Man using multichannel services

A United Front: 5 Multichannel Strategies to Support Great Customer Service

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Multichannel outreach relies on a unified system of communication and teamwork.

There’s a big difference between a multichannel contact centre, and a call centre that offers more than one channel.

A truly unified multichannel contact centre doesn’t just check off the usual service boxes and call it a day. It integrates its information for real-time access and properly applies the skills of its workers to deliver the smoothest service experience possible. It’s easy to offer an extra channel here or there, but knowing the best way to integrate each outreach option into a thriving service hub is a little trickier.

To help make the process a little easier, we’ve compiled a few of our favorite strategies for uniting your contact centre to deliver multichannel support:

1. Offer Their Favorite Channels

Customers always want choice.

Customers don’t always want to contact customer service. But when they do, they’ll want the choice to do it through their most comfortable channel. Learn what outreach channels your market prefers to use and adjust your workforce accordingly. Understanding what type of contact volume to expect for each channel will let you know how to most efficiently staff your centre to keep your waiting times low.

2. Create a Unified System

Remember, your customer doesn’t understand that you have different teams for different channels. If they’re already on the phone, they don’t want to hear that they’ll be transferred to a different agent for their live chat needs. A report by Dimensional Research found that 72 percent of customers blamed their bad service experience on having to explain their problems to multiple agents.

It doesn’t matter how many options you can support if you can’t exchange information between channels. After all, the whole point of multichannel service is to provide more convenience for your callers. A unified Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is your friend here. This software integrates with your customer service platform to create a database for caller information. This is the hub that connects all of your channels, and allows your agents seamless access to data whenever and wherever it’s needed.

3. Know Strengths and Weaknesses

Part of running an efficient contact centre involves knowing where your efforts can be leveraged for the best effect. Each channel has particular strengths that give it value—and weaknesses that create challenges.

  • Phone channels are familiar to everyone, yet require significant agent manpower to staff effectively.
  • Social media channels are accessible and cheap, but are too public for sharing of personal details.
  • Email is manageable with a small team, but is one of the slowest outreach methods.

Know the strengths of your team (and the preferences of your customers) to determine which outreach options you can most efficiently staff.

4. Provide Self-Service Options

It can be tough to admit, but it’s hard to ask for help. Most users these days try to find a resolution on their own before voluntarily jumping into the phone queue. According to a 2015 Global State of Multichannel Customer Service report, 90 percent of customers now expect brands to offer self-service options.

Make it easy for them with easy to find self-service tools like FAQs, troubleshooting tips, search fields, and as a last resort, a way to contact a live agent. If even a just few customers find solutions on their own, this small investment of screen real estate will have paid off.

5. Train Flexible Agents

You’re not restricting your customers to a single channel, so why train your agents that way?

Your support team should be versatile enough to perform on every channel you offer. This flexibility can be a scheduling life saver, and guarantees that employee sick days won’t leave you with an unmanned channel. It’ll be appreciated by your team, as well. Who wouldn’t get bored answering emails all day or only taking phone calls? Variety keeps your agents fresh and ensures that your team will be well trained.

Bringing Everything Together

Your contact centre is a large system with many moving parts. Take your time when implementing changes. Start researching your market’s preferred channels if you haven’t already, and begin introducing your agents to a wider variety of outreach options. Always be tracking your service with the data found in your CRM systems. This information paired with the skill of your team will help you unify your customer service and push your multichannel outreach to new heights. Want to learn more about providing multichannel support for better service? Check out our free white paper.


Download the FREE Whitepaper: 10 Proven Strategies to Decrease the Costs of Your Customer Care Without Sacrificing Service Levels