In today’s digital world, people have multiple ways to stay connected to each other. Though the phone still remains an important piece of the entire communication game, it alone is not enough. As a business, when a customer reaches out to you with a problem, the solution not only has to be delivered quickly but seamlessly. An average customer uses six touchpoints, with more than 50% using at least four touchpoints. What does this imply for a business?
When a customer reaches out to an enterprise, not only do they expect a quick response, they expect this to be done seamlessly as they move between multiple communication channels such as email, website chats, SMS, phone calls, and more. Providing a seamless omnichannel customer experience is the new reality of customer service for all businesses irrespective of their size.
To meet the demands of this omnichannel customer journey, what a business needs is a service platform that combines every channel of communication and all data sources in a way that agents can use them in one place. The modern-day omnichannel contact center software is designed keeping in mind the shifting customer needs and preferences.
What is an Omnichannel Contact Center?
An omnichannel system enables service agents to manage and utilize every communication channel (social media, phone, chat apps, SMS, email, etc.) available at once. Agents are able to do this with the help of a single software and work across all channels, whether traditional phone calls or emails, SMS texting, or website chats. With a single software solution managing all channels, contact centers can create notes on each customer and make them available for every future interaction with the customer.
The omnichannel contact center software gives agents a 360-degree view of the customer’s journey with the business. They can see where the customer was last time they reached out, what the issue was if it was resolved, and how it was resolved. An omnichannel system not only makes it easier to deliver service, but your analysts can review omnichannel data to get a better understanding of repeat issues that might be harming your bottom line.
From the customer’s standpoint, they feel familiar and get the impression that you “know” them very well. This is because your service agents have a thorough understanding of their interactions in the past, they know what will work, what will not for this particular customer. The background or context is there. Customers love this familiarity and attention to detail.
As the modern-day contact centers meld into an immersive experience hub, omnichannel communication is becoming the gold standard for customer communication. An omnichannel contact center enables enterprises to standardize and unify communications across multiple channels.
Why choose Omnichannel Systems over Legacy Systems?
- Seamlessly communicate with customers where they are
Your customer may want to connect via a traditional phone call, SMS text, email, chat, or even your social media platforms; an omnichannel contact center software enables agents to engage with them easily on any of these channels. Though as a business you may already be utilizing most or all of these channels, if they aren’t integrated seamlessly into one system switching between multiple tools can hamper customer experience. An omnichannel system unifies all of these channels and enables you to seamlessly connect with customers where they are.
- Intelligent routing
An omnichannel contact center software with its intelligent call routing capabilities assesses the needs and context of each customer and connects them with the agent most qualified to address those needs. Features like priority-based routing push the most urgent calls to the front of the queue. Intelligent routing, ensures customer needs are met quickly and efficiently, enhancing the overall customer experience. It also helps optimize agent productivity by prioritizing tasks that are most important.
- Tracks customer journey
An omnichannel system follows a customer from one channel to the other, collecting data and tracking their interactions. As a customer makes the transition from social media to chat to a call with a live agent, their complete history and account details get tracked. The tracking not only eliminates customers’ frustration (they need not repeat themselves), it also gives agents the tools to serve customers better.
The information gives an inkling of what your customers are considering buying, what information are they looking for, and more. Agents can utilize the information to their advantage and provide the solution a customer is looking for, be it product information, completing a transaction or web form without starting over, and more. Using video communication, agents can help customers navigate the website, customize preferences, or teach them to use self-service tools.
- Enables collaboration and enhances agent productivity
Contact center software comes with integrated workforce optimization (WFO) technologies. WFO features comprise call recording, quality monitoring, performance management, text-to-speech analytics, and a lot more. These tools lay the foundation for contact centers to evolve strategically. What’s more, these tools help enhance customer experience and have a huge impact on the team and agent experience. Features like conference calling, enable agents to bring a third party into an ongoing phone call with a customer. Conference calling helps agents collaborate and helps them investigate a complex issue with a teammate or cross-functional partner.
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Omnichannel Contact centers: The key to customer-oriented service
Customer’s today have access to multiple channels of communication at their fingertips and a preferred way to interact. While some are comfortable writing an email, others prefer to call the moment anything is off the hook. Omnichannel contact center software enables enterprises to reach out to customers where they are by integrating data from all touchpoints. Omnichannel systems integrate seamlessly with CRM or any industry-specific software. Businesses that have made a switch to omnichannel communication have reported a 91% year-on-year customer retention rate. With contact centers fast-evolving, omnichannel systems seem to be the future. Let us know your thoughts!
Hi, I am Adam Smith, Admin Of TechSketcher, Creative blogger and Digital Marketer.