Cross-channel messaging (i.e. posting Facebook comments via text message or uploading photos to Flickr via MMS) has become the norm for billions of mobile phone users worldwide. But outside of social media and cloud services providers, few companies are really participating in these kinds of interactions with their customers. Why? Because most large organizations still regard email, text messages and IMs as separate entities.
Think of the companies you do business with — banks, telecom carriers, retailers. In most cases, you're dealing with a single brand, but you receive messages from four or five distinct entities under that brand: offers from marketing, billing alerts from finance, service updates from customer care. Is there any continuity across these interactions? Not likely, because each unit within the company sees you differently. Are your device- or message-channel preferences recognized or taken into consideration when you're contacted? Rarely.
If you get a text notification from your wireless carrier that you've exceeded your minutes for the month, the logical response would be to text back and inquire what the additional costs would be. Or better yet, text back that you want to initiate an IM conversation where you could have your questions answered by a customer rep. Ideally, the wireless carrier would set the stage for a mutually beneficial conversation by offering a service upgrade and eliminating the overage. That's closer to how it would work if this were an exchange between you and a friend. Individuals have made the jump to cross-channel communication, but...
