Customer experience is the driving force of change in modern business world, and as one negative customer experience can make customers switch to another brand, it is extremely important to manage customer experience and customer satisfaction effectively to avoid issues with unnecessary customer churn.
One of the main customer demands is to receive customer service through different communication channels, and most businesses have already experienced this demand, which made the omnichannel contact center solutions popular.
Nevertheless, there is no way to choose an omnichannel contact center software without proper preparation, thus we decided to write this comprehensive guide into omnichannel contact center software solutions, their key features and benefits.
So, what is omnichannel call center small business solution? Why omnichannel call center is a must-have? How to choose customer preferred channels for providing consistent experience and meeting customer expectations? How to build effective omnichannel strategy?
What Is An Omnichannel Contact Center Service?
A traditional call center software is designed to receive customer calls only, which means any other communication channels aren’t integrated with the software, so for you it means that you have to switch between different interfaces to answer customer queries.
On the other hand, contact centers are software solutions that are capable of addressing customer inqueries through different digital channels in single interface.
When it comes to cloud-based software, there are two basic contact centers:
- Omnichannel Contact Centers and
- Multichannel Contact Centers
Multichannel contact center supports different contact channels, and allows contact center agents to answer customer questions from single interface, but yet you can’t receive comprehensive information and reports regarding separate channels – only for all of them combined. Also, some experts say that multuichannel software can’t provide an option for customer to switch between channels during the conversation without sacrificing its progress, yet some developers offer this feature in solutions that are positioned as multichannel.
In the case of Omnichannel, contact centers combine all the communication channels, including phone calls, email, social media channels, messengers, video calls, etc., but in more advanced way – clients can switch between channels when they want, and you can also manage statistical reports for each channel separately.
Importance Of An Omnichannel Contact Center Service:
Omnichannel contact center solutions aren’t only capable of servicing customers through different channels, but also they can synchronize and sync data from these channels to help your customer service agents provide seamless customer experiences during all customer interactions.
You get all the history of customer interactions in one interface, which helps you analyze customer sentiment and customer behavior better, which will result in higher customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
Omnichannel call center software can also provide higher agent satisfaction by simplifying all interactions and management of customer queries in the all-in-one interface, which will have positive impact on customer retention and customer service team performance.
Features Of An Omnichannel Contact Center:
Channel Integration Ability
Omnichannel contact center has its main purpose to integrate all needed customer contact channels in one interface, which will eliminate the need for agents to switch between different channels and use numerous tools to answer customer queries.
Therefore, agents will be able to manage a few conversations at the same time, especially when it comes to chat conversations.
Powerful Data Management
Modern omnichannel solutions offer numerous features for improving data management and analysis, including customer data and internal business processes data, which will help you make thoughtful decisions and react to problems timely. Some solutions even integrate AI-driven tools to analyze customer sentiment.
For example, such Artificial Intelligence technology as NLU (Natural Language Understanding), or NLP (Natural Language Processing), is used to identify keywords in customer queries during interactions with the IVR (Interactive Voice Response) software. For instance, by identifying the word “payment”, the system can understand the most appropriate agent to pick up the call. Also, this allows to manage customer experience and track customer sentiment throughout customer journey.
Streamlined Routing
One of the best omnichannel contact center features for improving customer satisfaction is intelligent call routing – a set of rules that are used to connect customer calls to agents in order to provide fast issue resolution and high quality customer service.
Intelligent call routing can use numerous algorithms to provide high customer satisfaction, including skills-based routing, round-robin routing, most idling, business rules routing, and so on. You can decide which algorithm serves your business best in certain situations.
Extensive Analytics And Reporting
As call center is the business that totally relies on performance of the sales teams or customer service teams, it is significant to measure agent performance and understand even the smallest issues with the team productivity to react to them in a timely manner.
Omnichannel contact center solutions provide comprehensive reports in the form of real time dashboards, which means you will have instant access to relevant data and enough information to make decisions quickly. This data can include such customer service metrics as:
- Average phone/call duration
- Number of interactions in each channel
- Cost per contact
- Call quality
- Customer engagement rates
- Average hold time
- Average number of interactions in a time period (days/weeks/months)
Exceptional Workforce Management
Is it possible to run modern business without an appropriate workforce management? Some businesses struggle to find a good solution for workforce management, but why would you spend money on third-party software, if an omnichannel contact center includes all needed workforce management features?
- Optimize workload on agents and teams.
- Enable agents to design their schedules.
- Determine agent responsibilties.
- Track agent activity and availability.
Omnichannel Contact Center Benefits:
Improved Customer Retention Rates
Customer retention depends on two main factors: customer care and your ability to resolve customer issues quickly and efficiently. Omnichannel contact center software is exactly what you need for covering these two business needs.
Fast Customer Support
Omnichannel contact center software is a great solution for reducing average wait times and overall average resolution time as it provides agents with all necessary information about customers and ensures effective call routing, bounded with self-service options to ensure qualitative customer service though different channels.
Remote Workforce Optimization
You can easily set up remote customer service teams with the use of omnichannel call center solutions, as it is extremely useful tool with all needed features such as workforce management modules, analytics, scheduling, and internal communication.
Empowered Customer Personalization
One of the biggest trends in customer service is personalization of customer service experiences, and omnichannel contact center can help here with effective collection of customer data and storing it in single interface which can be accessed by agents in the case of a need.
How To Transition To An Omnichannel Contact Center?
Switching to a modern cloud-based omnichannel contact center isn’t a difficult task – the solution is set up and configured by service provider, which means it will take less than 48 hours to get it all set. Another great news are that you don’t need any hardware to get it done – only stable Internet connection and PCs for employees.
Technological Integration
At the forefront, integrating top-tier technology stacks is imperative for the Omnichannel Contact Center system, ensuring seamless team communication across various platforms. Here at ConnectWave, we prioritize this aspect, offering cutting-edge omnichannel contact center software equipped with premium features tailored for businesses.
Recruitment and Selection
Begin by sourcing and onboarding agents and supervisors tasked with managing the application. Their expertise will be instrumental in elevating your brand presence to new heights.
Training Regimen
Following recruitment, it’s crucial to provide comprehensive training for agents and supervisors to familiarize them with the application. This equips them to serve your brand effectively, bolstering sales and enriching user experiences.
Transition Phase
Once the initial stages are completed, our team will facilitate the seamless transition of your existing contact center management, guiding you through the setup of a cloud-based Omnichannel Contact Center software. This transition empowers your team to efficiently manage customer conversations across diverse channels.
Analytics and Performance Evaluation
Lastly, commence monitoring business performance and assessing agent productivity collaboratively. Utilize these insights to make informed decisions for future enhancements, thereby fostering both business growth and customer satisfaction.