For decades, many brands have built their value around physical experiences. Private health clinics, entertainment, and learning are just some of the experiences that used to occur solely in-person.
However, as digital habits have changed over the last 10+ years, brands that used to rely on physical products and services have started to diversify online.
They’ve done this by translating the existing customer experience into a digital format, giving customers a new way to engage with the brands they trust.
The Process of Moving from Physical to Digital
All successful transitions start with understanding the core customer experience that’s worth preserving. Whatever made the physical product or service successful needs to translate into the digital version. For example, if a brand product or service is around social elements, the online version should also be social.
Adding to this, the right digital format needs to be chosen. Some brands extend through a website, while others use an app- sometimes even both. The right choice depends on how your customers actually behave and the digital product/service you’re offering. A customer using your digital product/service not on a regular basis may prefer no app, and a customer using it on a regular basis may prefer an app.
The third is knowing how the digital product will work alongside the physical one, not against it. A clothing shop can use a digital ecommerce store to grow regionally or even globally, but it should protect its local retail stores so customers still get the true, authentic experience of the brand.
Successful Examples
The entire telehealth industry is a great example. Companies like Push Doctor have turned physical GP appointments into video consultations. Patients still get the same medical consultation, just remote and at a time that suits them best.
Buzz Bingo is another. The UK heritage bingo brand operates 90+ bingo clubs across the country. To improve accessibility further, they created a bingo app, where you can play bingo, slots, and more. The app itself offers a similar experience to their physical locations, it’s just accessible 24/7 and from the comfort of your own home.
It even goes as far as the cinema. We used to have to go to the cinema to watch the latest movies. Nowadays, you can just watch it on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+. Overall, it provides the same service, the movie, just in a different setting.
Kindle can be looked at as another successful example as well. To read books, we needed to go to the bookshop or library. With Kindle Unlimited, however, you have access to 5 million digital books remotely.
What Makes the Transition Successful
Each of the mentioned brands started with a strong physical product or service that could be easily improved online.
Push Doctor, for example, leverages their digital product as a way to provide GP appointments at scale and at more ideal times for patients. Buzz Bingo, though a completely different industry, allows people to enjoy their services even if they don’t live close to any of their physical locations.
These brands succeeded as they were able to move online without sacrificing the need for physical service, but also benefiting the remote user. That’s the secret behind moving physical products to the digital world.
