Building bridges to the consumer through multi-channel support.
The Gist
- Technological efficiency vs. a human touch. Balancing AI with traditional customer service.
- Synching expectations. Who knows best — consumer or expert?
- Customers demand simplicity. Easy access to support is expected.
To chart the best course to success in 2024, businesses must be savvy to the evolving landscapes that influence how we define excellent customer service. These include both established and emerging customer service channels that, when utilized thoughtfully with clear goals, can significantly strengthen relationships and set our businesses apart from the competition. The integration of omnichannel customer service is key to achieving this success.
Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Omnichannel Customer Service
However, balancing focus between familiar channels and innovating around new technological advancements requires a nuanced understanding of developing consumer behaviors and preferences. Simply delegating everything to AI automation risks ignoring the core obligations of customer service that will never lose its importance.
The most impactful strategies establish an omnichannel customer service that is anchored on core brand values, empathetic execution and personalized insights. Advanced analytics of enormous volumes of consumer data have unlocked unprecedented opportunities to cultivate nuanced, multidimensional profiles of individual customers. Armed with these powerful learnings, artificial intelligence can then drive personalized experiences that maximize customer satisfaction.
Of course, amongst this drive to quantify all human behaviors, customers must feel that their individual needs, not financial gain, are the sole priority when they seek customer support.
With these considerations in mind, some clear priorities have emerged that warrant attention. Working with strategies that optimize performance across these pivotal areas will ready companies to respond to the current consumer landscape as well as prepare a dynamic footing when faced with future change.
Related Article: Seamless Omnichannel Strategy: Best Practices for Customer Engagement
AI in the Eyes of the Industry vs. What the Consumer Wants
It seems there may be a bit of a disconnect developing between how businesses and the average consumer view the use of artificial intelligence in customer interactions. When exploring potential upsides like quicker replies and convenience, many do acknowledge how AI may improve customer service if implemented well. According to this online review survey, 87.89% of customers say they try contacting a company before leaving a review, so anything that improves initial response times is advantageous.
What do industry heads consider to be the main customer service goals at present? A survey of over 250 customer service leaders reveals several areas of focus for 2024.
Improving the overall customer experience, cited by 86% of respondents is the clear priority, with supplementary targets such as gaining customer loyalty (70%) and retention (64%) following close behind. How do they intend to go about making these improvements?
In terms of increasing the use of data analytics to achieve these ends through improved operations efficiency, 64% said that this was a priority.
While brand leaders remain overwhelmingly enthusiastic, it’s clear the public hasn’t kept pace in their feelings toward it all just yet. Many people are still trying to get their heads around AI since it’s such a new development. But businesses would do well to note more work may be needed to genuinely win over clients to the upsides of digital customer service. Addressing current concerns over safety, accuracy, and engagement could go a long way to achieving this.
Related Article: What Is a Contact Center? Omnichannel Customer Experience Redefined
Key Skills Across Multiple Channels
As we look ahead to 2024 and beyond, it’s clear that customers will continue to demand service through a wider variety of channels than ever before. While manning the phone lines is still important, email, live chat, messaging apps and social media have all risen in prominence in recent years, and for many are the first choice when contacting a company. Forward-thinking companies will therefore understand that to deliver excellent service, they need to meet customers where they are — and that means omnichannel customer service through all of the major communication platforms.
At the same time, experience continues to show us that customers still value human interaction above all else when they have an issue or need help. While self-service options like knowledge bases, FAQs and AI chatbots do fill an important role, nothing can replace a knowledgeable live agent for more complicated problems or those that require sensitivity or nuance. This is why developing deep expertise across all channels will be so vital over the next few years.
CS agents must be fully trained and skilled in handling inquiries by phone, but also through popular messaging and social apps. They can and need to understand the unique nuances and cultural norms that have developed in different contexts.
Responding properly via social media is a very different challenge than solving an issue via live chat. Companies also have to decide whether to take an integrated or specialized approach: should agents float between all channels, or should different groups focus their training on specific mediums? Either way, constant skills development will be a must to prevent any channel from appearing to be an afterthought.
At the same time, finding new ways to connect customers to the right help options will drive the optimization of self-service. A 2022 CX report brings to light the value of self-service options for customers, with over 81% of surveyed consumers stating that they would want more self-service options.
Indeed, AI technologies will continue enhancing virtual assistants, knowledge bases, and suggested content. Contextual factors like purchase history, location, device attributes and more will make these resources more accurate, personalized and actually useful. Yes, enhanced digital tools can address a wider array of common minor issues efficiently, but human support will remain indispensable.
I think of it as a complementary pairing. This duo of human and virtual assistance capabilities will allow companies to stretch their customer service further without spreading resources too thin, whilst simultaneously benefiting from the strengths of both.
Related Article: Omnichannel Customer Journeys: Unlocking the Future
Meet the Customers on Their Home Ground
The right combination of self-help resources, expert human agents and continual multi-channel skills development will help brands keep pace with shifting consumer needs and preferences. Customers will always value speed, convenience and personalized attention — so being available wherever they choose to engage while deepening service quality across the board will position a company for continued success.
Multi-channel operations require significant investment but will prove critical as customer/company connection points multiply and the expectations for prompt, empathetic help only increase. The emphasis on omnichannel customer service will be a defining factor in achieving this.