From question to interaction with omnichannel customer service

Many brands are experiencing an increase in customer service interactions because shops have been (partly) closed for a while due to covid-19 regulations. Questions that are generally asked in stores, now end up with customer service. A trend that’s also visible with banks and insurance companies as they have fewer local offices. Other industries like travel, also experience an increase. Holidays abroad haven’t been possible for a while and this raises new questions.

All these questions end up with customer service through various channels. Just one or two don’t suffice anymore. Telephony, email, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, Snapchat, WhatsApp, chatbot, etc. Wherever your customer is, that’s where your brand is. And you want to manage all these interactions in one cloud-based platform. This way your agents have a single customer view and don’t have to gather their information from multiple systems.

That’s where an omnichannel cloud-based platform comes in. It enables you to manage the various channels you’re active on and communicate from one central spot. Your agents can even switch channels during an interaction. For example, if during a chat calling turns out to be more appropriate. The agent can then easily start a call from the same screen. After checking with the customer first of course. This helps solve the problem faster and makes both agent and customer happy. And because it’s cloud-based, your agents can easily work from home or any other location.

All customer information is available to everyone because it’s stored in one system. With the click of a button, your agents can access all contact- and order history. This helps them communicate more effectively and efficiently with customers and better respond to questions. And customers don’t have to repeat their question over and over. This saves time on both ends and results in better customer experience and higher customer satisfaction.

Several omnichannel platforms make it possible to integrate external with CRM and ticketing software. Like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Zendesk, Freshdesk and more. This opens up new possibilities for customer service to increase performance while the way of working mostly stays the same. It enables them to switch channels, get a single customer view and easily add new customer channels that can’t be integrated in the current systems.

Agents can more easily advise customers and recommend a supplementary product or service because they have access to all order history. And because all data is available in one platform, e-commerce and marketing have better insights into the response and sales related to newsletters and campaigns. This enables your brand to better anticipate on the customers’ needs and wants which results in an improved customer experience and eventually more sales. Because satisfied customers are more likely to remain loyal.

Worried that switching to a new contact center platform will be a time-consuming job? Why not choose to implement it step by step: per channel, per product group, per location or per external integration. Gain experience and build from that. This way everyone has time to get used to the new platform and customers experience continuous improvement. Without stress.

Has your current contact center platform reached its limits, or is it time to switch to omnichannel customer service? Schedule a free call about omnichannel contact center platforms to find out if Sound of Data can help you find out which one is the right fit for your brand.