How Omnichannel Customer Service Provides a Seamless Experience

Hispanic businessman with a smartphone in his hands, texting

Shutterstock; Photo by SALMONNEGRO-STOCK

What is Omnichannel Customer Service?

Omnichannel customer service is an integrated approach that takes into account a buyer’s preferences and provides a seamless experience across all channels. This enables customers to engage with the brand through whichever way and device they choose, be it phone, email, instant messaging, chatbot or social media.

This level of service offers several benefits, such as improved engagement by providing a unified view of a customer’s interactions with the brand. It also streamlines operations by synchronizing data from each channel and providing access to information from all points of contact. Enhanced technology capabilities are being used at contact centers to better understand customer behaviors and trends through analytical tools.

Elevating your customer experience (CX) starts with seamless customer service, an ambitious goal. How do you create a consistent brand experience for your audience, wherever they engage with your business? The answer is omnichannel. By integrating several channels, so they all function as one, you deliver touchpoints along each part of the customer journey.

Where Did it Start?

Omnichannel differs from the multichannel approach many companies employ today. Multichannel customer service has platforms where customers can engage with your brand, like your website or social media. But those channels are not connected. If a customer reaches out on social, and then later on the website, your agents may not have access to information from the previous visit.

What Are the Benefits of Omnichannel?

Omnichannel solves that problem by connecting all of those platforms in real-time. Every touchpoint is linked, so whichever channel customers reach out to you on, they will encounter the same brand experience. Recent studies show that “75% of customers are willing to spend more to buy from businesses that give them a good customer experience.”

The benefits of omnichannel are many, including real-time engagement, which we already mentioned. And 40% of consumers cited “multiple options for communicating” as the essential feature of a company’s customer service department. One negative experience can turn away long-term and potential customers, so creating a positive customer journey every time results in higher customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. A 5% increase in customer retention produces more than a 25% increase in profits. And those are numbers we all would like to see in our data and insights.

What are the Potential Issues?

Knowing what issues may lie ahead is good, so you can prepare and find solutions in advance. Maybe your team isn’t responding fast enough to initial inquiries. Or customers have to repeat explanations of problems they are repeatedly experiencing as they pass to other agents. Even worse, customers find it takes a long time to resolve their concerns – or they aren’t resolved at all.

Plan for Solutions

There are several ways to solve these common customer service experience issues. One is offering live chat so users can quickly get to the right agent to solve their problems. Another is offering a knowledge base on your website with FAQs and plenty of educational content so customers can look for answers themselves. Of course, nothing beats experienced, empathetic agents. One way to help your agents be more effective is to provide them with one up-to-date database for customer interactions, so if the line is dropped with one agent, the next can just pick up where the other left off. And that tool also helps your agents give your valuable customers more personalized service.

You will undoubtedly deliver greater customer experiences by offering a seamless, omnichannel journey. It’s time to upgrade your CX operations, and Working Solutions can help you get there. Schedule your complimentary consultation with an expert now. Click here to speak to someone today.