Our recent survey of 500 marketing leaders shed light on a number of shocking realities for today’s enterprises. For starters, 93% report their teams must continually innovate to remain competitive. This emphasis on staying ahead of competition nods at the importance of customer experiences and why it is critical organizations are able to deliver on users’ needs and expectations. 

Below, we’ll dive into the importance of meeting customer expectations, the challenges associated with delivering engaging web experiences, and tips for organizations looking to shift their digital experience strategy in the new year.

What are customer experiences, and why are they important?

The customer experience, commonly referred to as CX, is the combination of activity a company takes on to deliver value to its customers. Every interaction a brand has with its customers plays a crucial role in CX, and every moment presents an opportunity to attract new customers, build stronger relationships with them, and generate a positive brand perception. 

The customer experience is as important as the services or products your company offers, and as a result, it has become the basis upon which companies compete. Especially in today’s digital-first environment, the ability to meet consumers where they are with pleasant, memorable experiences is critical — and can boost companies’ bottom lines. 

A positive customer experience is one that takes the full customer journey into account, tailoring experiences to what users expect at a given moment in time. They also are interactions that elicit emotion and minimize friction in order to keep users engaged, generate loyalty, and move people closer toward a desired action. 

It’s important to remember that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to an organization's CX strategy. Users’ needs, wants, and emotions are constantly shifting — be it for personal or external reasons. It’s up to companies to stay abreast of shifting market conditions and trends, as well as users’ expressed needs and desires, to effectively adjust the strategy in place. 

Why today’s companies are struggling to deliver engaging digital experiences

The website is a critical component of today’s businesses’ abilities to deliver exceptional customer experiences. As the cornerstone upon which organizations create and grow their online presence and connect with their customers, it’s often the first point of contact, the reflection of your brand identity, and the source of truth for critical information about your product and/or services. 

As competition and consumer expectations rapidly shift, a well-designed and well-executed marketing website is not a luxury but a necessity. And while marketing leaders understand the positive impact a website can have on their bottom line, our research reveals that 57% find it more difficult to meet customer expectations today than one year ago. 

Let’s dig into three of the primary reasons growing businesses report they are struggling to deliver positive digital customer experiences. 

Reduced budgets 

The current macroeconomic conditions play a significant role in experience delivery. Websites have become an increasingly costly line item in marketing budgets — both for the technology needed and the talent needed to maintain it. Today, the average organization is spending $1.09 million on web development and web design talent alone on average, and companies are spending over $500K on web software. 

As these costs continue to compound annually, organizations are simultaneously dealing with budget cuts and/or workforce reductions — presenting significant challenges for marketing teams looking to leverage their websites to deliver positive customer experiences.

Hiring and retaining talent 

The overall challenges organizations are facing when it comes to meeting customer expectations is in part due to the current labor market. Maintaining a powerful website that can help organizations deliver exception experiences requires quality, savvy talent. However, 59% of enterprise marketing leaders we surveyed report hiring talent is more difficult today than it was 12 months ago, and 57% agree retaining talent is also more difficult today than it was 12 months ago.

Ineffective websites

While challenges with budgets and talent acquisition don’t exist in a vacuum, organizations are dealing with website efficacy challenges as a whole. Companies are struggling to keep up with market trends and their competition because their current website has critical shortcomings. More than half of marketing leaders surveyed report their company’s website is currently missing the visual mark, with respondents in retail and manufacturing especially citing this as a key challenge.

How marketing teams can start delivering stellar experiences on the web in 2024

In order to overcome the various associated challenges with experience delivery, marketing teams are going to have to assess their entire digital strategy — from their goals and teams to their processes and technology — to get back on track in 2024 and start delighting customers. 

Below are a few tips for teams looking to leverage their website to hit the ground running on their digital CX strategy in the new year. 

1. Prioritize web best practices

Websites are complex, ever-changing digital assets that marketing teams must be able to reliably maintain and scale to support their business needs. Marketing leaders should not only provide marketers and designers with tools and processes that set them up for success, but also implement best practices for owning and managing the website. This includes making sure the website is truly accessible and secure, is optimized for SEO and site performance, and adapts to every region they serve. 

2. Empower more business users to play a bigger role in the website

For marketing departments looking to scale the impact of their websites — and thus, their ability to deliver memorable digital experiences — empowering non-technical team members is key. To unlock your organization’s full potential, as well as stay on time and on budget, consider reimagining your web team structure and the roles marketers and designers can play in the website. Not only will empowering marketers and designers help your business keep up with web projects, but it will allow them to move quickly alongside changing market demands and deliver more stunning customer experiences, faster — without relying heavily on engineering or IT.

3. Gain control over your website with modern tools

In addition to empowering business users, modern web tools like Webflow are already generating incremental benefits for teams when it comes to their ability to implement sophisticated web solutions and improve collaboration. 80% of organizations currently using no-code or low-code web platforms report they feel more in control of their team’s workload and bandwidth, as well as significant time savings. 

Keep up with the pace of innovation

Websites and digital strategies are constantly evolving, which is why it is critical organizations regularly assess how they stack up against the competition and stay abreast of shifting consumer and market trends. To gain a deeper understanding of the key challenges enterprise businesses are facing when it comes to websites and customer expectations, read our free research report, The 2024 State of the Website, for more in-depth data and nuanced perspective on what steps today’s marketers can take to uplevel their marketing strategy in the new year.