How Are You Redesigning Your Customer Engagement During & Post Covid-19?

The connection to a customer in a world pre the Covid19 pandemic was a mix of multiple channels opening the door to a customers brand of choice.  Clearly understood by all, allowing access via multiple channels

• Physical (Face to Face)
• Remote (Email, Phone)
• Digital (Online, Automated Chats)

For most companies the decisions about what resources were deployed to engage through what channel was often a financial one, supported by the benefits of the channel ie. digital (online sales and support) could provide services cheaper than a face to face engagement that required rental and costs to support it.

The pandemic has challenged that approach as we have gone back to the baseline of a relationship. People want to be emotionally appreciated and supported by people.   It has to be said though that we cannot go backwards to the challenge is to find a New Normal that is going to connect with the very real need to be recognised and have a “human component” in every engagement irrespective of what channel it is.

Customers are very aware of the brands that they are engaging with right now and subconsciously and consciously connecting to them by how they themselves are treated, how their staff are being treated, what kind of language they are using, what their experiential journey looks like….

Challenge on!  Businesses need to review every single channel and analyse each one to ensure that they put a human face and feel on every engagement.  An example might be

• A call centre agent working from home, engaging customers through a video call 
• A call centre agent in a call centre working from a desk bubble so he/she does not have to talk through 3 layers of protective mask.

Walk your customer's journey and set a challenge to your team.  Find a way to humanise the engagement at every tough point .  Better still ask your customers what they think would work – they will take you straight to the finish line.

Redefining your space is critical to creating your New Norm.  The best part is that right now people will be willing to help those that they know are trying to help them.  You have an ocean of concepts that are waiting to be tried and tested and could leverage your brand ahead of your competitors whilst you lead the way.

Adopting into your Culture a celebration of failing forward will encourage your humans (customers, staff, suppliers and community) to give you as many ideas as they can to help you succeed.  It is a very forgiving climate right now for those that are doing everything that they can to ensure that they excel in delivering their customers with solutions that solve their problems.