Companies today must compete on customer experience. And most companies, about 66%think they are giving. However, a lot CLIENTS feel different. Recent research has revealed that 54% of buyers believe that companies treat customer experience as an afterthought.

Furthermore, research from McKinsey shows that up to 70% of digital transformations, which typically seek to modernize CX, fail. Why the disconnect?

A big factor is focusing too much on technology and too little on content when modernizing or improving the customer experience. Content, including text, images, audio, video, documents and more, is the core of the customer experience across touchpoints such as websites, emails, social media, mobile apps, SMS, IVR, chatbots and call centers. Many more of your customers will interact with your company's content than with your company's employees – and do so more often.

So how to pay more attention to the content the company tries to compete on CX? Start by looking for options in the content for login, feature approval, order status, and self-service.

1. Content in the introduction

Acquiring a new customer is a precious thing, usually costing more than earning business from an existing customer. However, most companies miss the opportunity by using a poor approach to onboarding or welcoming the customer. Typical problems include:

• No. boarding or welcome content at all, which risks losing the customer's attention and engagement.
• The messages and tone in the communication are disconnected from the tone and promises made in the sales process, which risks causing confusion or disappointment.
• Content is heavy product documentation rather than a helpful guide, which risks causing confusion and frustration.

For good examples, see World-class SaaSsuch as Mailchimp and AirBnB, which use a friendly tone and clear messaging in content such as walkthroughs, setup wizards, reminders, best practice guides and tips for success. Retailers and e-commerce businesses like Target, Crate & Barrel and Pretty Alright Goods offer helpful content ranging from special discounts to helpful tips.

Related: Artificial intelligence can destroy your life or business—if you don't take these critical steps

2. Content in adoption of features or products

If you're a business that sells products, then chances are you want customers to use the products and try out more of their features. The more customers use them successfully, the more likely they are to want to continue using them. Content can go a long way leading your customers to use your products correctly and even to improve. Typical problems include:

• No content to help customers.
• Overly promotional or pushy tone to try a new feature or improvement.
• Generic rather than personalized advice or suggestions.
• Personalized suggestions that aren't actually relevant, such as suggesting to buy more refrigerators after a customer has already bought one.
• Product focus (eg, this is how the feature works) rather than customer success focus (eg, this is how to use the feature to get more value from the product).
• Poorly written and designed guides and documentation, especially for more technical products.
• Incorrectly translated and localized guides and documentation for global customers.

3. Content in Order Status Communication

If your business involves receiving and fulfilling orders, then communicating the status of those orders is the core of your CX. Do well in all your touchpoints and customers feel safe in you, even if something unexpected happens. Get it wrong and customers become unsure and more likely to ask for an explanation or cancel.

Many problems can occur when communicating about orders. Some examples include:

• No communication of order status at all or very little communication.
• Using the wrong tone, such as a cold or impersonal tone, when communicating a delay.
• The disconnect between what an email, text, or chatbot says and what the website or mobile app says.
• Communicating a change or problem in a vague or confusing way.
• Over-communicating about the status of the order, which inundates the customer with emails and texts.
• Communications related to poorly written and designed content, such as return policies, shipping explanations, and FAQs.

Related: 'Hello again, it's ChatGPT': You can now call ChatGPT directly from your phone

4. Content in embracing self-service

Most customers today are open to using self-service, and many actually prefer it. You can help customers help themselves with content such as NOTICESalerts, instructions, button labels, error messages, confirmation messages, contextual help, and guides. Problems include

• There is no content to notify customers of self-service options.
• Poorly written instructions, form tags, and contextual help.
• Vague error messages that don't explain what the customer needs to fix.
• No explanation of how self-service benefits the customer.
• Poorly written guides to complex self-service tasks.
• Lack of flow between self-service tasks and supporting content.
• Chatbots and copilots provide assistance that is inaccurate, misleading, or minimally helpful.

Integrate content into your own vision for customer experience or digital transformation to gain a content advantage in the customer experience. Create a content center of excellence to connect customer-facing departments and ensure consistent content governance.

Invest in modern content roles, such as content designers, to create customer-centric experiences. Finally, consider partnering with content strategy experts to accelerate your progress and drive impactful results.