A good customer experience is at the core of high-quality customer service. Ensuring customers can access their preferred channel and receive a consistent buying experience is at the heart of omnichannel customer support.
Consider the benefits that result:
- Greater customer loyalty: Omnichannel customer experience creates speed, convenience, transparency and trust. Seamless interactions show customers that an organization is buyer-first and has transformed outdated sales methods for a smoother overall process.
- Providing preferred purchasing options: The omnichannel approach creates more opportunities to meet a growing need: Delivering self-service purchase options to customers1. The ability to do this frees up sales and customer engagement professionals to fill the role as consultative partners and give better service to more highly considered purchases.
- Accelerating revenue growth: Omnichannel customer experience enables buyers to access potential purchases when they need them without going through traditional sales avenues. Removing the barriers to purchase and providing transparent and connected digital experiences increases revenue growth and customer satisfaction1.
- Innovating and activating new channels more quickly: Businesses that currently have established omnichannel experiences will have a competitive advantage in designing and activating new channels. Established omnichannels can act like a framework for introducing new channels. When customer experience and interactions are already seamless, it is easier to adopt additional channels without starting from scratch.
When it comes to customer service, customers expect a single brand experience through all touchpoints. The omnichannel approach gives businesses additional benefits for customer service, including:
- Streamlining customer service using customer data and digital tools: According to a recent Forrester report, 38% of US and UK online adult buyers are motivated to use a retailer they have purchased from before if it offers good customer service2. An example of a customer support tool that uses data is intelligent routing. This service collects customer data that is used to route customers to the call center agent who is best equipped to help. The use of data and these types of digital tools help agents better understand the customer journey, increase agent productivity and provide personalized experiences and solutions.
- Customized experiences: More retail and wholesale firms are investing in personalization technology such as machine learning to leverage insights on customer preferences. For example, machine learning can create unique web page layouts based on customer data such as location and purchase history. This type of customization is proven to yield increased revenue2.
- Customer data and connected products create new value: Customer service extends beyond meeting your customers where they are in the buyers’ journey. It now includes anticipating their needs. Connected devices and buyer data enable businesses to develop services to meet the needs of their customers. Understanding your customers and meeting their needs also increases customer retention.