What does a company need to do to generate new business and attract customers with digital products? Learn about “digital strategy” and how to put it into practice.
Gaining relevance in an ever-increasing digital market is not a simple task. The speed imposed by frequent changes and fierce competition, which are characteristics of this new environment, bring about challenges. Although it can establish some important elements, mainly technologies, the path digital transformation isn’t always clear. That’s where a relevant concept for us at Cinq comes in: digital strategy.
What should a company do and what digital products should it come up with to generate new business and attract customers? This is the definition of “digital strategy” – and it’s what every company needs to stay competitive. Whether it’s to reduce costs, seek out new markets, launch products (or a combination of any of these) , it is essential to first form a strategy.
“Up to five years ago any well-made app had its place under the sun. Now you need much more than that,” Luis Dosso, Chief Business Development Officer and Cinq’s cofounder says. “The comparison level is much higher. It’s necessary to think about several other factors – from the product conception, through the user’s experience and engagement. And then keep evolving.”
Over the last few years, practices, methodologies, and technologies capable of keeping a digital product relevant and in constant evolution became popular. The Agile, the OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), the Growth techniques, and cloud computing are some examples. According to Dosso, many companies have chosen to make use of some of these without thinking about a bigger strategy to align everything to achieve better results.
“Most companies go with the flow without structuring actions. This motto might have worked so far, but the market is more mature and requires a higher degree of professionalism. It’s necessary to take more articulated actions,” says Dosso.
Knowing the ropes
Designing a product in line with the users’ needs and then evolving it according to its use might sound simple, but it requires a number of strategies. Dosso defines them as “small guerrilla actions to achieve big results,” which includes extracting insights and generating new functionalities from them.
But extracting knowledge from general data requires people and tools to turn insights into new functionalities, all in an agile way. “This package that we call ‘putting the digital strategy into practice’ includes some or all of these elements, depending on each customer’s objective,” Dosso explains.
The main advantage of this approach is in the efficiency gains achieved with the coherent actions taken. It means better use of the budget and the ability to carry out simultaneous actions.
Putting the strategy into action
How do you draw up a digital strategy and what should you consider?
First of all, it is important to understand the company’s objective: simplifying a communication channel, launching a product, reducing costs or another objective. Next, define what is expected in quantitative terms: revenue growth by 20%, sales growth through the app or kiosks by 15%, retaining customers longer, etc.
Then comes the product conception or solution, considering what needs to be offered, and always taking the user’s experience (UX) into account. The next step is testing to find out if the hypotheses will bring value to the customer.
The next step is development, carried out by the squads, who consider the technologies that best fit the intended purpose. When the product or functionality is finally launched, another essential part of the strategy comes into effect: measuring the use. Only through data it is possible to know whether the objectives were achieved and if what was put into practice matched the theory. In addition, you will discover what is missing.
“The product gaining traction, being considered useful by the target audience, and achieving its business objective is the litmus test,” Dosso explains. “Once the strategy is defined, Cinq comes in with the ability to put it all together in a digital product. We are ready to make it happen.”
Digital strategy elements
