We are living in a world where optimizations and fast response times are expected, so it’s important to make sure that your customer service strategy holds up to your competition’s. Utilizing an omnichannel customer service approach has proven to be a great way to help remedy customer’s pain points in an efficient way. Read on to find out how an omnichannel customer service strategy can provide scalable customer experiences, provide data for better customer experiences, and why it’s important in today’s fast-paced market.
Provide Scalable Customer Experiences via Omnichannel Customer Service
So, what IS an omnichannel customer service strategy? Simply stated, an omnichannel customer service strategy is a type of customer experience which allows the customer to flawlessly navigate the different channels of support. These channels are typically, but not limited to:
- Phone
- Live-chat
- SMS Text messaging
- Self-service guides
- Social media
- IVR
Utilization of these different channels allows your agents to meet customers on the channels they are already using, making for an improved customer experience. Providing these options to your customers also allows them to find the answers they need in the way that they are most comfortable. Customers value speed and efficiency, so providing quick and easy ways to get in contact helps prevent them switching to another provider.
Data to Provide the Right Support Channel at the Right Time
The data provided from an omnichannel strategy is rich and can greatly improve your overall customer experience. Under close analysis, you can see what channels are giving your customers the most value and which ones aren’t delivering. This will allow you to scale back your offerings or find new avenues to use to continue providing great customer service.
Live chat support continues to grow in popularity, because the same number of agents can handle multiple concurrent chats, reducing customer wait times. It provides quick answers to customers’ questions and leads to faster resolution times, which improves customer satisfaction and experience. ICMI reports that live chat has the highest satisfaction levels for any customer service channel, at 73%, compared with 61% for email and 44% for phone.
Of those who prefer live chat, 79% said they did so because they get their questions answered quickly, 51% did so because they could multi-task, and 46% agreed it was the most efficient communication method. (Source: Econsultancy)
Show Up at the Right Time – It’s Half the Battle
The knowledge of what channels your customers prefer will come, but you must first step fearlessly into your omnichannel strategy with a predetermined set of channels. Once you see what’s working, reallocating resources is easy. According to a recent study, organizations that have an effective omnichannel support strategy retain 89% of their customers, while companies with a poor strategy only retain about 33%. Therefore, it’s important to edit depending on consumer preferences!
Working with all the separate vendors needed to create and implement a seamless omnichannel customer strategy can become extremely costly – which is why outsourcing your contact solutions tends to be the most efficient way to approach an omnichannel support strategy.
Determining the right channels to use for your company can be tricky—that’s why Callzilla is here to help. Specializing in live chat, social monitoring, email support, phone services and more, our quality-first mentality delivers support that translates into improved customer experiences. To learn more about how omnichannel strategies help provide scalable customer experiences, how you can utilize consumer data from it, and how it’s important to your business, contact us today!
To learn more about Callzilla’s contact center solutions, contact us here!
About the Author: Neal Topf
