4 reasons to go omni-channel, and 3 reasons why you may be failing

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Today’s customer journey moves through many channels — text, chat, voice — for a single enquiry. Most businesses, however, have multi-channel contact centers that usually operate in silos. These centers may not be equipped to handle customer journeys across channels. On the other hand, companies that deploy omni-channel strategies to meet customer demand are more successful. Omni-channel provides consistent, seamless experience by providing a single view of the customer.

Companies are able to retain a high 89 percent of customers with robust omni-channel customer engagement strategies, compared with 33 percent for companies with weaker omni-channel engagement. A personalised approach helps companies in targeting customers better. Companies with omni-channel customer service capabilities achieve a higher year-over-year improvement in first contact resolution. The case for an omni-channel approach is clearly established because it helps businesses to:

Reduce customer churn: Businesses with omni-channel strategies have 91 percent greater year-over-year customer retention rates against those that don’t, per Aspect Software. Lack of on-demand customer support is often the root cause of customer churn. Simple queries can be resolved by virtual agents, minimizing waiting time. Understanding customer call patterns and behaviors can be used to consistently improve customer service.

Improve customer satisfaction: Maximizing satisfaction with customer journeys can increase Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) by 20 percent, according to McKinsey & Co. When customers call a contact center, their number 1 priority is quick problem resolution. Tools such as omni-channel desktop provides an integrated view of the customer journey through different channels. By preserving all relevant, contextualized data across channels and improving customer collaboration, an omni-channel contact center improves first contact resolution.

Omni-channel is the industry buzzword for today’s contact centers. Businesses are moving toward an omni-channel strategy, and investing in these solutions! But only a few are successfully delivering a seamless and personalized experience despite a multitude of channels and devices used by customers. The reason? Businesses shifting from multi-channel to omni-channel engagement are facing impediments in their transition process. We categorize them under three distinct areas: people, tools, and processes.

Processes: Omni-channel requires a mindset change at an organisation level. In an omni environment, the ownership of customer experience is pan-organisation. Companies should introduce process-level changes across different customer-facing functions to meet this challenge. Also, evolve strategies to assist advisors in adapting to the new framework.

Providing omni-channel customer care is no longer an option; it is what will differentiate successful companies from the laggards. Contact centers are the last resort for customers when other channels fail. This means customers expect contact centers to treat them as individuals, not as a sum of different individual interactions. Omni-channel is therefore an imperative. Businesses of today should embrace omni-channel, if they haven’t done already. The returns are worth it!

 The author is the Senior Director, Delivery at Concentrix