Customer Communications Blog

The marketplace is one of constant change and flux. The economy today is wildly different than it was even 30 years ago. There is a wide range of factors that have played part in shaping the modern market into its current form. One of the most significant of these factors that has molded the modern economy is technology. This may seem like a bit of a no-brainer, but technology drastically changed the way that businesses and organizations operate all around the globe. The introduction of the internet over 20 years ago was certainly a generational break-through, and may even prove to be one of the most important technological advances in all of human history. The reason the internet has proven so impactful is due to its widespread capability and the many innovations that it has stemmed. In other words, the internet was a building block and things like smart-phones and mobile-apps are various tools the internet has made possible. Understanding the current marketplace takes some knowledge of how it’s evolved to this state, which informs how and why many consumer segments think and act the way they do. The customer experience has never been weightless, however, in recent years, the emphasis on customer experience has increased rapidly. In turn, this means that organizations and businesses are dedicating more energy, resources, and more time to cultivating a positive customer experience they can deliver time and time again. In other words, organizations are putting more into developing customer experience strategy than ever before.

The organization to consumer relationship is a tricky one. It always has been. In recent years, however, there has been a shift in this dynamic. The shift is one towards more open communication between both parties, deeper transparency, and better access to information. As the digital era has progressed, so too has consumers' ability for independent research. On top of that, the microscope is slowly dialing in on the ‘behind the scenes’ action of big corporations. As such, the days of smoke and mirror shows are dwindling quickly in corporate America, and consumer awareness is evolving as well. All of this leads to a new consumer mindset that’s fueled by more than just finding the cheapest deal, although price still plays a major factor as well. A cross channel communication strategy can be designed to help organizations deliver impactful content and engaging messaging to the appropriate audience even in the digital era.

The modern day economy is vastly different from what it used to be. There are a number of factors that have led to an evolving marketplace and what we have today is the cumulative result of generations and generations of these evolutions. One of the most recent evolutions the economy saw was in the swift acceleration into the digital era. The world has been transitioning to more virtual-focused operations for a number of years, but the past three years specifically, changed the workplace entirely. This drastic change came about in the wake of the global pandemic. Forcing organizations to close their doors, or transition to remote and virtual operations entirely, brought with it a new wave of business that emphasizes technical integration and remote operations. With more and more employers and employees pushing for work-from-home situations and the seemingly infinite realm of the internet, this accelerated transition into the digital age also created a perfect breeding ground for innumerous niche market segments to develop all across the spectrum of the internet. Scaling businesses operating on a global level need the tools to reach their audience in even the most niche of markets. This is one of the reasons that establishing a multichannel communication strategy is vital to a modern day organization.

Design is an increasingly important aspect in running and operating organizations. The modern economy is greatly influenced by content and the engagement that it creates with an audience. Oftentimes this engagement isn’t directly related to sales, and rather drives intangible KPIs that drive the bottom line all the same. This era of content generation was only amplified by the sprawling reach of the internet and the emergence of the digital economy. As society transitioned into this new generation of virtual operations, the attention and emphasis that consumers put on the customer experience increased significantly. Keeping all of this in mind, it makes sense that consumers have higher expectations and higher standards for the organizations with which they interact. So, the question for many organizational leaders and decision makers becomes, how to deliver a consistent and high-quality customer experience as a business operating at scale? One solution that’s gained traction in the common market is known as customer journey mapping.

Over the past couple of years there has been a massive acceleration into the digital era. With it, this acceleration brought about an immersive and comprehensive virtual economy. The transition into this digital era and largely virtual marketplace was long-coming, but initially it was on a slow trajectory. The global pandemic, however, created an unprecedented push into the digital marketplace as remote operations and remote services became a necessity. Many modern consumers are considered digital natives and in turn, operate with what’s referred to as a digital mindset. Digital native simply connotes any individual who was born and raised after the birth of the internet. This is a consumer-group that understands and embraces the world of technology. In social lives, professional lives, dating lives, and everything in between. This immersion into the technological world also creates the digital mindset. This is a mindset that is composed of various thought patterns and tendencies that are typical or at least relatively common amongst digital natives. The digital mindset isn’t exclusive to digital natives, though, which is an important distinction. Anyone who embraces technology with open arms likely operates with a digital mindset. Understanding this is important in modern business as this knowledge helps in building a powerful customer journey strategy that caters to a growing group of modern consumers.

The best and most successful leaders have proven an ability to create advantages where, historically, there aren’t any. Customer touchpoints are neither a disadvantage or advantage by their simple nature; it really depends on the approach of the individual organization or facilitator of that specific point of contact. In other words, turning customer touchpoints into an advantage is more than feasible. Customer touchpoints exist in almost every organization. That’s because a touch point is any phase or step in which the organization actively engages with a consumer or customer. This could be anything from an introduction letter, to an additional sales call, or even a happy birthday email. While every organization has a series of customer touchpoints across their respective customer journeys, not every customer touchpoint in every organization is going to look or feel the same.