Did you know more than two-thirds of all purchases are being made with some digital device? Consumers browse products through their smartphones and buy in-store, from a desktop, or their smartwatch. They want to shop from their preferred channel as and when they like.

Harvard Business Review conducted research and observed the shopping behaviors of 46,000 consumers. They found out that 73% of consumers prefer shopping through multiple channels. The remaining 7% of consumers are online-only shoppers, while 20% only shop through brick-and-mortar stores.  

Another research shows that companies that embrace omnichannel customer engagement can retain 89% of their customers. On the other hand, companies with weak omnichannel strategies only have a customer retention rate of 33%.

Omnichannel customer service is no longer a luxury

Modern customers want a personalized and delightful brand experience, and you could be at a loss if you don’t meet customer needs or address their queries at the right time and through the right channel. Omnichannel support hence is no longer an option, it’s a requirement.  

A survey revealed that two-thirds of consumers are less likely to buy from a brand with no integrated omnichannel experience. 59% of the respondents from the same survey said they would choose from a competitor that promises a more seamless customer experience if given a choice.  

How to create an omnichannel customer service strategy?

Today’s customers are becoming increasingly demanding, and they don’t want to settle for mediocre service. In addition, it’s evident that they don’t mind paying more for a superior customer experience. To elevate the service standard, retailers and eCommerce businesses must plan on a successful omnichannel customer service strategy.  

These tips will help you kickstart your customer service as you take the omnichannel approach:

Determine your customer’s preferred channels  

Customers enjoy the freedom and flexibility of choosing their preferred channel when reaching out to a business. But this doesn’t mean you can jump on every channel available. Instead, your focus must be investing in channels your target audience uses.  

To identify the right channel, you must understand your customers better. Then, based on your findings, target the best suited for your omnichannel strategy.  

Recognize customer pain points

Happy customers don’t surface by accident; they are won with conscious effort backed by a data-driven, well-thought strategy.  

Successful businesses are the ones that understand customers’ problem before it escalates and becomes a grievance. These pain points could be related to customer support, product/service, process, or financials. You must take steps to identify the pain points and try fixing them as and when they arise. One thing that makes businesses stand different from their rival brands is their proactive approach toward gauging customer sentiments for their brand and taking necessary steps to bridge operations/service gaps (if any).  

Here are some tips for recognizing customers’ problems:

• Map out the customer journey to get insights into the customer pain points
• Listen actively to customer complaints and feedback
• Watch for patterns in customer queries and feedback
• Conduct surveys and focus groups to gather specific information
• Analyze customer behavior and interactions with your product or service.
• Look for gaps in your product or service offerings
• Use social media listening tools to monitor mentions of your brand and industry
• Constantly seek feedback and implement changes accordingly

Offer self-service as an extended feature of customer support  

Most customers prefer to handle things independently before initiating a call center interaction. Omnichannel self-service that leverages knowledge banks and AI-powered chatbots can give customers immediate answers to their inquiries and can satisfy them on the spot. In case their query doesn’t get resolved there and then, customers’ interaction history gets recorded in a central database, and from that point call center agent takes up the matter and addresses the concern. Avoiding the hassle and frustration of starting the process from scratch. Forrester’s thought leadership paper titled “The Case for Omnichannel Self-Service” mentions that 74% of decision-makers agree that personalized self-service interactions are important for building customer relationships.    

With self-service support in place, your support agents will have more time to focus on tasks having greater importance. They will have the opportunity to leave a better impact on the resolution of the customer’s issue and improve the overall customer experience. In other words, self-service could be a part of the larger customer experience.

Step up your game with Dynamics 365 omnichannel customer service

Dynamics 365 is helping businesses worldwide streamline their operations. The customer service module of D365 automates mundane customer support tasks, delivering personalized support and efficient case management with a 360-degree view of the customer. The module’s powerful dashboards and reporting provide full visibility into agent performance, allowing for optimization of the customer support process.  

To level up the customer experience game, Holistico-D365 Customer Service Solution can help. This application extends the power of Dynamics 365 CRM module of customer service, enabling businesses to connect and engage with their customers instantly. It also provides contextual customer identification notifications, integrates communications, and provides tools (like case creation, knowledge base integration, search features) to agents to boost their productivity.

D365 Customer Service Solution:

• Provides customers with brand accessibility across multiple channels to raise inquiries (e.g., phone, email, webchat, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp)
• Enhances customer engagement and satisfaction through real-time interaction and quick resolution of inquiries and issues
• Streamlines and automates ticket and coupon management processes for improved efficiency and productivity
• Offers ready performance dashboards for call center operations through advanced analytics and reporting
• Enhances teamwork and collaboration among customer service teams through centralized data and information access from all communication channels

Channels available with omnichannel for customer service

• Chat

With chat, your agents will connect with customers in real-time and answer their questions there and then.

• SMS

This engagement channel supports communication in asynchronous mode. Your agents can connect and engage with customers via text messages.

• Social Channels

With the omnichannel module, your team can capitalize on the power of social media and engage with customers on social media to deliver a personalized experience. The social channels supported for omnichannel customer service include Facebook, Twitter, WeChat, Line, Apple messages for business, Google’s business messages, and WhatsApp through Twilio.

• Microsoft Teams channel

Your team can also use Microsoft Teams as an engagement channel for internal communication, such as human resources, technical support, and finance, to connect your employees with internal support personnel.

Summing up

Delivering a personalized customer service experience across multiple channels is a must-have in today’s era. The key takeaway is to adopt an omnichannel approach to understand the customer engagement journey and pain points while focusing on delivering frictionless customer support on their preferred channel in a minimal amount of time.  

If you are considering enabling Dynamics 365 omnichannel for customer service experience and need assistance to get started, reach out to us at marketing@confiz.com. We will connect you with our skilled D365 consultants to help you elevate your customer service experience and boost your customer satisfaction score!

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