Today’s world has more ways for people to be connected than ever before. It used to be that you needed a desktop PC to go online.
The Internet of Things has connected computers, phones, laptops, and even televisions. And within those devices, there are countless ways for us to communicate.
Customer service has also upgraded, resulting in omnichannel support that takes advantage of the multitude of ways to reach potential customers.
What is omnichannel support?
Omnichannel support is when a business provides equal customer support across multiple channels. Customers choose the most convenient option for contacting your business.
These channels can include live chat, email, traditional phone calls, text messages, social media, and other means that work best for the customer.
Omnichannel support establishes a single strategy across all these channels, or “touchpoints.”
The goal is to remove barriers and provide consistent communication and information.
The result is that visitors can easily find what they need without having to search multiple locations or contact many people within your organization.
The concept of omnichannel support is relatively new but has gained momentum as people become more comfortable using different devices.
A Verifone survey about online shopping preferences cited convenience as a theme for customers. Respondents acknowledged time-saving (52%), variety (48%), and options to research (48%) as top reasons.
Situations like these lend very well to the rise of omnichannel support.
Defining omnichannel support vs. multichannel support
The term multichannel support doesn’t come far behind in the conversation about omnichannel support.
The terms are occasionally used interchangeably but offer different things.
Multichannel support
Multichannel support refers to the number of ways you can offer customer service. The focus lies in providing support for all your different channels.
Multichannel support is a more traditional approach. Companies mainly use this if they offer multiple products or services through different means of contact.
The goal is to extend different ways for the customer to reach you. However, it generally ends there, and one’s phone experience with a company may be different from their email experience.
Omnichannel support
Omnichannel support goes beyond multichannel customer service. This strategy aims to provide a seamless experience regardless of channel.
Omnichannel support requires a plan for how businesses handle interactions across all channels. For example, if a customer contacts you on Twitter about a problem that happened on your website, you’ll want them to receive the same level of service as if they had contacted you via email or phone.
Companies with an omnichannel support strategy specifically address the limitations of multichannel services in equalizing customer service.
The focus on a consistent experience is what elevates an omnichannel support strategy.
Creating an omnichannel support strategy
Take note of these steps when assembling your omnichannel support strategy.
1. Conduct customer research
Your omnichannel support strategy should be built around the needs of the customers. To get an accurate picture of those needs, you must conduct customer research.
Customer research identifies the characteristics of your core customers and determines what they need across all channels.
From the research, you can understand how they use each channel, where they prefer to contact you, and what they expect. Use this information to structure your omnichannel support.
2. Choose and prioritize your strongest channels
Your customer research will give you an idea of your strongest channels for omnichannel support.
Asking which channels have the most potential is a fair question, especially if your company has been around for a while and you have data on what works and what doesn’t. It’s worth deciding how much time and effort each channel gets.
Think about your target audience as well. Consider what devices they use, where they live, and their probable budgets. You can then rank your omnichannel support based on importance.
This doesn’t mean that lesser channels will be ignored, as the point of omnichannel support is consistent service. But resources should be distributed according to audience size.
3. Deliver a consistent brand voice
The most important part of your omnichannel support strategy is ensuring you have a consistent brand voice.
Consumers want to interact with businesses they know and trust. A consistent voice will help them feel more confident in whichever medium they contact you.
Your omnichannel support must ensure that each department has access to the same information. A unified vision for how the company should respond in certain situations is also important.
4. Invest in the right tools and technology
Omnichannel support has many touchpoints, and you need a way to manage it all. Seek out the right tools and technology to improve customer service.
The best tools help you track what’s happening across all channels. For example, IT firms can offer dashboards that let you stay on top of different communication lines.
It’s also vital that these tools allow for integration with other software systems you’re using. This way, your team can easily pull up and address inquiries.
5. Map the customer journey
The customer journey is the path people take when interacting with your brand.
For omnichannel support, you’ll need to map out each stage of the journey concerning each channel. Consider what happens during a call vs. what happens during live chat, for example.
This will give you insight into people’s problems when they use a channel. Your omnichannel support strategy should answer frequent touchpoint concerns – and see why they’re being addressed there.
6. Build relationships
Omnichannel support is naturally customer-centric. A great customer service experience begins even before people have any issues. It begins with building relationships.
Don’t let your omnichannel support be one-sided. Instead, use the opportunities of different avenues to engage with your audience, like sharing relevant content.
7. Track your feedback and data
Omnichannel support gives you an enormous amount of data to track. This can be used to improve aspects of your omnichannel support service.
Here are a few critical metrics to note:
- Customer retention. Other metrics don’t matter if you’re not keeping customers. This metric matters especially for small businesses with more limited omnichannel support.
- Customer satisfaction. A positive experience is crucial to omnichannel support. Satisfied customers return, thus, allowing you to expand and grow into new markets.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS). This measures loyalty by asking how likely customers would recommend a company on a scale from 0 to 10.
Why does omnichannel support matter?
The customer journey is no longer linear. People jump from online to offline and back again, buying from multiple devices at different times, locations, and urgency levels.
Omnichannel support lets you be more responsive at each stage. It is all about maximizing the customer experience.
Utilizing omnichannel support provides a smooth and coherent experience for clientele, no matter how they reach out.
By delivering satisfaction across all channels, omnichannel support helps customer satisfaction, loyalty, and, ultimately, sales.
