In 2007, the arrival of iPhones and Facebook in our personal lives has completely changed the way we communicate with people. The use of social and messaging channels completely modifies human interactions. In our private and professional lives, we use digital channels each and every day. 80% of adults and 91% of teenagers use messaging apps daily to communicate with their friends and family. Since 2016, an average internet user owns 7.6 social media accounts. Even when calling someone, we now tend to send a message first to make sure the other person is available for a chat.
Our personal communication behaviours have changed a lot and this trend is even more obvious when it comes to new generations born in the digital world. This important shift in human habits has an impact on the way we interact with brands as well. Sixty-seven percent of people claim to expect to use messaging channels when engaging with a brand and companies going through their digital transformation quickly adopt these new means of communication.
What is “omni-digital” and how is it different from “omni-channel”?
The reason why we have so many different social profiles is that we have different habits and needs based on the context, the person we interact with, the type of message, the device at hand, or the time of the day.
Consumers nowadays switch between channels based on what is most convenient to them at a specific time. While being omni-channel (being available for customers on multiple channels) may have been sufficient in the past, this is no longer the case. Customers expect not only to engage with a brand on any digital channel convenient to them, but also to enjoy the same level of experience across the board.
Fifty-eight percent of people claim to feel frustrated with inconsistent customer experience across channels.
To be able to manage multiple channels easily while offering a consistent experience across all of them, an omni-digital approach is needed. The word “channel” disappears simply because the contact centre becomes channel agnostic and becomes more customer-centric. Technological silos fall and messages are automatically allocated to the most relevant agent based on the skills required to respond to the enquiry.
How do I jump-start my omni-digital strategy?
Rome wasn’t built in a day and jumpstarting an omni-digital strategy must be done in steps. The first one is to identify internal promoters and detractors of digital transformation – changing the organisation of your contact centre around a customer-centric digital approach may require some education and internal support.
Then, you must identify who your customers are and what they use for their personal communication, so you can deploy the channels they would like to use to engage with your brand.
Having these channels available is a great thing but will lead nowhere if they are hard to find. Make sure your touch points are well organised and accessible throughout the customer journey to encourage customer engagement.
Last but not least, it is essential that you unify all these new channels within a single interface. Doing so will not only allow a more consistent customer experience across the board but also increase overall productivity. First, you will be able to easily manage your flows and resources to accommodate spikes in traffic. You will also be able to add new channels as your customers’ needs to evolve without having to re-train your entire team. Most of all, you will enjoy consistent analytics with metrics calculated the same way across all channels, allowing for easy control of your contact centre activity.
RingCentral Engage Digital is a platform that allows you to take advantage of the omni-digital approach and regroup all your digital touchpoints to build a stronger relationship with your customers.
Originally published Jun 04, 2019, updated Apr 15, 2021
