Why a fully ‘omni-channel’ customer service is vital for your growing businesses

Omni-channel is one of those buzz words which just isn’t going away. There’s a good reason for this, whether you like or loathe the term, what it represents is a critical element of any business’ customer service offering.

Customer service has come a long way in the last 20 years. Trailblazing companies such as First Direct, Apple and Amazon and  in areas such as technology, banking and retail have revolutionised their industries by giving customers an experience that is a million miles away from what many of the incumbents were offering. A combination of relentless focus on the customer and innovative technology, some companies have created an experience so seamless across multiple channels that customers barely have to think about how they contact an organisation.

For smaller businesses, the growth in the possible channels a customer can communicate through has created complexities around how, when and where companies should be interacting with an individual.

The challenge of keeping the experience consistent, no matter how a customer is interacting, is ever greater, especially when resources are limited or legacy systems and software stand in your way. Whether it’s speaking to a consultant in a call centre or receiving a free sample each touchpoint must fulfil its part in a ‘brand journey’ for that customer or you risk losing not only that customer, but others they tell about their poor experience.

However great the challenge of delivering a consistent experience across different channels, it is now a necessary part of any company’s customer service operation.

Thanks to those companies who have set a high bar, Customer service expectations are so much higher amongst customers in recent years. This is especially true amongst early adopters and influencers. A failure to acknowledge and address this will see customers look elsewhere for competitors who can deliver closer to the expected service levels. Conversely an excellent omni-channel customer service can provide that key differentiator in a crowded market.

Getting a complete view of your customer’s  journey, which encompasses all possible interactions is really the starting point to knowing what works and what doesn’t. Many companies are intentionally or unintentionally keeping channels siloed and failing to consider each as part of a more joined up strategy. Every channel has the potential to impact the bottom line, but there must be real investment across each one to make this a reality. If you can’t deliver all aspects internally, consider outsourcing to trusted partners. Companies such as verbatim or message direct offer outsourced phone answering and web chat answering for example. 

Achieving that all round  view of the customer is possible by housing all your marketing activity in one place and having the correct tools and skills in place to get an understanding  of the data insights being generated.

On the positive side, customer interaction has never been more rewarding. Technology has created a wealth of opportunities to engage and communicate across multiple channels. The resulting data has offered companies the chance to be smarter and more creative in their interactions.

A fully omnichannel customer experience should not be viewed as an added extra – it’s increasingly becoming a must. Customers today expect companies to understand how they are interacting, use relevant data insights, and link up each channel to take them through the purchase journey as smoothly as possible.