A Three-Item Checklist for Multichannel Success

A Three-Item Checklist for Multichannel Success

Faith Ocampo Published on July 18, 2016Last updated on May 16, 2022

The way companies and their customer service partners interact with consumers gets more efficient but also more complicated as new tools and technologies are developed.

multichannel communications platform laptop smartphone tablet mobile

Gone are the times when people contact a company using a single channel. These days, customers have the luxury of choosing between several options:

  • Email
  • Live chat
  • Social media
  • Voice
  • Face-to-face.

Across these platforms, customers expect the same level of efficiency and convenience.

Brands must make the most of this opportunity so they can reach more people and provide a memorable customer experience. As technology blurs geographic boundaries and time differences, entrepreneurs must keep up with the changes.

However, building and implementing a multichannel strategy for customer support are complex tasks. Call center managers must collaborate with brand owners and look at their multichannel system as a whole rather than as separate units.

This outlook will serve as the foundation of a successful multichannel approach.

For a holistic view of the multichannel experience, consider these three primary elements.

  1. Processes

    multichannel customer support contacting consumer on mobile phone smartphone

    It’s not enough to have an array of customer service platforms under your belt. What customers really want is a seamless experience. This means that brands must be able to handle cross-device conversations—those that take place across multiple devices. For example, customers may contact brands using social media and then later send an email to follow up on their requests. In such cases, agents must be able to keep track of the previous conversation threads that have taken place in other channels.

    To do this, brands must focus on the following steps:

    • Organizing the escalation procedures. In the call center, escalation processes entail transferring a conversation from one platform to another. This happens when the channel being used doesn’t match the type of customer query being raised. For example, unique and complex problems are better solved through phone calls, where agents can provide detailed instructions.

      Escalation may also mean transferring a transaction from an agent to a manager or supervisor, depending on the level of authority required to make the necessary decisions to solve a customers’ problems.

    • Integrating the front and back office. The front office consists of people who directly interact with customers, whereas the back handles the knowledge, marketing, and logistical functions that keep the contact center running.

      Connecting these two will allow everyone—from agents to managers—to access the information they need to provide the services needed by customers.

    • Fixing customer support bottlenecks. To make the customer experience hassle-free, you must analyze the pain points that slow down your services. Understand what’s preventing your multichannel strategy from smoothly running by conducting surveys among customers and employees. Using the results, you can formulate solutions to eliminate these bottlenecks.
  2. People and management

    multichannel customer support team working in call center

    The agents in your team must have a special set of skills to successfully implement a multichannel customer service.

    Aside from tech-savviness, they must be able to think critically, research well, and adapt to changing scenarios quickly. The ability to personalize conversations with customers is also a must to differentiate the brands they represent from other companies.

    Organizations must therefore change the way they hire their people, ensuring that new employees are truly fit for customer support roles. This means evaluating not just applicants’ technical skills and knowledge but also their soft skills.

    In addition, contact centers can’t afford to have teams who aren’t coordinating effectively with one another. This will result in knowledge gaps and low employee engagement, both of which have negative effects on performance.

    To keep agents productive, call center managers must encourage a people-focused culture. Their task is to enrich employees’ potential by establishing clear career paths, acknowledging good performance, and providing training opportunities designed to challenge and hone employees’ skills.

  3. Technology and tools

    multichannel agent assisting customers on desktop computer

    Deploying multiple customer support channels isn’t just a way to provide customers what they truly want. Having an omnichannel strategy also lets organizations collect massive amounts of consumer insights. These insights may then be used to support and improve existing processes.

    To optimize your omnichannel customer service, your processes must be carried out by advanced call center technologies. A powerful customer relationship management (CRM) system allows brands to gather, manage, and analyze customer interactions and data so they can be made accessible across departments. The database built through this tool then assists agents in delivering customer care and provides managers a sound basis for business development.

  4. In this process, boosting your organization’s data analytics functions will be a big help. Tools that analyze raw data such as speech recognizers, statistical software, and others can automate some aspects of data analysis. This way, instead of handling raw and disorganized information, you’ll be dealing with pre-processed information, making the entire process easier.

Open Access BPO provides 24/7 multichannel business process support in over 30 languages, enabling our partners to reach their customers no matter where they are. Contact us today so we can start building your customer service, technical support, or back office and knowledge process support team.

 

Read More

Faith is a digital media enthusiast aiming to become an active part of the tech world by sharing her insights. She likes to blog about everything digimarketing, technology, and social media.
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK
Open Access BPO
Open Access BPO2 days ago
#CustomerService metrics indicate the level of service your brand is capable of providing.
They can also reveal just how effective your strategies are, including your staffing, training, quality assurance, and service/people management.

They're more diagnostic than curative: https://buff.ly/42DcwtH

----------
Make dismal #CustomerService a thing of the past when you outsource your #CustomerSupport needs: OpenAccessBPO.com/get-started

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CallCenterOutsourcing #CallCenters
#CustomerExperience
Open Access BPO
Open Access BPO3 days ago
You can think of #ContentModeration as the police guarding your online presence, be it on your website or #SocialMedia pages.
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗯 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁?

Find out by reading our blog: https://buff.ly/3ngOFjg

----------
Entrust your content moderation needs only to a trusted expert: https://buff.ly/40aOVin

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#SocialMediaModeration
Open Access BPO
Open Access BPO3 days ago
Having a branded #CustomerService strategy sets your business apart from others, helping grow your customers base and enhancing #CustomerExperience.
Here's how you can develop a branded customer service strategy: https://buff.ly/3JXTZkw

----------
Outsource #CustomerDelight without losing your #BrandIdentity: OpenAccessBPO.com/get-started

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CustomerSupport #branding
Open Access BPO
Open Access BPO4 days ago
𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 #𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.
Hire the right #CustomerSupport specialists and you can ensure excellent #CSAT.
Neglect #recruitment, and you risk losing your customers' trust.

• 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐁𝐏𝐎 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬
https://buff.ly/3ZbMj2y

• 𝟓 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬
https://buff.ly/3na1uvR

• 𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝐙: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐏𝐎𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬
https://buff.ly/3Z9Rq3j

• 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐁𝐏𝐎 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐈𝐭𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐬
https://buff.ly/3Z6tWfm

----------
Let us build your #CustomerService team and give your customers an unforgetable CX today: OpenAccessBPO.com/get-started

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
Open Access BPO
Open Access BPO4 days ago
𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀.
And the first step in providing value-added #CustomerSupport is knowing what's important to them.

Here are 5 ways you can make #CustomerExperience services extra special for both old and new customers: https://buff.ly/3LDfBnG

----------
Outsource now to give your customer the best brand experience possible: OpenAccessBPO.com/get-started

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CX #CustomerService
Open Access BPO
Open Access BPO4 days ago
To consumers, technical support agents play the role of digital first responders, saving the day when users encounter tricky technical problems on the device or software they're using.

Provide excellent #CustomerExperience and improve customer relationships by hiring #TechSupport Agents with these competencies: https://buff.ly/40nMUPJ

----------
Our stringent hiring & training practices ensure high quality #CustomerService for our customers: OpenAccessBPO.com/get-started

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CustomerSupport #CallCenter #TechSupport
Open Access BPO