Many companies are intrigued by omnichannel customer service benefits and want more information on this critical customer relationship innovation. The core idea behind omnichannel customer experience is to offer seamless, integrated customer engagement across devices and channels that helps customers address issues and get more out of their brand engagement.
Customers today migrate across a broad range of communication challenges throughout the day. They expect your business to provide powerful tools and experiences across all potential touchpoints when they want to interact with you. The foundation of omnichannel customer experience starts with ensuring that your brand and business are reachable everywhere your customers are. Then they have no trouble interacting with you through a convenient means.
The secret sauce of omnichannel customer service comes from front-end and back-end integration. Integration is what separates multichannel and omnichannel support. With omnichannel, experiences look and feel consistent and have common underlying integrations with the relevant back-end systems to empower real-time data exchange.
Popular Omnichannel Support Experience Types
Two of the most common forms of omnichannel customer support are conversational AI chatbots and digital self-service micro-apps. Both function across multiple channels, including websites, customer portals, social media, full-featured mobile apps, visual IVR, contact center engagements, and in-person interactions.
Chatbots
Automated chat applications can be powerful tools for omnichannel customer service because they are not channel-dependent. They provide a virtually effortless customer interaction. The chatbot app uses conversational AI and natural language processing to provide the desired information. There is little or no learning curve to use one.
Proper Set-Up and Powerful AI are Critical
The key challenge with chatbots is ensuring they are powerful enough to answer a broad range of customer needs without escalation. The quality of chatbot development and AI determine whether they can be part of a robust omnichannel experience model.
Digital Self-Service Micro-Apps
Micro-apps are simple applications developed to meet a single need or use case. Micro-apps can be designed for a comprehensive range of customer needs. Some examples include customer onboarding, checking one’s account balance, making a payment, checking the status of an account or insurance claim, updating personal information/customer data, digital forms like insurance first notice of loss, and change of account ownership.
Short Link Delivery
Micro-apps are typically delivered using a short link. The customer clicks the link and is redirected to the digital application. This method of omnichannel distribution enables them to be leveraged across all screens and connected media channels.
Additionally, micro-apps can be incorporated into IVR menus to deflect inbound contact center phone calls when the customer needs are relatively simple and don’t require live agent assistance. Micro-apps can also be incorporated into conversational AI chatbots and live chat engagements. One additional advantage of micro-apps is that they can be integrated into CCaaS system workflows in addition to self-service use cases. That enables the agent to address a phone call customer query by sending a short link, filling out the micro-app on behalf of the client, or in a co-browsing customer conversation.
Both chatbots and micro-apps can be deployed in virtually any customer communication channel. That makes them robust and practical tools for omnichannel customer service strategy.
Omnichannel Customer Service Benefits
Omnichannel experiences deliver benefits to both customers and businesses.
For Customers
Customers love and prefer omnichannel support experiences to single-channel solutions for many reasons:
Convenience and Access: These omnichannel service experiences are available whenever and wherever customers engage. There’s no need to hunt for a solution or a process — it’s available on their terms.
Superb Usability: Most omnichannel customer experiences are streamlined to make them compatible with multiple communication channels. That makes them easier to use and often drives faster outcomes.
Faster Resolution and Increased FCR: Omnichannel executions like chatbots and digital self-service micro-apps often speed customers to their desired outcomes with minimum steps.
Higher Customer Satisfaction: They often enable customers to address their issues and questions more efficiently than with a support agent engagement, leading to better outcomes.
For Companies
Reduced Support Costs: Omnichannel customer service executions can deflect large phone calls to customer service agent teams. With costs for support calls averaging about $1 a minute and even simple customer relations experiences often lasting several minutes, it’s easy to see the potential savings.
More Accurate Customer Data: Omnichannel Customer Support usually delivers more accurate customer data than other approaches. By ensuring data accuracy from the beginning, companies can provide richer, personalized experiences.
Reduced Contact Center Stress and Attrition: By diverting large numbers of low-value customer support requests, companies free up time for agents to focus on more complex and high-value customer conversations.
Improved Sales Metrics: Omnichannel experiences often “close” more potential customer prospects than other experiences, in large part because they deliver seamless customer experience.
Improved Business Metrics: Because customers appreciate and value omnichannel communication experiences, they often enhance brand loyalty, customer loyalty, and customer retention. The efficiency and convenience of digital experiences make them welcome components of both a customer journey and an omnichannel strategy.
Get Additional Insights and Information
This summary of omnichannel customer service benefits is just one of the assets FICX offers on the topic. You’ll find links to other posts at the bottom of this page. If you want to accelerate the development of omnichannel customer service apps, consider the FICX platform. Our No-Code CX Platform enables you to create, connect, and deploy seamless experience micro-apps 10X faster than traditional custom development.
Get more information on creating beautiful customer relationship experiences faster and easier by visiting the FICX website and requesting a demo now.
