needs of the visit? You need to be constantly asking this question and making adjustments to ensure you are always seen in a position of value. The internet is a big place and consumers can quickly change to another brand or site (anywhere in the world) that is providing more value to them.

There are many other components to consider but if you start with these three and drive excellence you will be well on your way to being a success. Just think of the sites you visit / use on a regular basis and you will understand how they have solid alignment with their overall brand, provide delight and value on a regular basis.