By Joey Gabra
Special to YNOT

Customer engagement is the core of most businesses, more so with online products and services. This culture of connectivity, consumerism and commercialism melds well with currently available technologies. From different devices to different ways to communicate, the world is saturated with options.

While sitting here, I’m surrounded by my smartphone, tablet computer and laptop. I’m on two different messengers, three productivity tools and two email clients. A few minutes ago, I was in a call handling a few client specifics that I just requested to be sent via email. An hour ago, I was engaged in a chat that turned into a voice call. So it’s quite clear that there are some things we want in specific platforms (device, communication) for the sake of convenience and record-keeping.

Engaging through Email, SMS, IM and Voice

The higher the capability to engage customers, the more they would be willing to stay and/or recommend a product/service. The more ways a business provides mediums of communication, the wider and bigger the reach.

By giving customers the convenience of engagement via email, SMS, IM and voice calls, the business and the brand benefit from the image of reliability and consistency. This also allows businesses whose core revenue source is communications to maximize profit through constant interactions.

Flooding and spamming aside, multi-platform communications is the ideal way to market, interact and keep the business thriving. Having all these options at the fingertips of users, subscribers, members and patrons allows the business to become more customer-centric. Interactions can be delivered based on what they want, how they want it and when they want to access it.

Customer-Centric on a Budget

Having all these options available does involve a significant amount of money and manpower – and not all companies can just make the decision to develop software, hire additional staff and make their business fully communications-ready.

There are, however, secondary options such as hiring third-party providers to handle these value added services. Searching for workload-based operations centers are the best option. No monthly charges, no staffing issues and minimal training/management requirements.

If full coverage is not feasible, having at least one or two additional ways to communicate is also advisable. It would just be a matter of knowing the preferences of your current target market. On-site live chat support is always a great idea. Voice is of course the mainstay for all business communications. SMS is nice to have. Email, which is considered the slowest and least convenient, is still the most effective in terms of delivering a complete message.

Make your choice, follow a well-researched plan and always remember: Your business depends on how satisfied and how well you engage your customers.

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If you’re in the mobile sector of the adult industry, you’ve likely heard of Joey Gabra. His list of credentials includes previous employment as managing director for Affil4You, and marketing manager for Twistbox Entertainment and American Mobile Ventures. Gabra has built strong business relationships by delivering what he promises, which often comes at his own expense. Combining humor with sharp business acumen has made him respected by both peers and competitors, leading to numerous industry awards. In 2015 and 2016, he was named Businessman of the Year by the YNOT Awards. These days, he’s applying his expertise and expanding his reach as solutions director for New Media Services. He may be reached at jg@newmediaservices.com.au.