Contact Centers are upping their omnipresence game!

Just calling the 1-800 line no longer makes the cut when an issue comes up. That’s why traditional contact centers are being completely transformed by omnichannel support. In fact, according to The 2021 State of Digital Customer Experience Report , 40% of consumers say they’ve used three or more channels to communicate with customer service representatives. Since customers are virtually everywhere, contact centers have become omnipresent in all contact platforms besides the phone: text messaging, apps, chat, email, social media, and video.

So add more channels? That’s it?

Well…not quite. According to the same report, the most common customer complaint was that their conversations across various channels were not connected. Thus, a clear distinction should be made between multichannel and omnichannel support.

Multichannel systems involve the use of various channels and aim to improve their individual performance; disconnected from each other. Instead, omnichannel customer service means that all channels are interconnected and harmonize the customer experience, regardless of the channel used.

Outsource Accelerator recently published in this article that omnichannel communication is one of the 5 top trends for BPOs in 2023, and is set to remain one of the top outsourcing trends for years to come. However, contact centers only become truly omnichannel when all customer interactions, relevant historical information, and personal background are available to agents in every engagement. This means that help desk individuals can now boost their productivity and performance by having integrated dashboards, otherwise referred to as “Single Pane Of Glass” (SPOG), that map out all of the customer's needs from all available sources. This comprehensive approach allows contact centers to have a holistic view of the customer, resulting in:

• Easier to learn and use systems
• Fewer clicks and less research
• Less frustration and mistakes
• The ability to help the customer faster and more effectively
• Higher productivity
• Improved remote or hybrid work accessibility

With self-service, customers are now becoming all-mighty.

Despite having agents tackling millions of requests, customers are happier when they are able to solve their own problems, as long as they are not too complex. Empowering customers to choose how they interact with support is certainly good. But empowering customers to serve themselves is even greater, as it allows them to craft their own customer experience.

This is reinforced by Zendesk’s recent blog 31 customer service statistics you need to know where it is outlined that 60% of customers agree with the phrase, “I prefer to resolve issues on my own when shopping online” while 86% of customers now expect online self-service options. In the meantime, agents can be relieved from repetitive tasks (such as booking appointments, address changes, checking account balances, or taking orders) and answering the same questions over and over. Instead, they can focus on higher-value interactions that require specialized human support while technology handles the rest.

Finally, the self-help approach increases First Contact Resolution (FCR) - a metric that tracks the number of customer interactions resolved within the first contact, whether that’s via email, chat, or any other channel. Surveys by the SQM group found a 1:1 correlation between FCR and customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores . That means for every 1% increase in FCR, companies can anticipate a 1% increase in CSAT.

In summary, with the right amount of self-service and omnichannel support, companies can drastically reduce contact center costs while improving the customer experience . This is all boosted by the ability to capitalize on technology to integrate both methodologies and have a holistic view of the customer through the Single Pane Of Glass approach.?

* All views and comments are my own.