"Excellent customer service is the number one job in any company! It is the personality of the company and the reason customers come back. Without customers there is no company!" - Connie Edler

With the ever-evolving business ecosystem and the continuous change in customer expectations , different customer service strategies are being implemented and new ones are coming up too.

One of such customer support service that seeks to facilitate quick and seamless interaction between customers and support agents is what this article is centered on- the omnichannel customer service.

What is Omnichannel Customer Support Service?

The omnichannel customer service approach ensures that customers have a consistent experience across many service channels. This approach caters for a variety of channels , touchpoints, or format that the customer may prefer to use.

From a customer's point of view, every interaction with your company should be a one-of-a-kind experience rather than a repeating one. The omnichannel method handles this by merging the channels using the consumer context obtained from each. This enables interaction between the client and the support team about the same topic regardless of the initial communication channel.

The crux of the omnichannel customer service is the ability to move interaction smoothly from one channel to another without sacrificing context along the way.

Multichannel VS Omnichannel Customer Support Service

The multichannel customer support approach involves interaction with customers across different channels , but not necessarily connecting them to one another. For instance , the customer can reach out to the support team via email , WhatsApp chatbot or SMS but conversations are not preserved to be continued from one channel to the next.

The omnichannel customer support goes a step further by not just providing interaction across different channels but allowing conversation history and context travel with customer from channel to channel. This implies that a customer can raise an issue on to the support team on Facebook and can choose to continue interaction on the same issue on WhatsApp and the context will not be lost.

It is important to provide support across several channels for customers and it only gets better with the omnichannel customer service approach. If you don't, your company may run the danger of losing major clients, which suggests that you won't make as much money. In reality, the majority of clients who have a bad experience with a business stop doing business with them. These days, refusing to offer assistance across many channels might be viewed as a sin against the consumer. Regardless of the communication channel your consumers want to utilize, an omnichannel customer service strategy ensures customer's satisfaction by ensuring consistent conversational journey for the customer across several channels.

Benefits of the Omnichannel Customer Support Service

With the omnichannel customer support , it is a great experience for everyone one involved; the business , support agents and the customer. Some of the benefits are outlined below:

Rapid issue resolution

Issues get resolved faster with the omnichannel customer support approach , as customer context is unified across different touchpoints , making it easier for the support agent to attend to the issues seamlessly without having to connect pieces of conversation across the different channels that has been engaged by the customer.

This smooth experience across different channels will save time for both customer and the support agent and also increase the productivity of the support agent.

Increased revenue and churn reduction

The omnichannel customer support service makes it easy to identify the channels that customers engage with frequently , and if aligned well with the company's marketing strategy , sales agents can know where best to reach customers or even integrate self-service options on such channels. Resulting in increased sales and revenue by implication.

Improved customer data collection

By structure , the omnichannel customer support approach makes it easy to trace customer intents and engagements across different touchpoints extensively. This provides detailed and relevant insights about customers that can be useful for marketing decisions and actions.

Customer satisfaction and trust

The aim of the omnichannel approach is swift response to customer's need from any channel that is convenient for the customer without making the customer go through the stress of restarting same issues. This goes a long way to boost customer satisfaction and solidify trust for the business in the customer.

Examples of Companies Providing Omnichannel Customer Support Service

OneDirect

OneDirect , a conversational engagement platform in India was launched in 2013 for the purpose of helping brands transform their customer experience.

With presence on over 20 channels like email , WhatsApp and others , they provide a system of unified context conversation between companies and their customers , while enabling the companies to automate workflows , gather extensive customer analytics and overall view of customer interaction with their unified solution. They help businesses actualise the dream of effective customer support with the omnichannel approach by providing a range or products like Service Cloud , Feedback Cloud , Messaging Cloud and Command Center which have their respective functions in facilitating adequate customer service and providing detailed insights to help business make relevant marketing decisions.

Simpu

Through the unification of communication channels, workflow automation, Simpu a Nigerian B2B Saas startup helps business to deliver better customer support and precision marketing —all from a single dashboard.

Simpu helps customers make faster purchase decisions by connecting with them in real time using features such as website live chat and integrating third-party core banking backends, eCommerce platforms, and CRM systems to unify customer data across platforms.

With over 90 businesses currently using its services , the platform launched into private beta in November 2021 with its all-in-one omnichannel inbox that allows businesses to receive and send messages across different platforms—email, Whatsapp, SMS, iMessage, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. With its omnichannel inbox, the company seeks to empower businesses of all sizes to scale easily by helping them deliver fast, personalised, and consistent customer support and sales experiences to their clients.

Conclusion

The omnichannel customer support service enables businesses to provide a smarter, more streamlined, and personalized approach by creating a seamless, appealing customer journey that encourages repeat purchases and loyalty. The procedure is worthwhile. If your organization values quick customer involvement across several channels, you should consider the omnichannel customer support approach.