Icon Innovations

Is The Future of Digital Apps or Facebook Bots

by May 12, 2016Innovation, Marketing Trends

I love apps. In fact, I currently have 269 of them for testing to see if I can find the magic mix to help me do more from my pocket. My problem is that apps don’t work. This massive collection requires lots of upkeep and still my productivity has lots of holes. Not to mention just trying to remember which does what and where I damn put it. While this is my experience, I don’t think it’s unique not to mention the developers trying to get any traction with over 2 million apps available on either Apple or Android. So imagine the future of digital, a time when we can search or ask for a task to be done and it gets done? What sort of interface would that be, how would this work and most importantly how do we stay customer centred. From the trends of this year we can begin to glimpse at least the next 10 years, and the battles in play to dominate the top layer.

From the hundreds of apps on our phone the majority of us only use a handful of them at any time. The rest we look forward to getting into with the wish to edit that epic picture or play that cool new game, but in truth most just take up valuable space and eat into our battery and data. The equivalent of digital dust. In fact last year in the US 85% of time in only five apps, Facebook, YouTube, Maps, Pandora and Gmail.  What does the future of digital look like and is the customer still front and centre? Are we headed to a future of Apps, Bots or other mixtures of Artificial Intelligence?

The 5 Biggest Things Facebook Announced This Week

To do so, Facebook plans to move far beyond its original role as a social network. The firm aims to launch new virtual reality projects, beam Internet across the world using drones and unleash complex artificial-intelligence bots that can fulfil our … The 5 Biggest Things Facebook Announced This Week – TIME

Mark Zuckerberg delivering the 10 Year Roadmap at the F8 2016 Keynote Day 1

“You never have to call 1-800-FLOWERS again,” Zuckerberg said.

Introducing Bots on Messenger at F8

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-messenger-bots-site-hopes-to-kill-apps-and-maybe-even-facebook-itself-with-new-chatbots-a6981786.htmlBut the company hopes that they will eventually be powered by AI and will let people conduct normal conversations with bots rather than customer service phone lines. That will allow the company to do away with some of the most central parts of modern … Facebook Messenger bots: Site hopes to kill apps, and maybe even Facebook itself, with new chatbots – The Independent

https://iconinnovations.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/giphy-1.gif

How do we build a customer-centric model while looking at the future of digital?

Fast development cycles are being lead by the adoption of agile coding methods. The results mean its no longer a guarantee of leadership if you have the best product or service. To build and retain customer loyalty and engagement will require businesses to adopt and develop an agile process focused on the customer experience as the future of digital.

Small agile teams are already in action in many industries going from ‘soup to nuts‘ on any project or task they are set to. They design, test and evolve by learning and applying to succeed and always the focus is on discovering and removing the customers pain. Combining the entire product development right through to a marketing philosophy. Agile marketing is now the norm. Each stage needs to be constantly in flow between innovation and implementation of a customer-centric model.

By running smaller teams any idea can be designed and tested before going into full production or indeed being ‘perfected’. This philosophy demands failure to be the norm, much like a prospector panning for gold. Tests can be quick and inexpensive so more can be designed in order to find the gold. With agile teams, these ideas can then be quickly completed, iterated and perfected.

Marketing trends already show that many companies are already in transition to this future of digital, committing to thrill the customer. According to the “Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing: Digital Trends for 2015” from Econsultancy and Adobe, 78% of survey respondents are currently attempting to differentiate themselves through customer experience.

Innovation is the only way to ensure you can keep competing. Organizations must gain speed and agility. They must detect change and adapt to it.
EMMANUEL VIVIER Cofounder the HUB Institute

Cutting through the noise

By adopting agile marketing methods built into our new, nimble business practices we are already working on our customers pains, gains and jobs to be done. This understanding enables us to more quickly focus and produce content that helps remove these pains, build a relationship and engage on their platforms, at their level.

A great example is when Jay Baer identified the issue of businesses lack of response to customer feedback. In research, Jay discovered that [tweet_dis]80% of companies thought they had superior customer service. Unfortunately only 8% of their customers agreed.[/tweet_dis] This discovery lead Jay to write his book “Hug Your Haters“. The demand for his research and how to apply it has now become a huge business in itself.

By identifying the markets pains, developing a system to not only remove that pain but increase business and loyalty at the same time for his customers has enabled Jay to develop this niche, cut through the noise and acquire a whole new tribe. Now that Jay has his hungry, loyal customers he also has an inbuilt ongoing relationship where improvements, ideas and further innovation will naturally develop.

This example highlights how companies and individuals set up traditional forms of customer service. In reality, customers are moving to public communication in social media and beyond. As Jay says, [tweet_box design=”default” float=”none” inject=”#marketing”]”Now, customer service is a spectator sport. Are you prepared?”[/tweet_box]

What makes a customer-centric experience?

There is no one tool or application that will gain a sustainable advantage. We need to be nimble and adopt the ability to be constantly and continuously transforming, testing, evaluating and applying as and when required for each new idea or service. Businesses need the “capability to develop and manage a pipeline of initiatives since many will be short-lived.” explained McGrath in her 2013 book, The End of Competitive Advantage.

In our endeavours to thrill customers, we can see many great examples of businesses and individuals with their products and services doing just that. From Google, Amazon and Apple to Facebook. Some of the common elements are:

  • A consistency of brand and design lead today by Material Design practise.
    Direct and clear product and service benefits.
  • A combining of products, training and services into one larger more sticky experience.
  • These experiences are glued with applications, memberships, forums, wikis, private groups, meet-ups, gamification, certification and any other member benefits.

A great example is where training courses and books were commonly provided as individual experiences. Today these are still used as a means of introduction, a funnel, to lead the customer back to a larger more unified and ongoing experience for greater delight. Often it is the community that builds around these brands that provide the glue and opportunities for further growth of the owner(s)

As technology and communication channels continue to rise, including mobile, wearables and social media so does the opportunity for the customer journey. As connections deepen among these channels, customers will expect not only a unique experience but also a consistent one in the channels they use or are comfortable in.

[tweet_box design=”default” float=”none”]The old business and marketing structures are gone, we are now in the era of the customer.[/tweet_box]The old business and marketing structures are gone, we are now in the era of the customer. As customers adapt and apply the latest innovations, they, in turn, expect this as the minimum expectation from businesses they deal with. If companies do not adopt to this new marketing trend of the agile customer experience then our existence will be short.

[tweet_dis inject=”#contentmarketing”]How nimble is your business?[/tweet_dis]

Agile methodology’s really can be applied anywhere like Bruce Feiler’s radical idea: To deal with the stress of modern family life, go agile. Inspired by agile software programming, Feiler introduces family practices which encourage flexibility, bottom-up idea flow, constant feedback and accountability. One surprising feature: Kids pick their own punishments.

What Is Magic Leap, And Why Is It Worth $500M?

Mark Zuckerberg keynote at Facebook F8 Developers Conference

Over to You

These marketing trends are the new norm. We need to learn how to apply agile marketing methods and embrace technology on an ongoing basis in order to build our brand and delight our customers. The future trends of digital media and marketing are clearly pointing in this direction. Are you prepared and ready to go?

To be agile today we need to – Learn, Apply, Succeed then Design, Test, Evolve.

What trends you are seeing in your future of digital? What methods you are applying to evolve in today’s market?

Recommended Reading

future of digitalApps
Facebook Botsfuture of digital
Peter Wennersten

Peter Wennersten

 

Passionate about family, friends and flying. Founder @iconinnovations building brand experiences for local business, small and large, to thrive in the social economy through Creative, Design, Digital, Marketing and Social.

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