Benefits of Implementing a Multichannel Contact Center

Would you like to elevate the customer experience, improve agent efficiency, and increase flexibility and scalability? If your answer to these questions is yes, let’s read this article. We will introduce the benefits of implementing a multichannel contact center, show interesting statistics, and describe best practices.

What Lies Behind the Multichannel Contact Center

A multichannel contact center is a service that enables interactions with customers via different channels. They are solving customer’s problems by SMS, calls, emails, online assistance on websites, social media messages, or face-to-face. There is a noticeable difference between multichannel and omnichannel contact centers. Both of the variants are offering various channels to contact the company. Whereas multichannel enables different channels, omnichannel has all the channels integrated. This implies that regardless of the channel through which the customer contacts the company, all previous conversations are connected.

In today’s digital world customers strive for smooth and convenient communication with businesses. It is crucial to provide them with satisfying customer service. By implementing a multichannel contact center, companies can bridge the gap between the customer and the company, providing them with a cohesive experience. This contributes to customer satisfaction and also supports brand loyalty. It is crucial to provide different options for contacting the company. The research indicates that after the customer’s request is not resolved through the preferred channel, the average customer typically waits a day before contacting via a different channel.

Source: GetVoIP

Increased Flexibility and Scalability

Have you ever met a person who doesn’t like to call and rather writes an SMS? Perhaps, the other way around, have you seen a person completely annoyed by writing the email and it seems like a waste of time for him/her? He/She would prefer to pick up a phone and solve things right away. Customers are a mix of these people, to provide them with enhanced customer experience you need to be able to implement a multichannel contact center. According to recent research, 54 % of customers prefer to resolve their issues by phone, 38 % are inclined to digital channels, and only 8 % prefer to communicate by email. It was also proven that the fastest way to resolve the customer’s issue is by phone (find the results here). 

The secret of a multichannel contact center is managing the interaction with customers across multiple communication platforms. Overall, the biggest benefit of a multichannel contact center allows you to communicate with the customer in multiple ways and therefore follow their most comfortable way to reach you.

Enhancing Global Customer Support with Multichannel Contact Centers

Multichannel contact centers offer scalability and allow businesses to adapt and expand their operations in response to changing demand. It might be helpful while experiencing a surge in customer inquiries mainly during peak periods or launching new services. Furthermore, it allows the scale of customer support to provide an enhanced customer experience. 

On the other hand, in this connected world, it might be beneficial to hire people from across the world. While implementing a multichannel contact center, people could work remotely which is both beneficial for customers and workers. It allows you to provide services in different languages, satisfy each customer, and also hire the best people all over the world. Multilingual customer support brings many advantages for both the customers and the company, you can read more about it in this blog post by Katrium which has been providing outsourcing for more than 17 years.

Enhanced Customer Experience

Another benefit of a multichannel contact center is enhancing the whole customer experience. This means enriching the overall interaction with the customer by personalizing the service, making it more accessible, and optimizing customer contact operations. These days, customers expect excellence when interacting with companies. It is crucial to adopt the principles of a multichannel contact center to delight customers, meet their expectations, and provide them with personalized and responsive service. Long-term relationships with customers are based on proactive communication, trust, satisfaction, and problem-solving. 

In 2019, customers worldwide were asked what the most important aspect of a good customer experience is. Most of them stated that it is crucial for them to resolve their issue in one interaction. Furthermore, a vital part of customer service was talking to a knowledgeable customer service agent. Behind these, they also stated that it is important for them not to repeat themselves while being transferred to a different agent (find the results here). In order to provide highly effective and professional support for your customers you may outsource your multichannel contact center. Professionals from Katrium are well-trained and prepared to operate the contact center, don’t hesitate to contact us. 

Data-Driven Insights and Analytics

We live in a world powered by data. Therefore, when choosing which channels to invest in, you could research first. Even though the research on this topic has already been conducted, your customers will differ from the general customer. To provide your customers with an enhanced experience, tailor your multichannel contact center to their needs. You may survey to ask them what their preferred communication channel is and even more. With this research you will be provided with valuable data, allowing you to customize your contact center. You can read more about satisfaction surveys here. 

It was proved that customers tend to change the company if it cannot provide them with their preferred communication channels. According to research, in 2020, 40 % of US customers stopped doing business with the company due to poor customer service. The limitation of the customer center could have various effects on your company. First of all, customers can be frustrated and dissatisfied, considering switching to another company. Secondly, it directly affects your business outcomes. If not able to connect with your customers, engagement, and sales opportunities are missed, which will result at the end with revenue loss. 

As a customer, you wish to be able to reach out to your company most of the day through your preferred communication channel, therefore multichannel contact center is a convenient option to ensure your customers feel satisfied. The research from the US says that 58 % of respondents have contacted customer service in the past month for any reason. 

Improved Agent Efficiency

According to research one of the most common causes of customer service frustration was a lack of effectiveness. The key to handling these obstacles is having your team working efficiently. Different multichannel contact center tools are here to improve agents’ efficiency. As we already talked about data and analytics, what we can benefit from it is customer feedback and customer preferences. It offers to ask for feedback from customers right away after you finish communicating with them by sending a satisfaction questionnaire. The questions need to be direct, short, and easy to reply to. However, you could receive valuable insights, it won’t take them long to answer, and it should not bother them. The data received from the survey can provide a base on which you can build your multichannel contact center strategy further.

You can read more about data collection here. Another useful tool is real-time and historical automated reporting. It provides the company with a comprehensive overview of its daily operations allowing them to make data-based decisions. While improving the efficiency of contact centers, AI-powered assistance could be included. AI assistance can make the job easier for agents by taking responsibility for routine tasks and providing customer assistance 24/7. Among the most common marketing tools are: internal knowledge base integration, CRM integration, and internal team chat messaging.

Multichannel Contact Center Best Practices

Several practices can guide you on your journey to the multichannel contact center. While deciding how many channels you would like to use, you should always stick to 3-4 channels to avoid getting overwhelmed. Before and even during the provision of these services you should survey your customers. Ask what your customers want and get their opinions. Reviewing current engagement analytics can get a value that will support your data-driven decisions. 

By tailoring the different approach you will get closer to your customers. When you start with the multichannel contact center, you can prepare the customer journey. By crafting the customer journey you will map out their touchpoints and it will help you with the customization of each channel. 

We recommend including a post-interaction follow-up. Reaching out to the customer after the interaction will show that you care about them. This can achieve in various ways, such as sending a satisfaction survey, offering additional services, or simply expressing gratitude for their contact.

Agents should have access to the history of customer interactions. Providing contextual awareness allows them to customize the approach based on previous interactions and better understand customers’ troubles. 

Furthermore, your agents need to undergo thorough training to prevent customer dissatisfaction. If for any reason your company doesn’t have enough resources to operate its multichannel contact center, there is always a way to leave it to a professional. You can read a blog post about an innovative approach to outsourcing here. 

In addition, if implementing a multichannel contact center, it is crucial to consider different possibilities of operating channels. It is vital to survey your customers, ask about their preferences, and observe their preferences. By collecting enough information you get to provide a tailor-made approach that can provide enhanced customer experience.