What is an omnichannel contact centre?
An omnichannel contact centre is an integrated system that shares customer data across multiple communication channels, both automated and live, to provide seamless and flexible customer service.
Why is omnichannel important?
An omnichannel approach to customer service enables your call agents to access customer data from all communication channels at once. It streamlines your call processes and quickens both data collection and problem solving for the agent on the line, improving both the first call response rate and the average handling time of your team. This can in turn give your agents more availability to answer calls as well as boosting your overall sales and traffic.
Connecting the customer journey across your service channels creates a consistent, personalised and contextualised experience for your customers - resulting in increased customer loyalty, higher levels of customer satisfaction and increased revenue. When agents have end-to-end visibility of customer interactions across all channels, they are able to provide a more contextual service and reduce customer effort and frustration by removing the need for them to repeat themselves.
Omnichannel service enables customers to continue their service conversations across channels, enables organisations to send communication tailored to the needs and wants of their customer, and delivers an effortless experience to users.
Omnichannel vs Multichannel Contact Centre
A multichannel contact centre is like an omnichannel centre in that it offers several modes of communication to the customer. However, in doing so it keeps each mode of communication separate and individual, whereas an omnichannel centre is driven by its integration of channels and its ability to share customer information across platforms. For more details on the differences between omnichannel and multichannel click here.
What is an omnichannel customer experience?
An omnichannel customer experience is the aggregate experience a customer has as they interact with your company across a variety of available channels, providing several linear and connected digital touch points where the customer can relay their information and pick up where they left off. In offering an omnichannel approach to customer service, you can streamline the customer’s journey and make it as simple and efficient as possible.
How omnichannel benefits customers
By connecting with your customers through an omnichannel contact centre, you offer them flexible communication methods, and a cohesive experience. Your company presents a unified front, and information given via one channel is shared with the rest, allowing the customer a quick, coherent journey to the resolution of their issue. Your agents will already have the customer’s information from a previous automated channel like a chatbot, so won’t have to ask for it again and frustrate the customer. Agents are free to proceed with active listening and problem solving, helping your customers to feel heard and understood.
What is an omnichannel strategy? How do I build one?
An omnichannel strategy is made up of the steps you’ll take towards successfully building an omnichannel contact centre into your customer service.
Map out your customer journey
The first step to creating an omnichannel customer service strategy is to decipher the journey your customers embark on when entering into communication with your team. Where do they go first? What is it they’re looking for? How can you integrate connected channels into their journey to make their experience more efficient?
It may be that your customer is looking for a simple fix to their query, in which case they would benefit from a self-service system built from an accessible knowledge base. If they’re unsure where to look for a solution, conversational AI solutions like a chatbot could be useful.
Decide on your channels
How many channels are you looking to integrate? Once your customer journey has been mapped out, the next step is to decide which communication channels your customers are likely to reach for at various stages of their journey.
Consider staffing and volumes when establishing your channels - if you offer a channel to your customers, be prepared for them to use it!
Overcome internal barriers
Consider your organisation as a whole - you can't view the contact centre in isolation. Identifying areas that present barriers to the seamless service you're looking to provide to your customers i.e. data silos within supporting departments in your wider organisation will help you to troubleshoot and design your omnichannel strategy with the best possible chance for success.
Balance automations with human interactions
This goes back to making sure that you’re using the right communication channel at the right point in your customer’s journey. Automatically offering a chatbot on your site can help introduce proactive service for your customers, but some queries can only be resolved with the brains of real people. Be careful to strike the right balance between automated channels such as chatbots and human interactions like live chat features and phone calls - too much of one could frustrate your customer or elongate the process unnecessarily.
Invest in the right platforms
Once you’ve planned your strategy using all the steps above, you’ll be in a position to select the right software for your business. Ensuring that your platforms offer features like intelligent routing and that they have the flexibility your organisation needs to meet contact volumes whilst delivering personalised, contextual experiences to your customers and empowering your agents.
If you want to learn more about how you can seamlessly implement a scalable, flexible, omnichannel solution for your customer service centre, or you’d like to discuss your current contact centre challenges, book a discovery call with our team now.
