How brands engage with customers and drive revenue depends on the digital experiences powered by applications.
Today, thanks to companies like Uber — which recently had the biggest IPO of 2019 — along with the likes of Amazon, Airbnb, and more, consumers can order a ride, buy groceries, transfer money, or book a place to stay — all in just a few clicks within an app. In this new world, how brands engage with customers, and how they drive revenue, increasingly depends on the digital experiences powered by applications. In many ways, the app isn’t just a part of the business — it is the business.
While it’s true that this shift has afforded many brands the opportunity to build closer relationships with consumers, those relationships are at risk when user experience is poor and performance issues strike.
That’s because the on-demand revolution has altered people’s expectations for the customer experience.
Nowadays, people expect the apps they use each day to just work. And the users who depend on them aren’t content to wait minutes, hours, or days until a resolution is found.
Sound harsh? Maybe so.
But in this new on-demand economy, the rules have changed. Consumers have more choices than ever before, and competition is fierce. For every great offering like Uber, there’s a strong alternative like Lyft. In these market conditions, experience and performance are compelling differentiators.
Why Real-Time Matters More to Your Performance Monitoring
In the on-demand world, customer experiences happen in seconds.
If someone can’t book a ride because your app is slow, or make a purchase on your e-commerce site because a critical page in the checkout process won’t load, the battle for their attention — and their business — may already be lost.
Surprisingly, many IT organizations still operate in this reactive mode, waiting for problems to be surfaced, and losing valuable time — and revenue — in the process. In fact, according to recent research from AppDynamics, 58% of IT teams find out about performance issues from users calling or emailing their organization’s help desk, and 55% find out from an executive or non-IT team member at their company who informs the IT org.
Source: AppDynamics Research, 2018
So, what should businesses and IT leaders do to chart a course forward?
- Leverage real-time insights to drive customer experience wins. Don’t wait for weekly business intelligence reports to tell you where you need to improve the customer experience. Use real-time insights to monitor performance in relationship to revenue, campaign conversion rates, and overall user engagement so you can make enhancements on the fly, and delight customers in the process.
- Personalize experiences to drive value for the end user. You can have the best product in the world, but if your promotional codes don’t work, or your website won’t load, it won’t make a difference. To maximize your investment in digital experiences, you must track application performance as well.
- Put application performance front and center. Leaders should be tracking application performance as it relates to specific lines of business on a real-time basis. This provides valuable context for prioritizing optimizations and helps you lay the groundwork for a proactive approach to running your production environment.
Businesses invest in sophisticated marketing activities, thoughtful product development, and value-driven sales efforts. But as applications become a critical part of the customer experience, investments must be made in performance optimization as well.
From Operating to Innovating: The Changing Performance Landscape
The on-demand revolution, prompted by the rise of companies like Uber, Airbnb, Amazon and others, has made instant gratification a part of our lives, and elevated the importance of the customer experience. In this new world, it’s not enough to manage performance reactively. Instead, businesses must take a proactive approach that helps them win and retain customers, and drive growth, all in real-time.
