How to execute omnichannel support strategy – 4 important ways

Going omnichannel is indispensable for most brands today. Today customers want to be served across divergent channels and especially, those that they use to communicate in their daily lives. 

Earlier, the channels demanded customers to report their issues from scratch every time they reached a channel. This resulted in poor customer experience and diminishing brand loyalty. With the introduction of social media as another touchpoint and its ripple effect, the customer support strategies have undergone huge transformation.

Why you need an omnichannel support strategy

Businesses cannot ignore the importance of omnichannel support anymore. According to an independent survey, social messaging for customer service has elevated to more than 100% in the last three years. Consumers visit the social media pages or use their accounts to report a problem to garner quick attention. The businesses need to integrate social media with other support channels for quicker resolution and to offer a seamless experience to the customers. Thus, the need for omnichannel support strategy is due to:

•       The need to ensure that the businesses are in sync with the prevalent trends of customer service
•       The requirement to ensure quick responses to the customer who reach out through different channels
•       The need to create exceptional customer experience to ensure better customer retention or to win brand loyalty for long.
•       Need to achieve customer satisfaction faster and in the way as expected by the customers.

Now that the need of having an omnichannel support strategy is clear, let’s chalk out the roadmap that can help the businesses to meet the customer service objectives.

Implementing the omnichannel strategy – 4 step action

Here are the four major steps that the businesses can adopt to leverage the benefits of the omnichannel support strategy.

•  Integrate responses on all channels to achieve more effective collaboration: Whichever medium the customer chooses to interact through, the executives can have firsthand information of the last conversation held. That saves time and energy of both the customers and support agents and they solve the problems faster.

The support ecosystem characterized by a unified response mechanism presents the business in good light. It equips the agents with a better information network. They can view the last response made and build conversation based on that. As a result, the company representatives interact with complete knowledge and deliver the customers the best possible solution. It can result in better business relationships generated from effective collaborations.

•   Unification of the data collected across channels: Agents are operating through multiple channels. The customer interaction generates data which is not in sync sometimes. Hence, the unification of data and its syncing can lead to faster and better customer support experiences. Agents become more equipped to solve the problems and the customers also don’t run from pillar to post to get their issues resolved. The data offers the information about whether the customer is the first time or a regular visitor. Accordingly, the agents put the response management system to function and yield better customer as well as support experiences.
•   Integrated response system to answer queries: Pandemic changed the habit of the consumers and they now expect better support. Most of the queries usually include the delivery time, or the order processing time. “A considerable chunk also included the questions related to sales and returns process”, shares a customer support specialist.

Going online has become an important prerequisite for most businesses today. As a result, they need to develop a strong support mechanism that delivers experiences similar to in-shop ones where an agent is available throughout the customer journey. A similar experience is generated through online support with the help of unification of data and people’s roles and automation of workflows.

•   Use AI to achieve a better support quality: There is a distinct trend in the nature of the queries the support receives. By compartmentalizing the queries using AI and feeding the system with automated workflows, the support can work in a fast yet productive manner.

AI segregates the information and sends to the concerned agents who may belong to different verticals. Their responses are then integrated to offer a well-orchestrated solution that is delivered through chatbots and other trending means to the customers. The responses are parked to email IDs apart from delivering the same through live chats and phone calls. Thus, interacting with customers through a whole system of providing support using various channels such as email, phone calls, social media or other personalized mediums becomes possible. As a result, the customer is retained for long and is always happy with the service or attention received.

How Omnichannel benefits overall

Omnichannel strategy is providing the food for rethinking the customer support processes. It also helps create more personalized experiences relevant to the customer’s needs. Some of the positive influences that omnichannel strategy has brought to the customer support experiences are:

1. More enriched experiences tailored: Since the use of AI has brought the quality to data, the support is able to deliver enriched experiences. The customers can be engaged through solutions like coupons, free samples, bonus points, etc. which strengthen the business’s image considerably.
2. All strategies made more customer-centric: The customers are encouraged to use multiple channels though various rewarding methods. It helps generate more data and design the product plan more effectively based on the information gathered.
3. Know customers better: With the help of AI, more than 70% of companies that save data across channels can now understand the customer preferences and habits. With the help of information received, they can chalk out the future paths the customers are most likely to follow and design customer retention strategy accordingly.

Summing up,

A business with modern means of customer interaction finds an omnichannel strategy effective to treat the customers well and improve their numbers and relationships in return.