One of the buzzwords for 2020 was omni-channel, and rightfully so. The word bounced off the walls of chatrooms and business forums on a global scale, and why? Because it was hailed a saviour to organisations battling to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Agents account for approximately 75% of contact centre costs. Effective workforce management solutions have such an impact on efficiency, productivity and expense of the operation. Omni-channel ensued customers were filtered to the right agent and essentially maintained a calm and level workforce that allowed businesses to continue with minimal disruption. In short, omni-channel didn’t only benefit the agent during lockdown after lockdown, but the customer too.
Let’s take a look at just how omni-channel improves CX and the customer journey.
Hyper-personalisation
A staggering 78% of businesses recognise customer experience as their most important strategic performance measure, according to a recent Dimension Data Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report. With customer expectations reaching new heights, every interaction with your brand should be convenient, seamless, and personalised.
Now that customers are taking a variety of different routes through the buying and service journeys, true personalisation means offering an aligned experience, wherever your client is. Omni-channel contact centre and customer engagement solutions mean that companies had to think more carefully about every touchpoint they have with their clients.
Seamless Experience
Omni-channel works by sharing customer data across different channels. It means that while the customer has different methods of making contact with a business, they can also reach out without having to repeat all their data over and over again, and face being frustrated at the concept of this. With an omni-channel practice, the live agent is able to see all of the customer’s online information resulting in the customer not having to start their transaction from the beginning and therefore making it a seamless experience.
Better Workforce Practice and Happiness
Dealing with frustrated customers outside of an omni-channel solution makes for a challenging call for any live agent. They can feel a real sense of detachment from their role and stifled in their efforts to do their job effectively. Job satisfaction can plunge and this causes a real issue for the brand or businesses as the employee becomes disengaged. Their attitude can affect the workforce as a whole causing a wave of unhappy agents. Omni-channel prevents the customer from having to become frustrated in the first place, meaning agents are given a level playing field from the word go. This increases satisfaction within the job.
To conclude, omni-channel helps maintain and build on the right level of CX from the start to the end of the customer journey. It gives live agents an opportunity to be up their performance and deliver a better experience.
