It’s 2024, and all the best digital experiences have a few things in common—they’re captivating, seamless, and unforgettable. 

Certainly, that’s a good thing, but users now have higher expectations when interacting with a digital service than five years ago.

Today’s users want more than just a nice interface—they’re looking for smooth, personalized experiences that make their lives easier.

So, how do you deliver that kind of experience? First, you’ve got to understand what a great digital experience really is.

In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know about digital experiences, with examples to help you delight your audience in 2024 and beyond.

Let’s dive in.

What is digital experience (DX)?

DX is the overall digital interaction prospects and customers have with a brand, service, or product. 

It focuses on every digital touchpoint users encounter while engaging with your brand through channels like websites, social media platforms, or mobile apps. 

Let’s say a prospect comes across your brand on Instagram, visits the site, checks out the pricing page, and eventually proceeds to download your mobile app. Those are a few examples of touchpoints and DX is the total.

You might be wondering, “So, is it the same thing as the digital customer experience concept I’ve read about?”

Well, somehow.  But let’s explain what it is in detail so you see how they differ.

What is digital customer experience?

Jack Dorsey, head of marketing at SkyTechBPO, says, “Digital customer experience (DCX) refers to the overall experience a customer has when interacting with a business or brand through digital channels such as websites, mobile apps, social media, email, and messaging platforms.”

So while DCX focuses on the customer's experience across various touchpoints, digital experience (DX) covers a broader scope, including all digital interactions—internal systems and processes included. 

Understanding this difference will help fine-tune your business strategies to boost customer satisfaction. For example, DCX might focus on enhancing user interfaces and social media engagement, while DX includes improving the backend systems that support those interactions. 

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Now that you’ve got a handle on digital experience, let’s show you why it’s crucial to improving customer experience.

What are the benefits of digital experience? 

Picture this: You’ve just posted about a contest on social media, offering the audience a chance to win $1k with a link to the landing page. 

The post gets thousands of impressions when you check, but almost zero conversions. 

Wouldn’t you want to dig into what went wrong and how to transform those views into actions?

That’s where DX comes in.

It helps you track customer interaction across the different channels to identify what’s causing friction and understand their behavior using digital experience platforms. This way, you can optimize and deliver experiences that attract and retain users. 

And that’s just the start. Here are other reasons digital experience is important:

• Gives your brand a competitive advantage: Digital experience helps you optimize the brand to meet customer’s needs in the way they prefer. It’s about giving them what they want, setting your brand apart as one committed to giving its audience a good experience. 
• Helps you adapt: Customers' needs and preferences always change, especially with emerging tech innovations. 

However, a good grasp of digital experiences ensures you can identify their new preferences and adapt your brand accordingly. You’d leverage digital experience management software to visualize the user's journey and map out frustrating touchpoints.  

• Provides in-depth data: As a brand owner, you want to give customers and prospects an unforgettable experience when they interact with your brand. But to do that, you need data; data on user behavior, key touchpoints, preferences, and more. That’s what digital experience offers. This way, you can make data-backed decisions and ensure the customer’s experience while interacting with you is solid. 
• Increased revenue: If the experience customers have of your brand is just what they need, it’ll motivate them to stay a while (boost retention), make them open to take further action by clicking your call to action (CTA) for example, and that would likely lead to an increase in revenue too.   

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Digital this, experience that. 

But what does that mean for your brand? How’s it going to look? 

We’ve compiled a few examples you can look at below.

6 examples of great digital experience for customers

We’ve explained what digital experience means for you as a brand. Now, let’s get into some examples so you know what a great experience should look like.

1. Interactive websites

Interactive websites are the kind of sites that respond to a user's action. It typically has user-centered elements like moving images, animations, games, and fun scrolling. 

Much like this Dallas Cowboy site created on Ceros for Darren Woodson:

GIF Source: Ceros

This one has a GIF, a slider with a timeline, and a video.  

So, how does an interactive site help enhance the digital experience?

The Dallas Cowboy website, for example, offered users a personalized way to learn about Darren’s Career. They had control over the content across different devices, giving them an impressive personal experience they’d be willing to share. 

2. Interactive content

Interactive content is similar to traditional, static content but this one has interactive elements such as a show/hide toggle, clickable hotspots, and parallax scrolling.  

And unlike traditional content, people don’t just scroll through, they can engage with it by scrolling, clicking, answering questions, or hovering over elements. 

Some examples include polls, surveys, interactive articles, interactive videos, and interactive infographics that could be similar to this one from Ceros:

Image Source: Ceros

It’s an infographic designed for The American Chemical Society publication showing the impact of their authors and reviewers. 

Everything from the animation to the hotspots in this interactive content allows users to actively participate as they click on the elements. 

And anyone who came looking to see how helpful their contributions were can do so in a few clicks and be motivated to stick around. 

That’s what a great digital experience can look like for your audience.

3. Gamification

The idea behind gamification is to add game-related elements like rewards and progress tracking to a piece of content or platform so it’s more engaging and enjoyable.

Everyone loves to play games so including it ensures every touchpoint on the user’s journey is an experience they’re looking forward to. 

Their pain points are solved and they get rewards.  This experience doesn’t just help attract people, it’s great for retention too, encouraging them to keep coming back. 

A good example is how Duolingo gamifies learning on the app. It uses a reward system (linglots) and progress tracking (streaks) to motivate users to learn consistently.

Image Source: Duolingo

At first, users sign up because they want to learn a new language. 

But Duolingo makes the experience truly engaging for them with gamification elements.  

Every time a user reaches their learning goals, they get linglots; and if they’re consistent with their learning, they get streaks. 

This gave users an awesome experience while using the app and helping them to be productive. 

4. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)

You know those quirky filters that add lipsticks or beards to your face on Snapchat? 

That’s AR, it’s an engaging experience where the real-world environment is overlaid with digital visuals, sounds, and other elements. 

An example is the IKEA Place app which allows customers to see how a piece of furniture fits their space in real-time before buying it. 

Image Source: IKEA

This is a great digital experience because it helps people know if a product is right for them, saving them the whole back and forth of trying the product.

VR, on the other hand, is an experience that allows people to interact with the digital environment in 3D. 

But overall, both experiences are immersive, allowing users to explore a brand, product, or service in a virtual environment. They make it easy for people to interact with a product so they can make informed decisions. 

5. Chatbots and virtual assistants 

This pair is all about providing personalized support to customers. 

And here’s why they’re good examples of a digital experience:

• Offers swift responses to customers in distress. 
• Provides personalized recommendations and assistance so your customers feel special. 
• Helps users automate routine actions such as booking appointments. 

Overall, they simplify user interactions on your site, ensuring they can glide through bottlenecks on the way. 

An example is Apple’s Siri which helps iOS users handle different tasks from booking appointments to making calls, opening apps, and more. 

Image Source: Apple

It may not be a virtual assistant per se but it definitely helps users perform their daily tasks simply by using their voice.

6. Personalization

Personalization aka customization means recognizing users as people with unique preferences and adapting your product or service to suit what they like and their behavior.

Doing that makes users feel seen and that in turn, will boost customer loyalty to your brand, improve engagements, and make them satisfied with your services. 

Netflix is one customer-centric brand that does this perfectly. 

After you watch one movie, Netflix’s algorithm goes undercover and recommends similar movies based on their viewing history and search. 

By delivering relevant content like this to users, you give them an experience tailored to their needs.

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If your digital experiences are like those above, you’re probably on track. 

But if you aren’t getting the expected engagements, something might be missing.

Let’s dive into possible reasons below.

What can lead to a poor digital experience?

You’re doing everything right but your organic traffic is just meh.

Well, these reasons could be why…

• Bad website design – A website that’s difficult to navigate, has a terrible user interface, is inaccessible, and isn’t responsive is a recipe for a terrible user experience. According to a report by Goodfirms, over 73.1% of visitors say they’ll leave a site if it’s not responsive. 

And when people are unable to do the task they set out to do on your site, they’re likely going to go along with your competitor. 

The way out? Design a stunning website with Ceros. You’ll just need to find a template you like, edit it with your content and brand style, add interactive elements, and publish. 

• Technical issues – Websites that are slow to load, have bugs, are incompatible with certain browsers, and have loads of downtime can also lead to (very) bad digital experiences. 

We’re not just saying that too… 88.5% of web visitors say they’ll leave a site if it loads slowly. 

How do you solve this? You probably want to hire a web design expert to handle it.

• Unengaging content – Content is another huge factor that causes poor digital experience. 34.6% of people say they’ll leave a site with bad content. 

To fix that, the first thing to do is a content audit using website optimization and SEO tools, like Ahrefs. This helps you categorize which content can still be salvaged or needs to go. 

Then, do audience research to know what content type and formats your audience likes and create content based on your findings.  

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Now speaking of tools to use, let’s discuss the different kinds custom-made for digital experiences.

What are digital experience platforms (DXP) and tools?

Gartner, a tech research company, defines it this way:

“It’s an integrated set of technologies designed to enable the composition, management, delivery, and optimization of contextualized digital experiences across multi-experience customer journeys.” 

That’s another way of saying it’s a tool for managing user experiences across omnichannels and touchpoints. 

With a DXP, you can monitor and optimize your customer’s journey on your brand or third-party channels. 

Plus, according to Gartner, digital experience platforms not only offer customers digital experiences, but they also cater to employees, students, and other audiences. 

You can think of it as an advanced content management system that helps manage your client’s lifecycle; from content production to monitoring and optimization. 

Now, a typical DXP should have features such as: 

• Digital asset management, a database where digital files like audio, images, and videos, can be stored when the need arises.
• Content management feature to help you create, manage, and publish content across multiple channels like mobile apps, websites, IoT devices like smartwatches, or social media platforms. 
• eCommerce functionality so you can create digital stores, set up payment systems, and manage orders within the platform.
• Customer relationship management (CRM) to track user data and help you improve their experiences.
• Insight and analytics so you have detailed insights into challenges users face, monitor their behaviors, and get suggestions on how to make their experience better. 
• API and Integrations so you can use the DXP alongside other digital marketing tools.
• Personalization and automation so you can analyze customer behaviors and create personalized digital experiences for them. 
• A/B testing, a DXP should have a digital experimental feature so you can make data-based decisions on the right approach to take for your campaign. 

Alright, how about a peek at some real-life DXPs? 

• Bloomreach: This DXP is for eCommerce businesses. It helps them create personalized digital experiences by analyzing product data and customers so they know what users want on each channel. 
• Jahia DXP: A content management system and DXP, Jahia lets you create experiences that can increase lead generation and conversion using data. 

Jahia does this by getting data from its customer data platform where you can track and segment your audience for a complete customer view. This way, you have all-around data on client interactions on your channels – an important element in creating a digital experience.  

• Acquia DXP: Acquia is another tool for building digital experiences. It can help you understand and better engage with your audience. Plus, it has most of the features we mentioned earlier; content management, asset management, and integrations among others.

Having a great DXP will streamline the process of creating digital experiences. But only if you have a seamless experience plan in place. 

Don’t know how to create one?

Come, let’s show you…

Tips for creating an effective digital experience strategy 

Like most things in life you want to be good at, you need a plan. A well-crafted scheme that’ll motivate and help you make rational decisions. 

For your digital experience ambition, here are some tips on how to create a plan for it.

Determine your objectives

The goal of digital experiences is to improve how clients interact with your brand across digital platforms. 

But you want to probe further and ask yourself: What do I want to achieve when I start getting the improved interaction? 

It’s how you know if the exercise is successful or not. 

To define your objectives, you want to have a tete-a-tete with your teammates to determine what a successful digital experience means for the brand. 

And it can be anything…

• Better customer engagement. 
• Increased brand loyalty. 
• 50% rise in conversion rates. 
• Aligned brand style across channels. 
• Customer insights to make better decisions. 

Outlining objectives helps your team measure their success score sheets. 

Plan your content

Content creation is at the heart of digital experiences and as such, you need to include it in your plan. 

But you don’t want to just create content for the sake of it. 

No, you need to ensure that the content ideas in the pipeline are what your target audience likes. 

And how do you know that?

First off, do audience research. 

Look at your follower list and competitors’ on social media to get an idea of who your audience can be.

You want to check for:

• Their location. 
• Who they are (age, gender, job, etc.). 
• Their interests (hobbies, things they like, places they visit, etc.).
• Content types and formats they’ve interacted with already.

Then produce content that they’ll like based on what your research has shown you.

Conduct customer journey mapping

Next, you want to map out how customers interact with your app or site at each stage of their journey. 

Where do they visit first and second before clicking checkout?

Understanding this would help you personalize their experience across the different platforms. 

So, how do you map the customer journey? 

1. Define your objectives. 
2. Get people from different teams in the organization who’ve interacted with users before like marketing, customer care, sales, etc. 

Brainstorm with the teams to identify key touchpoints on the customers’ journey and improve their experience across the board. 

Gather and analyze customer feedback

Another thing you need to do is understand users' pain points by listening to your audience’s suggestions. That’s one solid way to improve the quality of their experience.

But to do that, you’ll need data, and here’s how to gather it:

• Send out surveys to customers. A questionnaire where people can give their feedback or rate your service. But if it’s going to be a long survey, you can give them a digital gift to compensate for their time too. It’s part of improving the digital experience. And it just might motivate them to share it with other customers too.
• Use social listening tools like Sprout Social to monitor what people are saying about your brand across multiple channels. 
• Interview customers the old-fashioned way so you can also read people’s emotions about how they feel about your brand.

Track, measure, and improve

Tracking digital experience helps you measure its success and identify areas for improvement. Plus, it ensures you can offer your audience a more immersive experience. 

If you’re going to do that,  you’ll need to:

• Define customer digital experiences you want to measure like when they add to cart or want to check out. 
• Choose important touchpoints to focus on like mobile apps, social media, or digital ads. 
• Focus on metrics that align with your objectives, like engagement metrics or customer satisfaction scores. 

While we’re on the subject of tracking, let’s show you some digital experience metrics you can monitor in the next section.

What metrics and KPIs are important for a positive digital experience?

Is your customer's digital experience improving or getting worse? 

Tracking these metrics is how you’ll know.

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) – Measures your user’s satisfaction with a product, service, or webpage. In other words, it tells you how customers feel after interacting with your service. 

You can know this by sending them quick surveys at each point in their journey where they can rate the service on a scale of 1-10 or 1-5. You could further ask why they chose a rating.

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) – This metric measures customer satisfaction and loyalty where you ask them how likely they are to refer your brand to people they know on a scale of 1-5.
• Customer Effort Score (CES) – Tracks the amount of effort users have to put into an action like finding information or purchasing a product. You can ask them how easy it was to do on a scale of 1-5 or 1-7.
• Conversion Rate – Measures the percentage of users who click your CTA such as purchasing a service or signing up for an email newsletter.
• Bounce Rate – This is the percentage of people who leave your site after interacting with the first page they see.
• Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) – Tracks the average revenue a customer would generate for you over time.

So, how do you actually measure these metrics? 

You can use a tool like Hotjar to measure KPIs like CES, NPS, CSAT, and LTV using their survey templates. You’ll just have to find one you like and integrate it with your platform to start collecting customer feedback.  

For conversion rates and bounce rates, Google Analytics is your plug. 

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So, here we are at the end of this guide.

It was an interesting run. We’re confident you’ve learned a few things about digital experience here.

Now, it’s time to say our goodbyes. But before we do that, here are some parting words for you…

Over to you!

You’ve gone through this guide and seen examples of what great digital experiences should look like.

And yours is nowhere close or could do with a touch-up. 

Whichever way it is, there’s no need to worry, especially because you’ve got Ceros as your buddy now. 

With Ceros, you can create interactive experiences that:

• Capture your customers' attention,
• Get them involved in the experience, and 
• Ensure they can navigate through the experience seamlessly. 

Want to see it for yourself? Easily done!

Just schedule a demo with Ceros today and witness how it can improve the digital experience for your users.