Famed retailer J. Crew unveiled its multi-channel strategy back in 2007 when the brand found that multi-channel consumer spent twice as much money as its single-channel customers. Six years ago, the company was a pioneer of what has become an industry standard today. Back then, that was a revelation; now, it’s the de facto standard. Today, it’s no longer an option for customers to use more than one channel to interact with companies, it’s a reality. For instance, a customer researching a car online before taking a test drive or ordering a product through his or her smartphone and then picking it up in the store. It happens far more often than you may think.

The same behavior applies to the contact center. Consumers have a variety of preferences in how they want to be communicated with – including phone, fax, e-mail, text, Web chat, video and social media. With the 21st century consumer, being available through multiple channels is no longer a luxury, it is simply the price of entry for any company that wants to do business with them.