Issue 2

Are your customers getting stuck between channels?

How open are we to creating simple, relevant and integrated experiences?

In this issue of Open we explore the notion of the multi-channel world. Is it making life simpler or more complex? Are businesses and customers really better off? Where is convergence coming from and where is it going? To explore this topic we’ve gathered views and opinions from contributors who work across a range of sectors and disciplines. The result makes for some interesting reading.

So what are we talking about here?

Customer’s needs and goals increasingly inform the course and shape of business. They influence what you offer, how you sell and how you support it. It wasn’t always this way. Customers were not always given enough credit for knowing what they wanted or how they wanted it. Let alone being considered worthy of being in control of the purchase process.

But therein lies rub. Customers are smart – they do know what they want. They are focused – they do know how they want to get things. And they are astute – they do know how to value what things cost them, versus what they cost you.

In services and retail, customers either adopt or demand the things that matter. In some cases it’s functional, i.e. they want a simple, easy and low touch experience from you and your staff. Or they might demand a more engaged, interactive, or even expert interaction. They definitely have clear ideas about what feels right when it comes to investing their time and money. And many clearly understand the differences between express, standard or premium versions of products and services.

That may be well and good if you ‘think’ you’re listening to your customers and always evolving and improving to meet their changing needs. The trouble is that their wants are being influenced by others – their peers and other businesses they relate to. These are people you don’t naturally have your eye on, and businesses you don’t directly compete with.

For example the pace of technology adoption in sectors like air travel (look at what they’ve done with buying travel and boarding flights) creates a comparison benchmark for other sectors. That means food, clothing or hardware retail is being judged by customers referencing a range of new and improved customer experiences – whether or not you see this as competition.

But this in itself can become a trap. If you focus too much on what you can’t control, or too much in trying to offer what you need to compete, your costs can blow out. Your offer can also get complicated and/or your real point of value can get muddled for the people you are most trying to please.

There is also a new breed of consumers and (as we all know) the times are changing – quickly. The pace of this is illustrated by the fact that millions of kids are multi-tasking at a very early age. They’re totally comfortable with technology and happy to adopt it as an accepted part of how they operate, find each other, talk, share, entertain and inform.

What does this suggest about the way they’ll expect to be offered products and services in the future? And what does it say about their perceptions around quality and value? The answer must lie in ‘fit for purpose’, because these kids flip between digital and physical easily, and don’t see it as anything other than logical. Oh, and it’s not just youth…people of every generation are ‘getting it’.

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