Omni-Channel Customer Engagement Article

The omni-channel experience is one that continues to affect consumers throughout the modern marketplace. Consumers are increasingly demanding access to a variety of channels, depending upon their communication and transaction preference. At the same time, consumers also want the personalized experience – is it possible to offer both in an environment where omni-channel customer engagement is the norm?

According to recent research, consumers increasingly prefer digital service channels to traditional call centers, yet it’s still important to align strategies with consumer demands. For instance, consumers may want the omni-channel customer engagement experience, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still want access to the live agent when needed.

At the same time, customers overwhelmingly want a customized experience. For many, that means offering the digital engagement experience within their preferred channel and timeframe. While that’s easier said than done, it’s not impossible to gather this information from the customer and customize the experience as needed. It starts with paying attention to the customer and monitoring all channels as often as possible to ensure the customer experience is optimized.

For instance, a number of companies have expanded customer care into the social media realm. To do so, that means they have to provide immediate responses to users posting a concern on these channels. A failure to do so could lead to a backlash through a channel that is exceptionally public, which could significantly damage the brand. As such, the onmi-channel customer engagement experience means companies have to be on alert at all times, paying attention to all channels and becoming more agile.

That means companies have to understand their customer, develop and stick to a strategy they know will work and design the customer experience according to the information they gather. It’s all about business intelligence derived from the data made available throughout the varying channels on a regular basis. Even with this level of attention, however, there is still one step missing – seamless transition.

It’s not enough to offer multiple channels for customers to use on a regular basis. Companies also have to provide for the seamless transition across all of these channels. This requires deep integration with a robust customer relationship management (CRM) solution and continuous monitoring across all channels. Customers should be able to move seamlessly between the channels without repeating information, losing information or experiencing a shift in the engagement experience.

For the company able to create this kind of omni-channel customer engagement experience, the competition doesn’t have a chance. Are you prepared to raise the bar?