Ashton Media
Marketing & Customer Experience Hub

Right time, right place: improving the customer experience with an Omni-Channel approach

The world we live in is one of many on and offline channels and the lines between the two can be hard to distinguish, particularly in a customer-brand relationship.

People, and specifically customers, don’t look at life as being either online or offline.   When interacting with a brand they expect a seamless exchange whether it’s in a retail environment, on the phone or on their mobile device.

Omni-channel customer experience

Businesses need to know how to be open for dialogue

Web and mobile application usage is no longer limited to the tech savvy; rather they are part of everyday life. Gone are the days when customers only interacted with a business through private channels. The customer is sophisticated; customers know that expressing an opinion or denouncing the behaviour of a brand has the potential to damage their reputation.   Customers expect the business to be listening and to be ready to respond.   The smart business knows how to be open for dialogue with customers at the right time and the right place.

Our Optus Future of Business 2013 Report identified just how few organisations have an integrated channels strategy delivering consistent experiences to customers.

Omni channel presence

As consumer mobile usage continues to soar, it is expected that in the next three to five years the number of organisations using mobile as a channel to engage customers will rise from 46% to 82%, yet just 9% of the organisations studied have a fully developed mobile strategy.

Are businesses spreading their efforts too thinly?


Jumping on the bandwagon of the latest trend without taking the time to consider how a channel applies to your business may lead to implementing a solution that doesn’t solve the right challenge.   Understanding how customers interact with your business across relevant touch points – now and in the future – is the place to start; with that knowledge the priorities for where customers want to interact can be mapped out and priorities can be established.

If you’re interested in customer experience, come join me at the Optus Vision event on June 18 2014 at Sydney Town Hall.   This year the focus is on “creating a business your customers love” and I’ll be joined by world class leaders in the space. You’ll have the chance to speak with like-minded people and be among the first to view the 2014 Future of Business report.

Click here to register for Optus Vision.

Get in touch (@platt_karen) or look out for me on 18 June and we can talk more about the challenges you face in establishing an omni-channel approach with customer experience at the heart.

More about Optus Vision

This year we truly have a remarkable line up of world-leading speakers. Gerry Pennell from the 2012 London Olympic Games and Mark Bouris from Yellow Brick Road Wealth Management (ASX:YBR) will be presenting the keynotes. In the customer experience stream, we have Mark Hassell, Chief Customer Officer from Virgin Australia, Rachel Slade, General Manager, Transformation and Delivery from Westpac Group and Vicki Brady, Managing Director, Customer, Optus.

Karen Platt - Director Customer Experience and Marketing, Optus Business About Karen Platt - Director Customer Experience and Marketing, Optus Business
Karen Platt is an Optus Business Director who prides herself in helping businesses create a customer centric culture. Karen and her team at Optus Business focus on enhancing systems and protocols that help provide customer experience excellence.