Written by: Patrick Brown, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Do you know how Sephora recreates its in-store customer experience? One word: omnichannel. Last year, the global cosmetics retailer boosted personalized customer service by relaunching its mobile app’s live help function. The channel lets consumers seamlessly connect with live agents, seek product advice, and read app tutorials.
Like Sephora, you can combine your customer service and interactive product guide into an omnichannel solution. Whether through in-house solutions or outsourcing, omnichannel lets you implement your own unique, optimized, and integrated communication solution.
Keep reading to learn what omnichannel is and how to maximize it across different platforms.
Boosting Customer Experience With Omnichannel
Customer journeys span across multiple touchpoints and devices.
Imagine an individual who plans to purchase a brand-new tablet, but they cannot go out for some health-related reasons. So they browse through your online store using a mobile shopping app. They ask for a tablet demo via video chat on their laptop. They then finalize the transaction by talking to one of your sales agents over the telephone.
That process and all those communication channels are part of your customers’ journey. Your top priority as a business is to make consumers happy at every interaction, from browsing and purchasing products to seeking customer service.
You can best achieve that goal by personalizing the customer experience. Globally, 90% of consumers will stick and spend more with brands that offer personalized customer service.
Additionally, the demand for personalized brand strategies has doubled since the pandemic hit in early 2020. Most transactions now occur online. Hence, 52% of buyers today feel more satisfied if they receive more personalized digital experiences from brands.
So businesses are wise to execute a well-structured customer experience management strategy that is more personal and accommodates individual choices. This strategy leads to high customer satisfaction, increased sales, and an expanded customer base.
This is where omnichannel enters the spotlight.
Unlike multichannel, omnichannel facilitates an integrated digital customer experience. The approach allows consumers to begin their journey with your brand on one channel and end it on another—without repeating data input or losing crucial information.
Introducing the Different Customer Service Channels
Businesses used to deliver customer service exclusively via call centers. But over the years, technological advances have led to evolution. We now offer customer service across various communication channels.
Each customer service channel addresses consumer needs. For instance, elderly customers, who are used to speaking out about their concerns, connect with your company over the phone. Meanwhile, digital-native Gen Z seeks support via online platforms.
As a result, you must consider how your customers communicate with your brand. Check out the different channels listed below before establishing your in-house or third-party customer service team.
Voice calls. Phone-based support is the traditional customer service channel. It lets consumers have natural conversations with agents to resolve product issues. Initially, voice calls are done only through physical telephone systems. Nowadays, customer service teams can perform this function through a software solution.
Email. Since the early 1970s, email has connected millions of people worldwide. In 2021 alone, global email users reached nearly 4.2 billion. Email has become one of the most widely used customer service channels because it allows for asynchronous communication. It also simplifies the management and distribution of support tickets.
Live chat. For those who want a real-time and less time-consuming customer experience, live chat is the ultimate option. This channel enables them to send and receive replies in just a second. Data from Help Scout even shows customers mostly left positive feedback after a chat.
Text messaging. This customer service channel is like the traditional type of live chat and email combined. It facilitates sending electronic support requests or follow-ups through short text messages. Because of digital transformation, you can now offer mobile messaging over internet-based services such as Messenger and WhatsApp.
Social media. If you want to deliver the most comprehensive digital customer experience, social media helps you reach that target. The channel provides buyers more flexibility in how they express their concerns regarding purchases. They can submit inquiries through social media posts, direct messages, or online reviews.
Self-service. Consumers who want to resolve issues on their own appreciate self-service options such as blogs and chatbots. According to Harvard Business Review, 81% of customers will attempt to address their problems independently. If they reach out, it means you have failed to deliver their ideal experience.
Video chat. Although video chat is fairly new in customer service, it has already helped boost the customer journey. The latest statistics from Talkative reveal that 94% of customers rate video chat as a positive experience. The channel allows live, face-to-face product demos and problem resolutions over the internet.
Note: Simultaneously using these channels in your business does not automatically equate to an omnichannel customer experience.
Your multichannel business may have a social media account, a live web chat feature, and self-service. You can operate them with different objectives. But this might lead to high operating costs and conflicts if you cannot integrate them into one solution.
Optimizing Omnichannel Experience for Your Business
Omnichannel helped Marks & Spencer expedite its online growth. The multinational retail brand rolled out a number of omnichannel programs such as a new digital click-and-collect service.
The company's latest move is hosting a live shopping service where customers can watch product demos, ask questions, and purchase items on the spot. Its year-over-year online sales thus increased by nearly 5% for its half-year results, which ended in October 2022.
Knowing how to leverage the omnichannel experience for your business allows you to enjoy similar success.
Here are some best practices you can follow to gain a competitive advantage, whether in-house or with your business process outsourcing (BPO) provider.
Clarify customer experience goals. Tracking your progress is impossible if you do not specify your objectives for implementing omnichannel customer service. Remember the SMART goals? Creating a checklist based on these concepts motivates and guides you toward achieving excellent customer experience management.
Identify your target audience. Knowing your target customers is valuable in developing your omnichannel strategy. It helps you identify which channels your buyers use for purchases and support requests. Hence, you will know which ones to prioritize and improve for personalized customer service.
Seek consumer feedback. Customer insights give you the all-inclusive details you need to enhance the customer journey. So ask their opinions on how they want to engage with your brand. Seek your customers' reviews and ratings through surveys and online feedback forms to develop a more cohesive omnichannel customer experience.
Analyze market demands. Once you identify your goals and customer demands, examine industry trends and expectations. One of the reasons buyers leave is that you do not offer the experience other brands do. Hence, conduct consistent market research to know how you can strengthen your competitive edge with omnichannel.
Ensure operational advantage. Remember that you are implementing omnichannel because you want to achieve cost efficiency. Therefore, assess your budget and conduct a cost analysis before finalizing your investment. This step is necessary if you plan to outsource your customer service.
Additionally, omnichannel implementation does not have to be a big and intimidating process. Instead, it is best to begin with fewer integrated channels and add more later based on your resource allocation.
This is especially significant if you are a startup. You might struggle to balance your budget for human resources and customer service operations if you insist on adopting all channels at once.
So you need to figure out which channels you should focus on first as you build your omnichannel strategy. Consider the following situations as an initial guide:
Buyers often use social media and email to communicate with brands. Among U.S. consumers, 24% rank social media as their number one preference when interacting with companies. Email and telephone calls follow after.
Despite its popularity, organizations still fail to maintain their social media presence. Buyers who reach out to organizations through social media sometimes get delayed or no responses. But such companies reply quickly through email.
Businesses invest in omnichannel to address social media and email support needs. Integrating these two channels using artificial intelligence (AI) and automation solutions makes the process smoother.
Outsourcing helps ensure an unmatched omnichannel customer experience. Outsourcing reduces operating costs by providing unified software and a skilled workforce.
Improving Omnichannel Customer Experience With BPO
Many businesses treat outsourcing as their go-to method for advancing customer service. Typically, call centers come to mind once you hear the word “outsourcing.” But due to digital innovation, contact centers emerge to meet the growing demand of your consumers.
Further technological advancements such as AI and cloud computing transformed the multichannel contact center into an omnichannel support hub.
Let us look at how BPO vendors help improve the omnichannel customer experience below.
Better Understand Customers
Service providers use modern customer data platforms (CDP) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems to understand buying behavior and support engagement.
CDPs and CRM are often included in an omnichannel solution such as contact center as a service (CaaS). They use these tools to help their clients track changing consumer demands and expectations.
Leverage Advanced Solutions
In addition to deploying data management solutions, BPO providers also leverage new technologies to further boost digital customer experience. They use the following tools to improve their omnichannel strategy:
AI and machine learning
Robotic process automation (RPA)
Natural language processing (NLP)
Text-to-speech
Cloud service
Interactive voice response (IVR)
Ticketing systems
Automatic call distribution
Chatbots
Improve Personalization
A third-party omnichannel customer center sends individualized messages across channels to enhance personalized support. For instance, agents use the integrated platform to easily view customer profiles and transaction histories. In turn, they can confidently interact with buyers regardless of their concerns, personalities, and preferred communication channels.
Expedite Response Time
Using the mentioned modern tools, outside agents assist your business in providing fast replies to customer inquiries.
For example, a large Amazon ecommerce company tapped into our business as a BPO partner to meet their customer support needs. We designed and set up an integrated communication solution to ensure high response levels. The client thus achieved increased margins and growth targets.
Utilize Market Insights
Using CRM, AI/ML, and other automation tools within an omnichannel solution, service providers collect, categorize, and analyze customer feedback. The resulting insights help both the BPO company and its clients further enhance their customer engagement strategies.
Final Thoughts
Begin creating an amazing customer experience by understanding and implementing an omnichannel strategy first.
Using multichannel customer service helps you meet varying customer demands, but adopting omnichannel lets you satisfy consumer needs. The approach enables you to personalize the experience for increased customer retention.
Take advantage of the integrated channels by following best practices. The recommendations let you optimize omnichannel marketing in-house and through outsourcing to boost your bottom line.
Patrick Brown, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Patrick Brown is the founder and CEO of Unity Communications, an award-winning BPO service provider operating globally. As a leader, he has built an international organization that serves clients across the globe, from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies.
With recognition on the Forbes Next 1000 list in 2021, Brown's vision and leadership have made his BPO company a force to be reckoned with in the industry.
But Brown's journey to success didn't begin with Unity Communications. He kicked off his career in the U.S. Navy and eventually rose to the rank of IT director for USS John S. McCain DDG-56. After leaving the military, Brown worked with renowned telecommunications companies such as Cox Communications, Mitel, and XO Communications.
His international exposure, interest in technology, and passion for entrepreneurship led him to start his own business in 2009. And he has since grown Unity Communications into the thriving BPO company it is today.
Despite the demanding nature of running a business, Brown believes in fostering a work-life balance for his employees. He himself also dedicates time to his own family and personal hobbies. In fact, he often competes in sanctioned IRONMAN events throughout the world as a way to acquire goal orientation and develop mental fortitude.
Patrick Brown believes that investing in people, leading a disciplined life, and not being afraid to fail are the keys to success.
