In order to deliver positive customer interactions, customer service practices have had to evolve to meet rising customer expectations. One of the practices that has become compulsory is for customer service to be available on multiple communication channels. While social media marketing and email marketing were hailed as the holy grail of modern customer support – in 2019, more people are using customer support in messaging apps compared to news feed broadcasting, probably because they prefer real-time interactive conversations.
Messaging apps like Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat have become the ultimate platforms for fast efficient and personalized support and engagement. A study conducted by Vanson Bourne for Twilio surveyed 6,000 consumers in Europe, Asia and North America and found that nine out of ten consumers would like to be able to use a messaging platform to talk to businesses. However, there are countless messaging platforms available today.
With so many messaging apps on which to communicate with customers, it can be an administrative nightmare to manage seamless cross-channel communication with customers. So how can a support team manage their omnichannel messaging?
Well, you can assign agents to manage all the communications across apps or assign a dedicated agent to manage each individual app – however, both these options have their own limitations.
When one person is running social media customer support, that agent can quickly become overwhelmed with the duties of being the point of contact for all inquiries. On the other hand, hiring one individual per social media platform can be expensive for a small to medium enterprise, especially when the volume of interaction does not justify such costs.
https://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/omnichannel-customer-support-in-messaging-apps-what-the-smart-brands-are-doing-02240925/
The voice of the customer, or VoC, is arguably one of the most critical elements of a successful business strategy. After all, your customers are your source of revenue, so listening to them should be a top priority.
In more recent years, however, the need to understand the voice of the customer has become even more imperative to hone in on. With new technologies and the increase in customer expectations, voice of customer strategies have emerged as a proven tactic to increase satisfaction and boost the bottom line. In fact, just a few short years ago Gartner reported that best-in-class VoC users enjoy an almost 10-times-greater year-over-year increase in annual company revenue compared to all others. Not to mention, companies that actively engage in a voice of customer program, spend 25% less on customer retention than those that don’t.
https://www.benbria.com/the-top-tools-for-optimizing-your-voice-of-customer-program/
Welcome to 2019… where digital technologies will start evolving faster than we can adapt. Where customers’ experience expectations will rise above everything else. Where predictive analytics will boost customer experience for good, and where data ethics will become the new competitive advantage. Bottom line: our customers expect now more than ever that the digital customer experiences (CX) we provide are not only seamless and integrated but also more advanced and secure.
https://mopinion.com/top-digital-customer-experience-cx-trends-for-2019/
Every consumer is unique, each with their own sets of needs and expectations. With every interaction with your brand, consumers will have many different options for how they can go about taking the next step in their customer journey. Not to mention, these options will also often depend on how well – or how poorly – their last brand interaction went.
For a Customer Experience professional, it can be very valuable to be able to pinpoint what types of experiences lead to specific paths along the customer journey, especially costly ones. These insights can guide them to make more customer-centric decisions when trying to design positive experiences that will better lead consumers down more desirable paths.
Collecting the “Next Steps” metric as part of a CX program can help you do this.
http://customerthink.com/cx-metrics-series-next-steps/
“We want to give our customers all the tools they need to reach their goals on our online platforms. Be it from tracking their orders to ordering their preferred sneakers, their expectations need to be met online. Therefore we’re focusing heavily on providing self-service and online assistance when and where our customers need it. The customer should have multiple options to find answers to what they’re looking for.”
https://mopinion.com/customer-success-story-de-bijenkorf/
It’s essential CX practice today to offer customers a range of channels through which they can interact with you. But adding new channels is only half the battle. It’s the CX team’s responsibility to coordinate them, too. At the B2B technology company for which I work, we call it connected listening.
For many companies, adding channels means adding silos to an already siloed organization. Lack of coordination across those channels can defeat the purpose and cause frustration for customers, who don’t care that your call center and web experience team operate separately from one another, or that your mobile app development team rarely communicates with your store or branch network.
CX organizations are uniquely positioned and skilled to ensure that organizations are offering customers great omni-channel experiences. Here are some guidelines to make the most of the omni-channel boom.
http://customerthink.com/connected-listening-3-tips-to-meet-the-cx-challenges-of-omni-channel-communication/
Several major market changes have made waves throughout the retail industry in just the past few years. The proliferation of mobile devices, Amazon’s meteoric rise to the top of e-commerce, and the emergence of omnichannel strategies have all fundamentally changed how retailers compete.
Shoppers today expect browsing and purchasing to be consistent and seamless, no matter where their experiences take place. Omnichannel, especially, has transformed retail and improved what consumers consider to be a quality user experience.
While building an effective omnichannel strategy is not easy, retailers can avoid mistakes and create best-in-class omnichannel experiences by following these five lessons:
https://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=126962/
Looking at customer experience (CX) and churn in the SaaS environment from a high level, there’s one theme that stands out from the mix: The fact that we live in what’s called a “switching economy.” The term, coined by economists, describes a current trend impacting switching brands because of dissatisfaction with their experience. It can be a major driver of customer churn—and it’s already creating an incredible economic deficit in the US.
Early reports indicate that more than $1.6 trillion in revenue is up for grabs as “always on” consumers look for brands mastering CX via various channels and touchpoints. What’s more: since 2010, Accenture data shows the switching economy has increased more than 29%—and only 11% of U.S. customers strongly agree that companies are effectively converging their omnichannel experiences. So, what’s driving the switching economy? And how can businesses win back customer loyalty?
https://www.business2community.com/strategy/acing-omnichannel-support-in-saas-02098386/
Can you say with 100% certainty that your company is offering an omnichannel experience? These guidelines can help you differentiate between multichannel and omnichannel customer service.
https://www.nearshoreamericas.com/are-you-sure-your-customers-are-getting-an-omnichannel-experience/
In a constantly connected and mobile society, providing an omnichannel customer service has become indispensable for brands looking to connect with busy customers
A phone conversation is no longer the only means for customer interaction; customers today communicate via SMS, email, social media platforms, live chat and more. Nearly 50% of customers find themselves crossing back and forth between digital and physical interactions, even in a single conversation. The omnichannel trend reflects consumers’ desire for greater choice and personalisation: they can select the mode of communication which best suits them, use their own devices and access information at any time of day.
https://www.technative.io/delivering-a-superior-omnichannel-experience-for-your-customers/
