In the context of customer experience, interactions are all the direct touchpoints a customer has with a business. This might be, for example, in a store front, at a sponsored event or with customer service. Every interaction represents an opportunity for an organization to strengthen their relationships with customers, which means each touchpoint should be planned and managed for consistency and quality.
Looking closer at customer service, there are multiple methods that facilitate interactions for customers, both in self-service as well as agent-assisted channels. The company website is probably the most visible vehicle for self-service, so businesses need to make sure their website has great usability and clear content. Aside from websites, customers can also self-serve through interactions with mobile apps, interactive voice response (IVR) systems, and more. For higher touch interactions, customers can choose agent-assisted channels such as phone, chat, and email.
Customer service organizations need to keep in mind that phone interactions are only one type of customer contact. Digital channels such as email, web chat, text or SMS, social media and others are becoming more important for consumers, and customer service must be able to handle those digital interactions, in addition to traditional phone calls.
With so many customer service interaction options, businesses need to make sure customers can move seamlessly across them. An omnichannel approach ensures this. With omnichannel customer service, a consumer can, for example, initiate their interaction in a chat session, switch to phone support, and have the information from the chat session appear to the phone agent so they don't have to start from scratch. Ideally, the phone agent is the same agent with whom they were chatting.
Our research shows that consumers expect this type of omnichannel scenario. Businesses that are capable of delivering these seamless omnichannel interactions are well positioned to thrive in the experience economy.
