What Does “Good” Look Like in Customer Engagement? 

Published September 5, 2024

First, what does “omnichannel” mean in life sciences?

Omnichannel is a customer-centric strategy leveraging technology, data and analytics across functions to optimize cross-channel engagement.

So, why is it so hard to achieve effective customer engagement impact?

There are some companies that have achieved intended outcomes when deploying “Omnichannel” and embarking on a “digital transformation” – but many have found it much harder than expected. 

The challenges are driven by three areas of misperception:

1. The simplistic view that omnichannel is a program or initiative rather than a fundamentally new way of operating, grounded in advanced analytics and insights.
2. The myth that technology investments will be a key enabler and the dominant driver of success.
3. A lack of clarity on what “it” is and “who” owns it.  This lack of clarity and accountability is always present when intended outcomes are not achieved.

Where does the confusion around customer engagement come from?

To start with, there is a lack of alignment on what some common terms mean and this adds to the confusion. Looking across our clientbase (companies of all sizes with assets at every stage in every therapeutic area and geography), there are a few key areas of focus that bring clarity and impact in customer engagement. Using proven decision intelligence, leveraging domain-specific customer engagement expertise, crafting a modular solution ecosystem and building dynamic engagement models are the areas where we’ve seen clients grow and make a real difference in patients’ lives.

To accomplish the above, we typically work with clients on a wide range of customer engagement needs that minimize friction and ensure smooth handoffs throughout the process with an integrated mix of insights, benchmarks and partnerships.

This work gives Trinity a unique vantage point to review the CE landscape—in pulling insights from our experience, we firmly believe that CE success will be achieved by those that focus on the “4 C’s” ruthlessly.

What are the 4 C’s of Customer Engagement?

The 4 Cs of successful Customer Engagement are:

There is a 5^th C—culture is increasingly the hidden factor in whether teams are successful or not. 

Working in a siloed functional operating model will not achieve success. 

Data will come in that requires a change in how you are engaging customers through channels, content and cadence—who has decision rights for making those changes – is it marketing, sales, medical, analytics, operations or no one? 

In simplest terms, what are the keys to customer engagement success?

• Teams that operate cross-functionally are better able to achieve success.
• Avoid a common pitfall of adding unnecessary complexity. 
• Keep it simple, driven by data, insights and accountability.

Author: Nancy R. Phelan

This blog is part of the One Chapter Ahead blog series, a Customer Engagement-focused thought leadership initiative to bring an informed, inspired point of view.  Our intent is to bring a fresh perspective, driven by data, benchmarks, insights and expertise.

Other blog posts in this series:

• Get Ready to Orchestrate a Better Customer Experience
• Integrated Data + Hyper-local + Cross‑channel = Customer Engagement
• Foundational Differentiation: CE Requires Efficient Operationalization of Data
• Key Takeaways and Learnings from HLTH 2024 
• Is Medical Omnichannel Poised for Growth?

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