With so many channels to follow a customer across and the technology to do so, is omnichannel customer experience declining? At the Digital Branding Analytics Miami 2019 Conference, I listened to Evan Carroll’s talk, “Relationships, Responsiveness, and Readiness: They Keys to Connecting with Customers”. Evan, the author of “Blue Goldfish” and customer experience expert, gave sound advice on putting humanity back into marketing.
High-Tech vs. High-Touch
Initially, Evan establishes the difference between “high-tech” and “high-touch” solutions. With the increase of customer touch points and automation/AI tools, some companies have fallen victim to the high-tech. Marketing tools are more robust and efficient, albeit, impersonal and clunky when it comes to CX (customer experience). High-touch goes above the mar-tech and establishes relationships with customers that span across all the marketing channels.
Being Responsive and Ready to Build Relationships
Additionally, Brad Birnbaum’s article, “What Does Real Omnichannel Service Look Like?” definitely adds to Evans point, especially from the omnichannel perspective. When operating as an omnichannel company, it’s imperative that the customers’ needs are the focus, therefore companies must prioritize service and experience to gain context of their customers.
Let technology do what technology does, so that people do what people do best.
Evan Carroll
Another way in which a company can do so is by being responsive and ready and to meet the customer where they are. Whether it’s by assisting them on via chatbot, SMS text, or the phone; the conversation and its context should transfer seamlessly from channel to channel, therefore creating a singular experience for the customer. By being responsive and ready to assist, it establishes a relationship with the customer. This increases loyalty and revenue through increased customer lifetime, product add-ons, and referrals.
In Evan’s words, we need to “let technology do what technology does so that people do what people do best.” Adding humanity back to customer interactions may sound inefficient, especially with increased technology. But as seen by companies such as Disney, it is possible to be high-tech while maintaining a high-touch approach to increase omnichannel customer experience.
Interested in reading more about my experience at # DBAMiami? Read my last blog post on omnichannel marketing efforts.
