Today's customer service industry has become highly competitive. Customers have become more knowledgeable and product-oriented than ever, and they demand the best customer services.
While great customer support is an essential part of any business, it is imperative to figure out what all channels are required to reach out to the customers.
From the customer's standpoint, every interaction with your business should be a part of a unified, smooth experience. Customers expect an integrated channel service through voice, mails, and social media support. This multi-channel customer service can be taken to the next level by integrating all service channels into one, which is called an omnichannel experience.
Also, the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus has created an urgent need in the market to serve the customers more efficiently. The customers have growing concerns and questions pertaining to the situation, services, and products. In such unprecedented times, it is essential to develop omnichannel customer support.
What Is Omnichannel Customer Support?
Omnichannel customer service consists of numerous customer interactions over multiple touchpoints with the service/product provider.
Omnichannel customer experience results in a single, seamless interaction with customers across all channels, both online and offline.
How Can Businesses Use Omnichannel Customer Support?
1. Understand Customer's Behavioural Patterns
Omnichannel experience is all about creating exceptional user journeys for the customers. It is about gathering data on customers and how they prefer to interact with the brand. It is also imperative to learn about customer's communication preferences while reaching out to a business support team.
Businesses can also conduct surveys to gather information on the issues that are encountered by the customers.
Also, the brands must categorize their customers into segments and understand the needs of each group. Creating user personas can help companies improve their digital capabilities and omnichannel customer experience.
Thus, understanding user behavior can:
- Break down the communication barrier for the customers
- Reveal opportunities for multiple channels to cooperate
- Help collect valuable customer feedback
2. Develop A Strong Mobile Based Customer Support
Today's customers have increasingly adopted mobile for their major shopping and purchases. Thus, having accessible mobile-based customer support is imperative for businesses of this era.
According to Nielsen Digital Consumer Report, mobile shopping is gaining momentum among U.S. consumers, as more than four in five (87%) smartphone and tablet owners say they use these devices for shopping activities, up by 8% points from 2012.
Businesses can accelerate their omnichannel customer service by:
- Ensuring that their FAQ's, product knowledgebase and self-help tools are mobile compatible
- Carefully design mobile landing pages and CTA's
- Enable real-time tracking system for mobile-based customer care queries
3. Offer Live Chat Assistance
Offering live chat assistance to the customers has become an integral part of a business's customer service. According to a report by econsultancy.com, live chat has the highest satisfaction levels for any customer service channel, with 73%, compared with 61% for email and 44% for phone.
Live chat offers convenience to the customers as they no longer have to click the chat icon to connect with the right agent.
Live chat options also save customers’ time. 79% of the customers said that they prefer live chat because they get their questions answered quickly, and 46% agreed it was the most efficient communication method.
Live chat assistance opens the doors for omnichannel communication as:
- Customer queries can be answered more quickly
- It boosts online sales for a business
- Connects the customers with the agents instantly
4. Create Your Own Omnichannel Strategy
Businesses must always define user journeys and ways to make them smoother for the customers. It is essential to devise a strategy where the customer service agents can go from one piece of information to the other while maintaining the customers. Also, the personal details of the customers must be saved in data management and CRM systems.
Many e-commerce sites can integrate their customer support with social media channels. This is because customers are highly proactive on social media handles and take this as an opportunity to reach out to the brands. While Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest can be hugely engaging, each industry can have its own dominating social media channel.
Thus, businesses must be able to come up with synchronized, integrated omnichannel customer service for the following reasons:
- Develop integrated channels to bring all customer information on one page
- Expand your customer care base on social media
- Interact and engage with customers more often
5. Enable Self Service Options for the Customers
Offering customers with self-service options can differentiate a business from its competitors. Nowadays, customers expect companies to provide them with tools so that they can solve their queries themselves.
It is really convenient for the customers to look into their problems and solve it all by themselves, without the involvement of customer service representatives. Businesses can use various modes to extend self-service options for customers.
According to a report, three-quarters of customers prefer to use the company website to resolve an issue as compared to other channels. Comprehensive FAQ's section of a website and vast knowledgebase can help the customers access the common information about products and services.
Thus, providing the customers with self-help options can create an omnichannel experience by:
- Providing screenshots, videos, and audios as explanations wherever necessary
- Keeping the knowledgebase and content updated
- Making the self-service portals mobile friendly
Wrapping Up: Building Better Customer Experience With Omnichannel Integration
Thus, we see that the main idea behind an omnichannel customer experience is to integrate multiple channels and make them work as one. Omnichannel customer experience helps businesses offer a personalized touch to the customer service, which in turn drives customer loyalty and repurchases.
It also empowers the customers to start an activity in one channel and smoothly make a transition to the other channel. It has more success rates on mobile devices, which means that it is essential for companies to enhance mobile customer care and support.
Businesses can deliver exceptional services and build great relations with customers if they choose their channels wisely. Omnichannel customer service seems to be the new normal, and companies must deploy the best strategies for a robust customer base.
