Despite wave after wave of CX innovation, the same problems persist, miring journeys and causing frustration.
Still, customers must repeat information and wait a long time on hold because the contact center agent does not have adequate information at their fingertips.
Indeed, it’s no walk in the park for agents either, missing valuable information and bearing the brunt from customers.
Now, with customer patience at an all-time low, it’s time to get omnichannel right.
What Is Omnichannel, and Why Prioritize It?
An omnichannel customer experience captures critical customer context and ensures conversation continuity, as they switch between channels and interactions, retaining all relevant information.
As such, when the customer shifts to another channel, agents understand the critical points from the customer’s initial query and can pick up where they left off.
These initial queries could take place on automated channels. If so, the bot transcript will pass on to the agent when the customer escalates the conversation.
Consequently, agents can easily spot the customer’s intent and pick up from where the conversation broke down.
Omnichannel customer experience leads to higher CSAT scores as customer queries are better addressed without repeating themselves.
In addition, operations can better equip their teams to resolve queries, improve channel shifts, create a single flow of conversation data and bring in advanced Analytics giving businesses a single view of truth
Steps to Adopt an Omnichannel Customer Experience
Delivering an omnichannel experience involves many people, processes, and technology considerations. Yet, from a broader perspective, the following three steps will set many businesses in good stead.
Step 1 – Connect All Channels Within a Single Platform
The most significant motivator for contact centers to switch to a cloud-native platform is that it allows much simpler integrations between channels. It also opens up connections to the CRM and agent desktop. These are critical for supporting omnichannel customer experiences.
When each channel connects to a central CRM, the customer’s interaction history appears in a singular thread, no matter how many times they have switched channels.
By also plugging the CRM into data from order management, document management, the voice of the customer, and many other tools, businesses can build a 360-degree view of a customer.
Agents must also work from a unified agent desktop that allows them to move a customer across channels while keeping all this vital customer context.
Step 2 – Enable Customer Channel Shift and Agent Transfers
After an interaction, the agent – or a virtual assistant - completes their post-call notes in the CRM, which are then available to the next agent who handles a contact from that customer.
Yet, that context must also carry over midway through an interaction, when a customer escalates the contact or an agent transfers it.
In the case of the customer, it is critical to creating escalation paths across digital channels, which they can follow, so the conversational context moves with them.
Click-to-call or click-to-chat links are excellent here, as they can carry over data from the original interaction, even within a self-service application.
For agents shifting a contact to colleagues, it gets trickier. Of course, the first agent could brief the next, but that adds to hold times and drains the workforce. Passing on the transcript of the initial interaction could also work, but scouring it again takes precious seconds.
Step 3 – Uncover New Ways to Retain Customer Context
Customers do not only interact with the business through digital channels and voice. They go to stores, in-person events, and third-party review sites.
Each touchpoint offers precious data that enables a next-generation omnichannel strategy. Yet, retaining context at these touchpoints is notoriously tricky.
Some brands give customers QR codes through an app, which they scan at the shop counter to capture data. Such a strategy can work well with an incentive, as customers verify themselves, and the company tracks their purchase history.