Customers are changing the way they engage with businesses, mirroring their preferences in their personal lives.  Their lives are becoming more digitally defined on a daily basis and, even those activities that have an element of human engagement often begin with a digital engagement.

If you’re going out to dinner, how do you decide where?  Online reviews or apps are a common starting point.  There’s also a good chance you can make reservations online or through a mobile app.  How are you going to let your friends know you’ve made reservations?  Text, email, messaging app are the most likely candidates.

The point is digital channels are dominating communication.  Consider this:  More than 15 million texts are sent every minute globally, not including P2P messaging apps like FB Messenger and WhatsApp.  That’s 8 trillion per year.

The same tendencies are impacting how customers engage businesses, with the majority of all customer service engagement starting online, such as in self-service portals or live chat.  This is a trend that isn’t likely to change, considering Millennials are now the single largest population group in our workforce, and have a very strong preference towards digital channels, particularly chat when it comes to customer care.

Research suggests businesses that deliver a high level of digital customer service are seen favorably by customers, making it imperative that companies have solid digital strategies in place.  In addition to increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty, digital customer service can reduce costs, thanks to chatbots and AI, as well as increasing revenue – customers that engage in live chat have a higher purchasing rate than those who do not.

So, how do you get from traditional customer care models to modern, intelligent digital customer experiences that will help you  more effectively engage with today’s customers and allow them to communicate with your businesses using their preferred channel(s).

To understand why digital customer care must be a priority and how to define and execute a successful strategy, join me and Tracy Oppenheimer from Helpshift for a webinar on Thursday, February 28.  “How to Leverage Automation to Deliver a Scalable, Exceptional Digital CX” will explain why a digital strategy is necessary in today’s world, as well as how to give your business the best chance of a successful transition.