The Value of AI Omni-Channel Customer Service Communication
No matter what sector your business operates in, you likely rely on customer service support every single day. When customers have a problem, the first thing they do is reach out to your customer service team. That’s where omni-channel customer service comes in, giving customers the freedom to connect on the channel they’d prefer.
But not every communication pathway was made equal. On the whole, the majority of customers tend to look for phone support when looking to solve a problem. A smaller group, coming in at 38% of customers, turns to digital channels like live chats.
Single-channel support pathways leave customers feeling boxed in, unable to access support in the channel they’d most prefer. In this article, we’ll explore exactly why omni-channel customer service is so powerful, and how your business can leverage AI tools to enhance the customer support experience.
Source: Communication channels customers prefer to use to resolve customer service issues in the United States in 2022.
What Is Omni-Channel Communication?
When a customer reaches out to customer support networks, they typically have a variety of options to choose from. Some customers will prefer phone support, while others will look for digital chats. The most important thing is that they have their preferred method of communication available to them.
Omni-channel communication is about providing a comprehensive level of support across various channels. Instead of being stuck with one single form of customer support, clients can look to:
- Live Chat Support: Customers can reach out to agents via on-site chat, interacting with either live agents or chatbots to solve their issues.
- SMS Support: Similar to live chat, customers can reach out to a support number via a messaging system (like WhatsApp) to enter into a customer service conversation.
- Phone Support: Customer support agents will help troubleshoot or solve problems via voice chat.
- Email Support: For less pressing cases, individuals can reach out to support networks via email with their inquiry.
An omni-channel communication system covers all of these, allowing a customer to seamlessly switch between them.
The Limitations of Single-Channel Providers
Customer service journeys are rarely linear. While customer support agents are able to solve some requests fairly easily, others may require more extensive conversations. When using a single-channel customer support provider, businesses are limited to the ways they can interact with their clients.
Especially considering that customers have a broad range of preferred customer support channels, businesses that limit themselves to only one or two are missing out on providing the best possible service.
There are a number of reasons that single-channel providers reduce customer satisfaction:
- Data Siloing: When a brand has several different customer support channel providers, the data a customer gives in one channel may be inaccessible to the next. If they move from a live chat to a phone call, they may be frustrated when having to repeat all the information they’ve already given.
- Disjointed Customer Experiences: An effective customer support solution should give clients a consistent experience across all platforms. When working with single-channel providers, differences in policy or strategy may result in a fragmented customer experience.
- Internal Inefficiencies: Alongside reducing customer satisfaction, data silos in the customer support process can make it harder for real agents to solve customer issues. A lack of visibility over the entire customer support process creates inefficiencies, harming customer support agent productivity.
Single-channel providers radically limit the efficacy of customer support, reducing visibility over data and negatively impacting the overall customer experience.
How Omni-Channel Solutions Streamline Communication
An omni-channel experience centralizes your customer support communication pathways, ensuring that a customer has the same experience regardless of the platform they use. Omni-channel providers also cover all of the leading customer service channels, ensuring your business meets customers in the format they’d most prefer.
Here are a few of the ways that an omni-channel solution streamlines communication:
- Enhanced Data Agility: An omni-channel solution allows you to seamlessly transfer customer data from channel to channel. With full data visibility, your support agents will never lack the context they need to deliver world-class service to your customers. And, your customers won’t be left repeating their details over and over again as they switch channels.
- Reduced Cost: Working with an omni-channel solution reduces the total number of providers you have to rely on, dramatically reducing customer support operations costs.
- Faster Onboarding: When bringing new customer support agents onto your team, you have to bring them up to speed with solutions training. When you have one single, omni-channel solution, the amount of onboarding learning they have to do is significantly reduced. With this, you’ll experience faster onboarding, letting your agents hit the ground running.
An omni-channel solution gives customers the choice of receiving help on their terms. Phone call, SMS, live chat-–your company can do it all.
How AI Advances Omni-Channel Solutions
Artificial intelligence has empowered omni-channel customer service solutions, allowing businesses to automate large aspects of the process. Instead of having human agents around the clock, AI systems can respond to messages, outline emails, and manage live chats 24/7.
Bland takes this even further, offering AI phone agents that sound human, can respond in any language, and can completely manage your customer support needs. Considering 54% of customers still prefer to solve their queries via phone, Bland’s fully self-hosted solution can automate the entire voice customer service pathway.
With full integration into WhatsApp for easy calling and response, businesses can leverage Bland to give their customers a winning customer support experience. Talk to sales today to get started.