Fact: Customers are taking advantage of more channels than ever – think websites, mobile, and a whole range of social apps in addition to traditional methods – to provide feedback about your organization.
Fact: While the methods may vary, customer expectations are higher than ever. A recent Customer Experience (CX) Trends Report found that 70% of customers expect anyone they interact with to have access to the full context of the ongoing conversation, with 66% believing that support interactions shouldn’t interrupt their current action.
Solution: A strong and effective omnichannel strategy – offering fast, personalized, and uninterrupted customer experience across multiple platforms – is an essential tool to meet customer needs and continue to grow your organization.
It’s no secret that the CX world has changed dramatically in recent years. It wasn’t that long ago that survey invitations at the bottom of a receipt or an email invite with embedded questions were the primary sources of generating customer input. As it did in so many areas, the COVID pandemic is at least partially responsible for changing that.
A focus on the brick-and-mortar experience quickly evolved, out of necessity, to digital experiences and a wide variety of customer-company touchpoints. Business executives have always asked the question: What are our pain points? That was an easier inquiry to answer when most of the interactions took place within the four walls of the organization.
With the natural tendency to want to control the customer experiences – and, in turn, the company reputation – the questions from leaders came more frequently and were sometimes greeted with more uncertainty. But that doesn’t have to be the case.
Organizations that made prior CX investments in digital and other touchpoints were at an advantage. If the ability was/is in place to track CX across the various channels, the answers to those questions are pretty clear. If that is not the case, an omnichannel strategy is still possible.
Reduce the silos
Few, if any, successful companies operate today in the single-channel mode. That is when customers can only communicate with the brand through a single method such as dedicated customer service groups or in-person inquiries. Multichannel expands the connection opportunities to a number of channels, but with that expansion, conversations may not carry over from one channel to the next.
Omnichannel CX exists when multiple, interconnected channels are in place that allow for fluid, continuous conversations. It’s more than just being able to listen across all channels; it’s having that bridge in place to facilitate the connections and allow for all the insights gained to be viewed in one place.
Establishing and maintaining the connections is sometimes easier said than done. The challenges can include individual business units operating like … individual business units.
Let’s give an example: As the business environment changes, a company’s digital team may introduce new ways to collect customer feedback. But it’s entirely possible that, without a good governance system, this effort fails to align with the company’s overall CX strategy.
In addition, customer feedback does not always come in tidy buckets. That same digital team may receive input based on someone’s in-store experience. If the processes are not in place for effectively sharing that feedback to the appropriate store teams in the field, the opportunity for a customer connection may be lost.
Another roadblock to omnichannel effectiveness can be technology. Your organization likely utilizes a plethora of platforms. Adjustments must often be made to allow those platforms to “talk to each other” as the technical team strives to create that unique customer identification that allows customer interactions to be tracked across all touchpoints.
The good news is that technology advances continue to make it easier to create those connections and allow for cohesion between the various platforms.
Finally, the individual employee experience must be considered. Proper training and comprehensive product knowledge are always required. Platforms, connections, and technology have their place, but it is people who help control those functions.
Road to success
Obstacles have been identified, but what does omnichannel CX success look like? It’s as “simple” as one-two-three:
- Establish listening posts that span the customer’s journey or all the ways that the customer engages with your organization.
- Establish good governance that is required to connect all the listening posts and the teams that are measuring them.
- Create a single spot where all the data that is collected can be viewed and analyzed.
The governance part of the equation is at the center of it all. It may not be easy, but it is crucial to overall success. The CX professional must craft strong relationships with team members who own the customer experiences and manage the customer channels. Strong individual business units can fall short in omnichannel CX without cohesion and centralization.
The bottom-line goal is a full view of a customer’s interactions with your organizations. The benefits are enhanced customer experiences and an invaluable boost to your company brand.
Again, we offer an example. Let’s say your business is a restaurant or chain of restaurants. What used to be a primarily in-person experience has changed dramatically. Whether it’s takeout or delivery (internally controlled or third party), it is critical to replicate the flagship dine-in experience. Customers expect it and while the consistency can be difficult, you must find a way to make it happen or risk seeing your competitors be the beneficiaries.
Listen and learn
Here are some insights on a few popular omnichannel CX topics:
- Eliminating a customer having to repeat their information is an important starting point. You must know who your customers are across the variety of touchpoints they have with your organization.
- While knowing as much as possible about individual customers was at one time considered “creepy,” it is now an expectation – from the customers themselves. In their words: “I’ve done business with you, so I expect that you know me.”
- Are live customer service agents a requirement? The answer is it depends – both on your type of business and the demographics of your customers. No matter the answer, it is always best to have multiple options for collecting unsolicited customer feedback.
- Smaller organizations can often overcome having fewer resources by relying on greater connectivity between a less disparate group of individuals. Larger organizations benefit from having more resources, but they also have the challenges of connecting larger groups.
- As in all CX operations, timing can be critical. Feedback that involves a lost sale or a particularly upset customer must be addressed as soon as possible. The connectivity of omnichannel CX to allow for real-time alerting across different groups in the organization can allow that to happen.
If your omnichannel strategy needs work, you can begin by mapping the current customer journey and identifying the appropriate listening posts that are missing today. The additional elements can come as your program evolves. Build it up like a pyramid, being sure to keep governance and connectivity at the center of its development.
And, like other factors in today’s fast-moving CX world, rest assured that omnichannel is not complete in its evolution. Build and grow your program to benefit your company and your customers today – and to help be better prepared for tomorrow.