Convenience: How to Improve the User Experience

It isn’t a secret to anyone that, thanks to the accelerated growth of the internet that opened the gates to the digital transformation we are experiencing today, thousands of companies have had the opportunity to offer their products or services, while operating even more efficiently. 

However, being logistically functional is no longer enough.

The demands from an increasingly informed user, added to the strong competition that exists in all industries, has triggered a restructuring of priorities for companies, where absolutely all of us can agree that customer service, accessibility and convenience are some of the most important pillars if our objective is to generate loyalty.

Customer experience is defined as one of the paradigms to conquer in order to differentiate ourselves from our competition and obtain the highest possible profitability. However, we always have to be very careful because, in seeking to be efficient within our operation, we could be facilitating our own comfort before the comfort of our clients. This natural tendency toward efficiency and ease in the execution of tasks can be detrimental when we get into the daily relationship with clients.

Here is something that I would like to highlight: good customer service is not limited only to the on-time delivery of the service or products that the user wants, but also offering efficient solutions to any setback or problem that might be experienced. 

Taking a false step when delivering your services can be extremely expensive. According to the study Experience  is everything: Here's how to get it right, by PwC, one of the most recognized global consulting firms, 1 in 3 users quits consuming a brand right after a negative event.

On the other hand, according to data from Zendesk's 2021 Trends Report, the renowned software company that is focused on customer service, 75% of customers will buy more from a business that offers a good user experience.

The only way to reinvent our companies and operations with the goal of generating a true positive impact for users is through a business model that easily adapts to the new needs of a rapidly evolving market, even requiring us to take a step forward and think about how to make ourselves much more useful and accessible.

In this sense, the technological processes used in the customer experience play a leading role, also offering a set of data and insights that will allow companies to assess whether your strategy is correctly implemented. That said, the use of technology undoubtedly benefits both users and the company itself, which has the power to understand its target market, to make the necessary adjustments and create even more positive interactions.

This leads me to a principle that for more than 10 years, almost five of which have been in the Mexican territory, at DiDi we have defined as part of the essential pillars of our operation the provision of tools that make life easier for the people who are using the platform.

Aiming to respond to the preference of users who have positioned us as the most used app since 2020, we work daily to provide our service through convenience. Initially, the need for mobility in cities became our priority and, consequently, our main business. Eventually, in this process of active listening, we realized that there was also an opportunity to positively impact consumers, restaurants, and couriers through DiDi Food, so we got down to work so that they could use all the services conveniently on the same platform.

Every day we seek to be part of the day-to-day of the community through innovation. This is why, in 2022, we began to implement several financial services, complementing the portfolio already known by a large sector of the population.

This bet arose because we picture the user returning from work with DiDi, ordering dinner through DiDi Food, and recharging credit for a friend or buying gift cards while traveling, without waiting in lines and without having to use cash, everything within the same app. With these add-on services available on our platform, we want to give any user a little more time back to their daily activities.

As business leaders, we must be clear that ensuring user convenience will give us a broad competitive advantage, even if you think that your brand or product is not the most "ideal" to offer it. It is clear that any company that can deliver a more comfortable customer experience than its competitors is prepared to prosper, streamline its operation correctly and, best of all, be much closer to users, creating loyalty.

That said, no matter how big your company grows or how well sales are going, it never hurts to recognize that there is always an opportunity to improve the relationship with users; the key is to focus our competitive advantage on speed, consistency, ease of use and convenience. If we make technology feel more human, then we will be closer to our primary objective: to positively impact the lives of people in the places where we are present.