Omnichannel customer journey is the seamless and consistent path customers take while interacting with brands across multiple channels. The proliferation of digital services has increased the number of channels customers can use to to interact with companies. For example, customers can buy products online or with mobile apps, get help from virtual assistants or through a chat session with an agent, and find the latest deals on social media. Additionally, the more traditional venues are still available - store fronts, call centers, and branch offices to name a few.
The proliferation of channels has been great for customers who value choice and convenience. But customers often don't interact using just one channel - they use different channels to achieve their goals in their omnichannel customer journey. For example, a customer might see a sales ad on social media, click through to the company's website where they check store inventory and download the business's mobile app, and then go into a store to make the purchase, using a coupon from the mobile app.
This type of nonlinear omnichannel customer journey has created challenges for organizations that previously had their channels in silos. Now, customers expect companies to know them, regardless of channel; operational silos prevent a seamless customer journey. Delivering an omnichannel customer experience means delivering a seamless experience in which all customer touchpoints throughout the customer journey work together in an integrated manner.
Contact centers play a key role in facilitating omnichannel customer journeys. Handling interactions such as phone calls, chat, social media posts or messages, email, and text (SMS) is the contact center’s purview. In order to enable omnichannel customer journeys, contact centers need to align their staff and technology to support customers regardless of interaction channel. Agents need to be able to support multiple channels and be digitally savvy. Technology needs to route, manage and report on contacts from multiple channels and support the customer journey across channels. This is challenging, but contact centers that support omnichannel customer journeys are well-positioned to meet customer expectations.
