Pandemic Accelerated Shift To Digital, And Nobody Is Going Back: Study

Most brands agree that the pandemic accelerated their digital transformation, according to Making the Leap to a Digital-First Enterprise, a study from Amplitude, conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services.

Of 295 global business executives polled, 97% agree that COVID-19 sped up their migration into digital. And 92% say this represents an opportunity to capitalize on the shift.  

Moreover, 78% agree that their customers’ digital adoption has also quickened and will never return to previous levels. And 81% believe user expectations for great digital experiences are higher than ever, but 69% say the same about the competition for customer loyalty. 

“We are living through a digital-product revenue revolution, centered around using digital products to completely redesign the value we create for customers,” says Jian Wei Hoh, head of business design at Ford Motor Co., an Amplitude client interviewed for the report. 

The study also found that 58% of brands use product analytics, including usage and event tracking, to measure the impact of the digital product experience. This, they say, beats out surveys, web analytics and business intelligence. 

In addition, only 16% see customer sentiment metrics such as the Net Promoter Score as important to a digital product’s long-term success. 

Meanwhile, some firms are held back by the lack of a data-driven culture — 43% cite this as their top challenge. And 40% say the inability to analyze their customers' full experience across devices and products, and a lack of centralized data, are key hurdles.

“There are now two types of companies emerging faster than ever — digital disruptors and those being digitally disrupted,” concludes Jennifer Johnson, chief marketing and strategy officer for Amplitude. 

Johnson adds: “To survive in this new digital-first era, companies need a fundamentally new approach to understanding digital customer behavior, predicting which behaviors translate to business outcomes and adapting digital experiences to maximize business outcomes.”

 

 

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