How do you get the Multi-channel Experience GOAT status?

PTP defines GOAT CX as delivering seamless interactions that are frictionless for customers and employees, particularly with contact channel strategy and usage. This installment of our “Achieving GOAT CX” series is dedicated to the multi-channel experience: what it is, why it matters, and what you can do to transform it. 

Let’s begin by defining what a multi-channel experience is NOT, and why so many companies fail to get this right. It is not a set of disconnected communication channels that are implemented by siloed groups within a company to enable interactions that have no overall strategy for integrated customer experiences. So, what is it? 

Multi-channel customer experience is a seamless and integrated interaction between a customer and a company across multiple channels. Its intent is to provide consistent and personalized experiences for the customer, regardless of the channel they choose to engage with the company. 

How do we define “personalized experiences?” It involves using customer data to tailor interactions, services, and products to the preferences of individual customers. The goal is to create more relevant and engaging experiences that will resonate with customers. 

Industry leaders today emphasize how important personalization is in delivering unique experiences that enable the ability to meet customer expectations and preferences. Several outcomes of such an integrated experience across multi-channels are expected: 

For the customer 

• A more convenient and efficient customer journey. 

• Effective interactions that get questions answered and issues resolved. 

For the company 

• A deeper understanding of the needs and preferences of its customers.  

• Increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately, business growth. 

According to a report by the Aberdeen Group, “companies with strong multi-channel strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers, compared to 33% for companies with weak strategies.”¹ 

The return on investment in designing and implementing a multi-channel strategy is clear. 

Are All Channels Equal? 

This is one of the most important questions a company needs to answer before developing an integrated multi-channel experience for the customer, and several questions must be asked under this heading, including but not limited to the following: 

1. Who are our customers? 

2. What are their expectations?  

3. Are we meeting those expectations? 

4. How do they contact us today?  

5. Does their method of contact depend on differing needs at different times? 

6. What issues do they have when they contact us?  

7. How are we dealing with those issues? 

Many companies do not have a good handle on the answer to these and other relevant questions. How can you possibly develop a contact strategy without this core understanding? The answer is: you can’t. So, how do you get the answers? 

A Solid Starting Point 

Companies must understand what the existing customer journey looks like in each contact channel. Customer journey analytics and mapping is an excellent starting point. This approach should yield the following critical information that will lay the foundation for a multi-channel strategy: 

1. The contact type and volume data to reveal where to start with the effort. 

2. A visual representation of the customer’s interactions with a company across all existing touchpoints (web, IVR, AI agents/bots, phone, email, chat, text, etc.). 

3. A fully documented journey across each touchpoint — from initial awareness to post-interaction support. 

4. Process, procedure, and workflow gaps that impede and complicate the journey. 

5. Efficiencies, gaps, and pain points that the customer and employees experience along the journey. 

6. The existing means a company employs to gather customer feedback and to react to identified gaps and pain points. 

7. The current process to get front-line employee feedback and to reach identified gaps and pain points. 

8. The in-place methods a company uses to analyze channel usage and measure success. 

In addition to journey analytics and mapping, customer surveys (Voice of the Customer) and internal employee feedback (Voice of the Employee) should also be carefully reviewed to measure current satisfaction levels. 

Developing the Strategy 

Who should be responsible for analyzing this data and developing the strategy? Remember the goal is to create “an integrated, connected customer experience.” That definition screams of one thing: NO SILOS! 

Thus, the people involved need to employ a cross-company view, including at least the following critical areas: 

1. Senior leadership, who set the overall strategic objectives and business goals of the firm. 

2. Areas with direct customer interaction responsibilities. 

3. Support areas for those groups with direct customer interaction responsibilities. Processes, procedures, and workflow transparency will become critical in this analysis. 

4. Customer touchpoint owners. Consistency in customer interactions will be a focal point in analyzing these areas. The following will be considerations: 
   • What channels/interactions are best served by automation (AI) versus humans.
   • Channel switching (e.g., going from AI to a human; going from one channel to another).
   • Context sharing, and platforms used to support this capability.

5. Sales and marketing, and their impact on setting expectations and on achieving business goals. 

6. Areas involved in analytics.  

7. Groups responsible for continuous improvement based on customer and employee feedback. 

As this group creates the strategy, it is important to ensure the following: 

1. Each channel in the strategy will have a clear purpose, as well as defined criteria for measuring success. 

2. The appropriate processes, procedures, and workflows will be in place to support transparency across channels. 

3. The proper systems will be in place to support transparency across channels. 

4. Required analytics will be defined to measure overall success of the strategy, and to enable continuous improvement. 

5. Employee training and customer communication will be in place to promote the success of the strategy. 

Does Technology Have a Role in the Multi-channel Strategy? 

Of course it does. However, you can’t possibly identify the technology solutions that are needed without first understanding the elements already described. Technology is a means to an end; you must identify the end goals before the proper technology can be deployed. Once you have made those assessments, here is how technology can help: 

1. Streamline processes. 

2. Personalize interactions. 

3. Gather insights. 

Several technology solutions can help achieve these goals, including these key examples: 

1. Customer relationship management systems 

2. Data analytics platforms 

3. Marketing automation tools 

4. Customer feedback management systems 

5. AI-driven personalization engines 

6. Augmented reality that immerses customers in specific experiences 

Developing a Multi-Channel Customer Experience is not a “One-and-Done” 

We alluded to “continuous improvement” above, and having the mechanisms in place to analyze and react to data that require adjustments to the strategy. Developing a multi-channel strategy IS NEVER a “one-and-done.” Customer expectations, business goals, and objectives change — strategy, therefore, must have built in mechanisms to react to those changes. 

Bottom Line 

Multi-channel isn’t about more channels; it is all about creating an intelligent, personal, and connected ecosystem that reduces customer and employee effort, increases consistency, builds brand loyalty, and strikes the balance of efficiency and effectiveness with empathy. 

¹ https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/06/15/omnichannel-cx-how-to-overcome-technologys-artificial-divide-and-succeed-at-being-seamless/