Customer Experience Channels

Customer service channels are defined as interactions or touchpoints that happen during the consumer journey.

Types of Customer Experience Channels are: -

1. One Contact Resolution (OCR)- OCR defined as a customer who resolved their inquiry or problem on the first interaction using only one contact channel. One interaction and one contact channel are required.

2. Multi-channel- Multi-channel as a customer who did not have a seamless experience when using multiple channels to resolve the same inquiry or problem. In other words, the customer had to start their interaction from the beginning each time they used another channel to resolve the same inquiry or problem.

1. Omni-channel - Omni-channel as a seamless customer experience using two or more contact channels for resolving the same inquiry or problem. When a customer used another channel to resolve the same inquiry or problem, they were able to pick up from where they left off in the previous channel and, as a result, did not have to start from the beginning.

OCR customer experience has the highest customer satisfaction (89%) while Omni-channel seamless customer satisfaction is 67%, and multi-channel non-seamless customer satisfaction is 28%.

Multi-Channel Customer Experience

Multi-channel environment user has access to several communication channels that aren't always connected or synchronized.

When a customer uses two or more contact channels to resolve the same inquiry or problem, it is due to a failure of a specific contact channel. The bottom line is that when a customer uses two or more contact channels to resolve the same inquiry or problem, most feel that they are starting over again with each subsequent channel used to resolve their inquiry or problem.

Most firms are now making investments in the multi-channel experience. They operate a blog, website, Facebook, and Twitter account. They interact and communicate with clients via each of these platforms. The client still typically doesn't have a smooth experience or consistent messaging across all these platforms.

Different modes of multi-Channel communication

• Email: In the past year, 54% of individuals have utilized email for customer service. For customer support, email is the most common digital communication method.

• Social Communication: Facebook Messenger, Twitter Direct Messaging, Instagram Messaging, WhatsApp, WeChat, and other platforms are gaining popularity. One of the most popular smartphone habits is messaging. It greatly reduces disruption to your customers' lives if you are available to answer questions on the platforms where they spend a lot of time.

• Chat: People can benefit from your website's real-time chat feature both during the shopping process and afterward. Customers adore it for its immediateness and ease of use. 73% of customers say that live chat is the best way to communicate with a company.

• Self-Service Online: Adopting this support channel can be costly, but it may result in significant deflection from other channels. People enjoy helping themselves at their own pace. Fifty percent of customers consider it crucial to resolve issues with products or services on their own.

• Phone: Even though the phone is still an important medium for some situations and certain demographics, millennials have completely stopped using phones. This pattern makes it clear that things are not pulling back: Instead of having to use their voice to communicate with customer service, 59% of customers would prefer to use additional channels.

• Voice: Voice platforms like Google Home and Alexa currently account for only a small portion of customer support traffic, but they will continue to grow in importance in the years to come. Troubleshooting, advice on how to use it, and rearranging are all important uses for voice.

Why Business opts for Multichannel?

Business needs to take on a multichannel option while connecting with their clients since clients utilize various channels and anticipate significant, steady encounters across every one of them.

Customers' journeys have become more complicated because of the proliferation of digital channels and devices, making the integration of the customer experience crucial. This study made it abundantly clear that it is still challenging for many businesses to maintain consistency across such many customers’ "touchpoints." In addition, many people still want to be able to strike a balance between consistency and fully utilizing the distinctive characteristics of each channel.

Using a variety of passive and actively collected data, a few businesses were working on customer journey mapping and segmentation to identify specific areas of poor customer experience and develop improvement plans. Others were working on projects that made use of sophisticated tracking and tagging technologies to learn more about the value and function of channels and give the company more information on which to base future investments.

The ability to connect a lot of different legacy systems and data to create a single customer view that would serve as the foundation for a multichannel strategy that is more cohesive is always a barrier to improving the customer experience. While multichannel still faces significant obstacles, there are a few useful technologies that can help businesses gain a deeper understanding of customer motivation and behaviour.

Organizations can gain a significant competitive advantage through superior multichannel experiences; however, most businesses still struggle to provide a seamless multichannel experience to many of their customers.

Through the survey it is indicated that 86% of customer expectations increased, 86% of people felt that multi-channel marketing was worth the investment & 64% of customer loyalty increased.

Business using multi-channel

According to the Harvard Business Review, consumers who engage across multiple channels spend an average of 4% more in-store and 10% more online. Additionally, they are more likely to remain. According to the findings of the study, businesses with weak omnichannel customer engagement strategies lose 33% of their customers, whereas brands with strong strategies retain 89% of their customers on average.

1. an e-commerce store like MyProtein,

2. a B2B SaaS app like Notion,

3. an online marketplace like Etsy.

Apple is a great example of using multichannel to focus on the product. Even though the "click and mortar" giant has multiple physical and online stores, its retail store concept is considered unique among retail businesses.

The physical stores of the tech giant serve as distinct customer touchpoints that contribute to the overall Apple experience. As a result, customers don't have to buy Apple products right away when they visit stores, which are like galleries.

Benefits of Multi-channel Customer Service

Expanding businesses in a market, Customer satisfaction becoming the most important point. that is becoming increasingly focused on services. Multi-channel customer service is one of the industry's new standards, as customer expectations have grown over time.

Customer service via multiple channels has several advantages.

1-Brand Awareness- Support across multiple channels, particularly social media, is directly related to customer engagement. People expect to see an empathetic friend sharing updates, thoughts, and even experiences when they interact with a brand on these channels. With a well-established online presence, a business owner can discuss customer issues, the solutions you provide, and any potential issues your current clients may have.

2-Visibility- I must admit that I am addicted to Instagram. After looking through it for a few hours, I can say that Instagram ads have cut my savings in half! Being able to find stores that meet my preferences is a big win for me because I use this one platform. Businesses can connect with the people they want to do business with and almost certainly experience the same thing. Opening to different channels likewise permits you to take advantage of another pool of possible clients.

3-Ease of Use- One of the most obvious outcomes of multichannel presence is convenience. Customers frequently spend time online on a variety of platforms. To have the option to utilize these stages to convey their interests is a major look at consumer loyalty.

Challenges of Multi-channel Customer Service:

There are downsides to multi-channel support. The process of setting up multi-channel customer service is not without its own set of difficulties.

Configuring and keeping up with multi-channel support can be difficult tasks. Even the process of prioritizing channels can be challenging. According to a Forrester study conducted in 2001, 62% of leaders believe that self-service is the most important customer service channel. This is clearly due to two factors:

1. Customers adore being in control and receiving prompt responses to their questions.

2. One of the most cost-effective methods for serving customers.

However, most businesses do not make good use of this channel. Look at an online store that sells pet food, grooming supplies, and accessories. A visitor to the store's website is intrigued by the reduced prices, so they call to find out which food would be best for their dog, who is allergic to lamb.

The AI bot replies, "This pack is the best choice for dogs aged 6-10 months," because there is no filter on the website. You don't want to hear that answer.

The battle with simulated intelligence/chatbots that don't offer the responses clients need. In other instances, an overwhelming number of frequently asked questions (FAQs) will send you on a "link spiral." Which is worse? After 20 tabs, you discover that it does not provide you with the information you are looking for.

BT research from 2006 found that customers will interact with your customer service representatives more frequently if they use more channels.

This not only annoys your customers but also leads to more interactions. Multi-channel support turns out to be neither efficient nor cost-effective if that was the goal.

In the long run, it also affects the business. When a customer has a bad experience and needs to get their point across, they may switch businesses or look for your rivals. Your issue does not end there if you have a larger presence and more devoted customers.

Customers are more likely to use their old or preferred methods of communication, such as phone support, when they have a bad experience with one channel. This indicates that the time and money you spent using other media will be wasted.

Are you competing head-to-head with your rivals, who can help via other channels of communication?

Your overall customer satisfaction and their perception of your brand will suffer because of ineffective multichannel support.

To strengthen your customer support, you must streamline the channels and ensure that the quality of service—in terms of speed and effectiveness—is translated through all communication channels. In this way, the customer service value is measured by the weakest link in the chain.