Omni-channel has become the recent buzzword in customer service. In order to treat the demanding clientele in this highly competitive market, almost all retail businesses are opting for Omni-channel customer experience.
Today’s tech-savvy customers have a penchant for online shopping. From their online shopping habits, retail can know a lot about their choices. In an Omni-channel environment where the data integration is seamless, one in-store assistant should be able to utilize the data to help those clients pick their products.
The same thing applies when a customer communicated with a brand. If the customer wishes to change their communication channel and move on to chat from email, a customer service representative should be able to follow the communication across different platforms so that the customer does not have to repeat themselves.
And that is where contact centers come into the picture. When investing in new channels for customer service, every company should ensure that their contact centers are on the same page with its other channels and service offering.
According to Aberdeen research, a company can enjoy major business benefits by integrating their contact centers within their Omni-channel strategy. At a recent CRMXchange webinar, Omer Minkara of Aberdeen Group presented research findings on the topic. Moving from multichannel to an Omni-channel experience is a very relevant topic today.
As a major part of the customer communication takes place through contact centers these days, it is time to think how an Omni-channel environment can benefit customer service in contact centers. Let us take a look at how the Omni-channel approach can enhance contact center performance:
Customer Satisfaction
According to Aberdeen, companies that integrate their contact centers within their Omni-channel strategy often experience an increased level of customer satisfaction which can be noted by a higher customer retention rate and a higher customer lifetime value.
Integrating the contact center within the Omni-channel strategy allows them to provide a consistent all-encompassing state-of-the-art customer service, and that is one major reason for the increased customer satisfaction.
First Contact Resolution Rate and Average Handling Time
Other major benefits include improved first contact resolution and shorter waiting time – two of the most essential aspects of customer satisfaction. Customers today frequently use mobile apps and visit web stores. They do not have the patience to wait in a queue. For this reason, an Omni-channel contact center suits them the best.
As a result of seamless data integration of Omni-channel strategy, quick resolution of customer’s problem has also become a possibility. Equipped with the data from past customer interaction and their purchasing history, a contact center agent is better suited to help the customers. It also allows them to resolve customers’ queries faster.
As per Aberdeen research, contact center agents spend 14% of their time searching for data from different systems. Unifying the relevant data on a single screen improves both first call resolution rates and average handling time.
Average Waiting Time
The first contact resolution rate can be increased by equipping the contact center agents with access to relevant customer data. It frees the agent’s time that they can then invest in offering quality service to the customers. Not having to look for data also allows them to handle more calls, which leads to shorter wait times for customers.
Apart from that, by integrating all communication channels in the same solution, the companies can be able to deliver a consistent, speedy customer service through all those channels. With access to adequate consumer data, it can also be possible to route the contacts to the right agent in no time.
To sum it all, integrating your contact center within an Omni- channel strategy makes the contact center operations easier and helps agents meet the customer expectations by offering quick and high-quality customer service.
