Best Practice: The Power of a Digital First Contact Center
What does omnichannel customer service actually mean in practice — and how does the integrated omnichannel approach (unified routing, shared profiles, cross-channel context) differ from multichannel service (parallel but siloed channels) in ways customers actually experience as seamless or frustrating?
Why your company should offer omnichannel customer service (and NOT just multichannel customer service.)
Just as call centers have evolved into contact centers, customer service channels have expanded beyond phone calls. Today’s customers want to be able to interact with companies via a variety of channels -- email, chat, SMS, social media -- and not just by phone. But offering your customers multiple channels for customer service is simply multichannel customer service. It’s not omnichannel customer service.What is omnichannel customer service?
Omnichannel customer service is more than multichannel customer service. Yes, customers still have multiple choices about how they interact with your company. But omnichannel customer service seamlessly connects the channels so that customers can move effortlessly between channels without missing a beat.What is an example of omnichannel customer service?
A company that offers multichannel customer service makes it easy for customers to call, email, chat, or text customer support. But a company that offers omnichannel customer support allows its customers to begin their contact via one channel and effortlessly move to another without having to explain their issue to a new customer service agent or confirm their identity a second time.Let’s say your daughter is headed off to college and you want a quote from your insurance company to add a new car to your policy. You could start the process on your insurance company’s website where an online tool gathers basic information about the new vehicle, like the year, make, model, and primary driver’s name.Because your daughter will be spending part of the year on campus and part of the year living with you, you’re not sure how to answer a question about the vehicle’s primary location. Because your insurance company offers omnichannel customer service, you begin an online chat and an agent can quickly help you determine that you should enter the ZIP code of her university.However, before you are able to return to the online tool and complete the final two pages of the insurance company’s online quote, your son reminds you that it’s time to drive him to soccer practice. So you ask the customer service agent assisting you by chat to call your cell phone and complete the quote.How Would Offering Omnichannel Customer Service Benefit My Organization?
By taking multichannel customer service to the next level with omnichannel customer service, your company can- Build a competitive advantage
- Create engaged, loyal customers
- Improve business performance
How can NiCE help your organization provide omnichannel customer service?
NiCE CXone Omnichannel Routing is a contact routing and interaction management suite that allows you to equip your contact center with a platform that helps you deliver proactive service to your customers across 30+ digital channels of their choice.Any digital channel
Your customers are trying to reach you for service on digital channels – even if you’re not there yet. How many SMS text messages go to your call center phone number with no response? Who’s trying to find you on Facebook, Twitter, or WhatsApp and not finding you? Now with CXone it is easy to provide digital-first omnichannel service in all the channels your customers expect.- Personalized digital interactions: deliver native experiences in each of 30+ messaging channels, such as rich media, emojis, and other collaboration tools.
- Simple to Activate: pre-integrated channels make it easy to offer to customers and agents.
- Easy to Say “Yes”: simple packaging removes barriers to offering all channels to customers and agents.
Empowered agents
CXone empowers all your agents to deliver a true digital-first omnichannel customer experience by simultaneously combining all customer interactions in one intelligent inbox across multiple digital channels and voice for agents to select ("pull"), while dynamically prioritizing the most time-sensitive or real-time interactions according to service levels ("push"). All delivered in a single application – complete with full customer context, journey history, and sentiment.- Single Interface: one inbox for all digital messaging and real-time (voice/chat) channels – retaining native experience of each messaging platform.
- Agents in Control: ‘pulling’ work in natural flow, while dynamic prioritization maintains SLAs – and prevents ‘cherry picking’.
- Customer Card: full customer context, journey and conversation history, plus sentiment.
Holistic management
With CXone, omnichannel interactions are managed holistically, from agents to supervisors and beyond. Integrated workforce optimization, analytics, automation and artificial intelligence across digital and voice interactions ensure complete management across contact center operations.- Self-Service: native AI-powered chatbot and 20+ DEVone AI bots with seamless elevation to agents.
Intelligent Routing: AI-powered natural language and Predictive Behavioral Routing for voice/chat and digital messaging channels. - Blended Agents: complete quality, coaching, recording, scheduling tools to optimize management and engagement of a true omnichannel team.
- Digital Voice-of-the-Customer: feedback surveys and speech/text analytics that capture, analyze, and drive action on CX insights.