In this blog, we’ll dive deep into the world of omnichannel customer service and explore how it can help your contact center unlock its full potential. We’ll cover the benefits it can bring to your organization, such as increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. Whether you’re looking to improve your existing strategy or are just getting started with omnichannel, this guide is an essential resource for contact center leaders looking to smash their KPIs.
Omnichannel contact center versus multi-channel contact center
Let’s set the record straight, the main difference between an omnichannel and a multi-channel contact center is that while both allow customers to communicate with a company through multiple channels, such as phone, email, chat, and social media, only true omnichannel contact centers ensure that interactions are seamlessly integrated across all channels. Omnichannel contact centers do not require customers to start over when switching between different channels, instead keeping track of the client throughout their journey. This improves the customer experience by delivering convenience and flexibility, while also enabling a complete view of the customer’s needs and interactions. This also allows the contact center to collect data on interactions across multiple channels to gain valuable insight into customer behavior. In this way, companies can become more responsive to customer inquiries and concerns, which in turn leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
In comparison, multi-channel contact centers segregate interactions by channel, meaning customers have one singular point of contact with a business when reaching out and cannot transition between different channels without restarting the conversation again. Sent an email about your lost package? When you call a live agent two days later, you’ll have to re-explain the situation and re-provide supporting documentation. Not the best customer experience.
An omnichannel contact center is a customer service strategy that allows businesses to provide a more personalized service approach tailored to customer needs and preferences. This strategic approach to customer service has become increasingly popular in recent years, as it offers many benefits for both customers and companies.
Let’s take a closer look at the core benefits of an omnichannel strategy.
4 key benefits of an omnichannel contact center strategy
1. Seamless customer experience
Contact centers that have adopted an omnichannel strategy can provide a seamless customer experience, allowing customers to move freely between different channels without having to start the conversation over again. Not only is it more convenient and flexible, but existing and prospective customers can also choose the channel that best suits their needs and preferences, whether it’s a quick phone call, a detailed email, or a real-time chat. With seamless integration, clients can switch between channels as needed without losing track of their interactions, meaning that agents can quickly retrieve, review, and manage interactions as they come in. Score one for agent productivity and responsiveness and score big for customer experience.
2. Increased customer satisfaction
An omnichannel contact center also enables a company to be more responsive to customer inquiries and concerns. If a customer has a question or concern, they can contact the company through their preferred channel, reach the right place, and expect a quick response. This can lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, which is important for the long-term success of any business. The ability for customers to access information quickly and easily increases their satisfaction with the service provided.
3. Actionable insights into customer behavior
Omnichannel solutions collect data on customer interactions, allowing businesses to gain valuable insights into customer behaviors and preferences with the ability to create customized solutions that meet client needs. Another benefit of an omnichannel contact center is that it provides companies with a global understanding of the likes and dislikes of the customer. By using multiple channels, companies are better able to consolidate information generated about their customers, which can be used to improve their products and services as well as their customer service. By integrating all channels in this manner, they ensure that customer inquiries and concerns are handled in a timely and effective manner, which can lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
4. Maximize efficiencies, reduce costs
Adopting an omnichannel contact center can also help save on costs. By providing customers with multiple channels to communicate with the company (for example, webchat using a chatbot), a business can reduce the number of phone calls and emails that their customer service representatives will intake. This allows businesses to review and re-align their staffing requirements, which can lower labor costs. Agents can then spend their time managing high-priority interactions that cannot be captured by the chatbot and require human intervention.
Plus, because agents in an omnichannel contact center benefit from the ability to access customer information and interactions across multiple channels, they can be much more efficient.
Here are even more ways that agents benefit from an omnichannel contact center:
1. Improved productivity
Agents can access customer information and interactions across multiple channels, which can help them quickly and efficiently resolve customer issues. This can lead to increased productivity, as agents can handle more interactions in less time.
2. Better customer service
Agents can provide more personalized and effective service by having a more complete view of the customer’s needs and interactions. This helps agents better understand the customer’s situation and provide more appropriate assistance.
3. Increased job satisfaction
Agents can feel more engaged and empowered in their roles, as they have more tools and information available to them to provide better customer service.
4. More context for customer interactions
Agents can see previous customer interactions and history with the company, allowing them the ability to help them better understand customer needs and provide more relevant assistance.
5. Reduced customer frustration
Agents can access customer information and interactions across multiple channels, which can help them to resolve customer issues more quickly and efficiently, which in turn reduces customer frustration.
6. Automation of simple interactions
The use of AI and chatbots can automate simple interactions and help agents focus on more complex interactions and tasks, which can improve the agent’s job satisfaction.
Overall, an omnichannel contact center allows agents to provide better customer service and improve their job satisfaction by providing them with more complete information and tools to help customers.
There’s no doubt, omni is the way to go
The future of the contact center will be driven by the use of new technologies to improve the customer experience, provide more self-service options, and increase the integration of social media and analytics. Adopting an omnichannel contact center strategy becomes the catalyst for assembling all key aspects required to keep up and excel in a modern business environment. Not only does it improve the customer experience by providing more convenience and flexibility, but an omnichannel contact center also provides the business with a more complete view of customer needs, interactions and trends.
By providing customers with access to multiple channels, a smoother experience when switching between channels, as well as actionable insights into their customers’ behaviors and preferences, an omnichannel strategic approach to customer experience ensures that your business delivers on its brand promise.
