Introduction
Companies have shifted from the traditional approach to Machine Learning (ML) bots and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in terms of customer support. It leads to tremendous improvement in customer retention and brand loyalty. Research says that omnichannel customer service has helped companies to retain more than 89% of their customers. Moreover, it is easier than ever for the customers to reach any brand with their query. In this blog, we are going to describe the concept of omnichannel customer service and its benefits in detail.
What is Omnichannel Customer Service?
Omnichannel customer support is defined as the synchronized communication model where all the modes of communication channels are aligned in such a way that delivers consistent customer support. Brands can effectively operate through this approach of omnichannel communication while delivering sophisticated customer experience across various touchpoints. Implementing an omnichannel communication strategy not only helps brands in better understanding customer mapping journeys but also the conversation history helps in delivering customized support while integrating the digital channels.
Benefits of Omnichannel Customer service
While the obvious advantage of omnichannel customer service is delivering a flawless customer experience. However, there are a plethora of benefits that an omnichannel communication channel can provide to a brand that is described below –
1. Seamless Customer Experience
Integration is the most important factor in making the omnichannel strategy successful in providing a consistent customer experience. Whether the customer is reaching through live chat or a voice chat, the history of customer conversation will ultimately help in providing excellent customer service. With the integration of communication channels and centralized data, tailored solutions can be provided to the customers.
2. Improved Customer Satisfaction
Many research reports claim that brands using omnichannel support face 89% more customer satisfaction rates than companies that used the traditional approach of customer service. Omnichannel services have made the life of the customers easy while reaching any brand. The reduced rate of dissatisfied customers for a brand is a clear sign of improved customer satisfaction.
3. Better Customer Retention
Omnichannel customer support opens the gateway of cross-selling and up-selling of products to the companies. Apart from that, due to more conversation with the customers, the rate of customer retention has been drastically improved by the brands using the omnichannel customer support. If the customer support executives are aligned to the brand message and resolve customer queries within a shorter time, then the customer delight will reach the next level.
4. More Options of Customer Interaction
The most crucial aspect of the omnichannel strategy is the integration of multiple modes of communication that opens the pathway for customers to use their preferred communication channel in resolving issues. It expands the scope of data integration and customer engagement from the company’s perspective. Starting from voice support, chatbots, to social media, email support, the ubiquity of smartphones nowadays opens the gateway of using various channels of communication.
5. Automated Pathways
The automated systematic integration of omnichannel not only improves the self-service customer service but also supports the executives to approach any customer properly. The automated pathways are so efficient that the customer care executives follow these paths to serve customers in a better way than ever.
6. Data-Driven Approach
Omnichannel communication strategy is known for its data-driven approach as it saves customer conversations and other related data. Thus, this strategy leads to more customer footprints and meaningful conversations at every touchpoint. The quality of relevant data helps companies in making data-driven decisions for the business.
7. Gain Customer Insights
Since the omnichannel mode of communication comes with customer data, hence brands nowadays get a wider scope to serve customers in a better way. Depending on the way a particular brand utilizes this data, the customers will make an impression on the brand’s reputation. Detailed customer insight is always beneficial rather than getting zero context of the customers of any brands. Such information helps in tweaking and improving product development and customer service to the next level.
8. Increased Turnover
Studies from Harvard Business Review states that customers from the omnichannel strategy tend to be 30% more valuable compared to other modes of communication. Hence, customer retention here plays a significant role in generating revenue. If 8% of the total customer base of any brand is a repeat customer that creates 40% of the total revenue for that company.
9. Improved Speed of Customer Support
At a given point in time, customer service through social media can either be hit or a miss. Brands can increase customer satisfaction only when they immediately reply to the customers. Studies say that 31% of the total customers of any brand want a response within 30 minutes. To balance the response time and the number of replies, omnichannel is the best option to improve the speed of customer service.
10. Catering Wide Range of Audiences
Brands sometimes limit themselves to certain platforms of communication that lead to lesser options for customer engagement. Social media is one of the go-to modes of communication for faster response and flexibility. Studies show that more than 72% of millennials like those brands that have a faster response time. Hence, omnichannel integration is the only way of more customer acquisition as well as retention.
Wrapping Up
Customer interaction is the sign that the customers will go through the sales pipeline of the brand i.e., from repeat customer to repeated one or from potential buyer to a buyer. Omnichannel customer support can be considered as a strategic decision for a brand rather than a tactical decision. Building an omnichannel customer experience doesn’t always include a huge investment. Rather the existing digital channels can be used such as website, mobile site, app, CRM, social media site, forums, etc., by threading them together in a centralized way so that they can deliver a seamless customer experience.
