Consumer expectations for exceptional customer service are at an all-time high. Businesses that are unable to keep up with these demands stand to lose out. On the other hand, those that do stand to gain significant advantages ranging from customer loyalty to improvements in their bottom line.
But how can these businesses cater to this tall order and constantly moving target? The answer lies in offering an omnichannel customer service.
In this article, we delve into what it means, what its benefits are, as well as strategies you can employ to serve your customers in the best way possible. Let’s take a closer look.
Understanding Omnichannel Customer Service
Understanding omnichannel customer service requires a brief exploration of technological advances and how these shape the customer experience. Today, technology is all around us, accessible at our fingertips.
In the space of customer service, customers can use various devices to communicate with businesses. There are multiple ways to do so, including chat, email, phone calls, instant messaging, social media, and more.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at a brief definition and the key components of omnichannel customer service.
Definition and key components
Omnichannel customer service starts by determining all the touchpoints that customers have with a business. It then requires the implementation of technology to serve customers through different online and offline channels and platforms. What sets omnichannel customer service apart from others is that these platforms are integrated at a point in a single console.
This means that any customer service agent or representative can pick up conversations smoothly and freely from one channel to another. This act enables them to help the customer as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Differences between omnichannel and multichannel support
While multichannel and omnichannel customer support may seem related, they are two distinct areas in the field of customer service. Whereas omnichannel customer service is integrated across platforms, multichannel customer service isn’t.
Imagine different sets of “buckets” that contain customer communication. However, these buckets are isolated from each other and the customer would need to repeat their query and details every time they access a business’ new communication bucket. This creates important hiccups for the customer along the way, causing frustration and wasted time.
Omnichannel customer service takes each of these buckets and interconnects them so that any company representative can address the customer’s query, irrespective of whether they’ve communicated with the business through WhatsApp, email, phone, or another platform.
Benefits and Importance of Offering Omnichannel Customer Service
Alt text: Businessman hand point to tick correct sign mark in checkbox for quality document control checklist and business approve project concept
As mentioned earlier, businesses that offer omnichannel customer service stand to gain in big ways. Among these include:
- The levels of personalization offered through an omnichannel customer service helps improve customer retention. It also boosts the customer experience, journey, and overall levels of satisfaction. This, in turn, helps boost customer loyalty because they choose the most convenient channels for them and they’re able to get a faster and more efficient resolution to their issue.
- Offering an omnichannel customer service also reduces operational costs. In fact, it is argued that an SMS session can be up to 75% less expensive than a telephone call. The lower the business can keep its costs, the better for its bottom line and income-generating activities.
- Speaking of telephone calls, call center calls add up. They require a large team of customer support representatives and this can result in long waiting times and high average handle time during peak and high-call-volume periods. With alternative options to communicate with a business, customers can experience a better and more personalized service while businesses can reduce the number of inbound call center calls.
- A further important advantage of this method is that it can reduce customer churn. Offering a variety of convenient channels, supported by the right information, customer effort is reduced during their journey. Once again, this can help keep customers satisfied while boosting trust in your brand and building customer loyalty. Thus, omnichannel customer service eliminates data silos. In addition, it can boost first-contact resolution rates dramatically.
- It’s also possible with this type of customer service to offer more helpful support. Agents are therefore able to remain connected with customers across a broader range of channels, giving them access to more information that enables them to offer more accurate and timely solutions to customer queries and problems.
- In addition to the above, omnichannel customer service empowers self-service. With knowledge bases and frequently asked questions, customers are empowered to seek out answers themselves without getting entangled in complex communication. This level of autonomy is a must for businesses that want to offer an exceptional customer experience.
- And last but not least, omnichannel customer service can help unify your brand voice across multiple channels, including call center, email, chatbots, and live chat. When your brand speaks with a consistent tone of voice, you are working toward strengthening your brand identity. Offering professionalism, efficiency, friendliness, and more across different platforms fortifies your brand, ultimately building a foundation of trust and recognition.
Key Components of an Effective Omnichannel Customer Service Strategy
Alt text: White dice blocks with arrow icons stacking as step stairs with icon business strategy and an action plan on a wood background
If you would like to integrate an effective omnichannel customer service approach in your business, it is worth considering what the key components of such a strategy are. We cover the most important ones below.
Seamless integration
Integration is key across all your channels of communication if you want to offer an omnichannel customer service. This means integrating communication from platforms such as social media, email, phone, live chat, and in-person communication.
Consistent messaging
As part of your business’ brand identity, you need to ensure that you are always communicating with your customers in a consistent way. If your brand’s tone of voice is friendly yet professional, this is the tone of voice that needs to be prevalent across every channel you use. Media monitoring tools can help track how your brand is being perceived across various channels, ensuring that your messaging remains consistent and effective.
Personalization
When it comes to personalization, your customer service team needs to be able to quickly tap into the customer’s history. Whether it’s saved or bookmarked items, their previous purchases, prior communication, or other—it’s essential to tap into the wealth of knowledge and information you have to ensure you can tailor your communication to your customer to make them feel like they are having a human conversation that aims to resolve their challenge.
Accessibility
In terms of accessibility, you should ensure that your customers are able to easily switch between channels without losing service quality or information, or having to provide the same details to your customer service representatives over and over again.
Say that they started the conversation with you via social media and follow up with a phone call. You need to access previous social media communication so that you can check what happened in the past and what can be done to resolve the issue now.
Technology
Naturally, all of the above is largely driven by technology. Considered the backbone of the omnichannel customer service experience, advanced technology that includes customer relationship management (CRM) systems and artificial intelligence (AI) are highly capable of synchronizing interactions and data across your business’ various communication platforms. Additionally, ensuring regular data backup is essential to protect against data loss and ensure business continuity, allowing your omnichannel strategy to operate smoothly even in the face of potential technical issues.
Examples of Successful Omnichannel Customer Service
Many businesses are embracing the opportunities that omnichannel customer service offers. Investing heavily in technology and a holistic approach to providing an exceptional customer experience, a few brands truly stand out. Below, we explore the cases of Starbucks, Nike, and Disney.
- Starbucks: Not only does Starbucks have a highly-rated customer rewards program, enabling customers to order and pay for their purchases, track them, collect points, and update their profile both in-app and in-store, but they also make customers feel like they’re a part of the business. The brand uses Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to resolve issues through omnichannel communication platforms. These are just a few examples of how this brand has gone above and beyond to make their customers feel great and heard when an issue arises.
- Nike: The popular sports-shoe brand Nike introduced its NikeID program. Through it, customers are able to customize and personalize their shoes via their website or at in-store kiosks. This experience offers personalization at levels that go above and beyond. What’s more, Nike’s shift from wholesale to direct-to-consumer sales means that communication with customers can be more streamlined and personalized.
- Disney: When guests visit Disney, they can have an amazing experience that takes all the hassle out of access and purchases. For example, Disney’s Magic Bands are designed to enable visitors to access their hotel rooms and theme parks as well as purchase products through a wearable tech device. Meanwhile, the My Disney Experience is a web portal that integrates a range of apps that include a media hub, a calendar, a day planner, and more. This unifies many aspects of the visitor’s experience, which were previously fragmented.
Conclusion
The omnichannel approach is the ideal solution when it comes to offering an exceptional customer service experience. It may seem like a complex integration on the back-end but it adds unbeatable value to your customers and your business.
When your customers are happy and satisfied with your customer service, they’re more likely to stay. This directly translates into critical monetary benefits for your business and overall brand. Take your business to new levels by introducing omnichannel customer service, exceed expectations, and become an unsurpassed leader in your industry.
