Offering an exceptional Omnichannel customer service will help your company build a base of loyal customers, strengthening your customers’ trust.
A good customer service should be a priority for all companies because it has a direct impact on any other important aspect of the business. A good customer service will be a fundamental point in making your company stand out from the competition.
Omnichannel support allows businesses to reach a wider number of customers and provide them with assistance more quickly, using whatever channel they prefer.
A study conducted by Zendesk showed that omnichannel support not only makes customer service more efficient, but also allows companies to meet customers’ expectations more efficiently.
Omnichannel Customer Service
All customers’ needs are unique and, at times, satisfying every request can be an excessive load. In fact, providing assistance only via telephone or email is no longer enough.
Omnichannel Customer Support means providing assistance to your customers through any platform in a continuous way, integrating all customer service channels and managing them from a single workstation. This method has infinite advantages:
- For customers, who receive fast and effective assistance moving from one channel to another without interruptions.
- For your company, allowing it to keep track of your customers’ requests and understand them better, and building customer loyalty.
Classic customer service channels
Some of the most popular platforms used for customer service include the classic channels:
Self-Service
Options like knowledge bases, FAQs, forums, etc. are the first choice for most customers who look for an answer or a solution to their problems on their own first.
Customers will often search Google for their problem to find out what they can do. If they are not able to solve the problem, they will turn to customer support. Having self-service solutions is a good idea to lower the number of first requests and elementary problems. Your other channels should always be easy to find in the self-service section to ensure a smoother transition from one channel to another.
Telephone Support
According to research conducted by the Software Advice Survey, telephone support is still one of the most popular channels, with 79% of respondents indicating it as their first choice for solving complicated matters. Explaining a problem on the phone is sometimes quicker than writing it down and most customers would like to receive a quick solution rather than proceeding through an exchange of emails. The omnichannel method helps businesses keep the telephone support staff and the staff of other channels aligned with each other and with customers.
Email support
It is the method preferred by customers who do want a quick answer, but who are also willing to wait. If the problem is not urgent, a customer generally avoids telephone support and simply sends an email. This method is useful especially when customers need to attach documents or files to better explain the problem. By asking for assistance via email, customers can organise their thoughts better and explain their problem in more detail.
Web queries
Like emails, this type too is a written form of customer support. Customers will fill in a web form to be sent to the support ticket, often filling it with data that is important for customer service operators to understand the problem. With a web form, you can easily route the ticket to the appropriate office, based on the topic and the nature of the problem.
New customer support channels
In the new era dominated by the internet it is important to develop new customer support channels.
Live Chat
According to a Zendesk study, live channels are surpassing other channels in performance and in popularity. The study also showed that tickets handled through live chat and via telephone have better key parameters. In fact they present a higher customer satisfaction index, a lower reopening rate and faster resolution times. Customers who contact customer care via live chat generally belong to a younger audience, which is more familiar with technology and more inclined to use it to get faster answers without having to wait.
Social Media Support
Social media is one of the customer service channels used by clients who want to solve their problems quickly. Since social media are public, most customers who make contact through social media not only want a quick answer, but also to make their problem public.
Social Media are one of the most difficult channels to manage since they also serve as a marketing tool and as a PR strategy. Precisely for this reason, interfacing with angry customers on social media is generally more difficult and requires a higher level of experience.
In addition, integrating social media support with other platforms in the omnichannel model allows businesses to analyse customers’ requests and problems at a higher level and communicate with customers in a more in-depth way.
Instant messaging
It includes support channels beyond chat messages, such as WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram Direct Messages, Skype, etc.
This solution is very similar to live chat and social media but at the same time more difficult to monitor. Without an omnichannel support model, instant messages would be more difficult to track. In this case, the customer service teams would not be in sync. This can make customer support inefficient by increasing resolution times and make the customer experience less pleasant.
The difference between Multichannel and Omnichannel support
Multichannel and omnichannel are very often used as synonyms. However, it is the difference between the two that makes the customer experience different.
Multichannel means providing assistance through the various channels, allowing customers to reach your company in any way. Omnichannel is what integrates all the support channels together. In this way customers are given a support journey without interruptions, moving from one channel to another in a fluid and consistent way.
Omnichannel support not only improves the customer experience, but also increases the efficiency of your team and communications through the synchronisation of all the information.
Zendesk Omnichannel Solutions
Zendesk, founded in 2007, is a customer service and engagement platform and is a leader in the field of omnichannel support.
Zendesk’s omnichannel approach allows customers to contact companies through their preferred channel and use one or the other easily. It also improves the work of customer service operators by optimising the process and integrating the channels with each other. Monitoring, managing the channels and analysing the data and the feedback is easier thanks to the Zendesk dashboard and reports.
Zendesk conducted a study analysing the ROI case for omnichannel support. From the analysis it concluded that the omnichannel approach not only helps to change the customer’s expectations, but also influences ROI.
We Are Fiber
WeAreFiber works with Zendesk to provide customer service teams, fully in line with the latest technologies and solutions. This partnership offers omnichannel solutions that satisfy customers at every level and through any platform.
Contact us if you want to know more details about how omnichannel support can improve your ROI and the customer experience. Our experts are available for an overview of the process and the advantages at any time from Monday to Friday.
info@wearefiber.com
Phone (It) +39 02 42 10 11 22
Phone (Uk) +44 20 38 70 44 08
Sources: Zendesk
