Reaching a customer service department should be easy, but that’s not always the case, and it leaves customers feeling irritated before even connecting with the brand. When they do connect with a brand, it's not always productive. They might start off with a bot. When that bot can’t help, they’re transferred to a human who asks the same questions they just answered. Herein lies the problem. In our personal lives, we can send images while we text and talk, and even participate in multiperson video conversations from the same device. Why is customer service so different?
Customer experience (CX) is more important than ever. The Global State of Customer Experience report states that “three-quarters of consumers switch to a brand competitor after just one bad experience,” underscoring that the CX you deliver is critical to success. In short, if you’re complacent about CX, you’re going to struggle.
Many people say omnichannel when they really mean multichannel. I don’t want to be a nitpicker, but the difference matters.
Customers use multiple communication channels to interact with your brand. One report noted that 86% of consumers expect you to recognize them across channels. They may choose from an in-store service desk, email, phone calls, in-app chat, chatbots, text messages, social media, live chat or even a self-service knowledge base. Omnichannel customer support is offering seamless customer service across all touchpoints.
This is why omnichannel matters. People want to experience brands the way they experience communicating with friends and family: easy, on any channel (or every channel) and as fast as they want it to be.
Unfortunately, much of the business world is still stuck in the multichannel phase; many companies are still utilizing cumbersome, inflexible, on-premises technology and lack the knowledge/trust of a cloud contact center. But it’s really not optional to offer just one or two communication mediums any longer The time for brands to figure this out is now — or never.
Our omnichannel support CURSOR incorporates AI and natural language processing, enabling chatbots to learn over time with each interaction and dramatically increasing your organization’s ability to solve complex issues through automation – in addition to the human interaction customers still expect. AI-powered agent assistance can even use chat histories and insights to help coach human sales agents and improve their close rates and overall performance.