“Supporting customers through multiple channels is no longer an option for financial services organizations; it’s a necessity” — Sonny Singh
The modern business enterprise has to cater to customers at every level to stay ahead of the competition. Multi-channel customer service offers options to customers to deal with enterprises; such service channels are a recent phenomenon and have been crafted to take care of customer queries, complaints, and concerns at multiple levels. A business needs to pay very close attention to the information it gleans from its interactions with customers using these channels. These interactions are a valuable opportunity for the business to fashion its collective personality in the public eye, in addition to managing customer expectations and moulding the customer’s perception of the business.
The multi-channel customer service options include live telephone support, email support, postal services, offline support, live chats and video chats, dedicated IVR systems, and social media. Live chats and video chats can be initiated through a company website or mobile app. These channels provide the customer instant access to company representatives. The customer has an opportunity to share his or her issues with certain products and services; the service representative can use these inputs to put together a solution for the customer. Telephone support is similar to live chats but is powered by the human voice. The customer can dial a toll free telephone number in an attempt to resolve the problem(s). Therefore, customer service representatives should be trained suitably in the fine art of putting together matchless customer service experiences.
Customer service via social media gets its momentum from the fact that most customers are members in multiple social media platforms. Social media represents an open channel because multiple customers have direct access to an on-going conversation between a company and its customer. The modern enterprise has to be careful in terms of calibrating its response because of the high visibility of social media conversations. An amicable outcome of such conversations can win the enterprise much acclaim and praise, along with the promise of winning more customers. Certain instances have been documented wherein a successful resolution of a customer complaint through social media was followed by a sudden increase in sales for the said business. We may say that social media has emerged as one of the most active channels for multi-channel customer service in light of the fact that certain corporate houses have established dedicated customer service accounts on social media.
Multi-channel customer service channels allow the customer to have his / her voice heard in the corporate world. These channels are important for the enterprise because such service offers businesses multiple opportunities to interface with the legions of customers. Their importance also stems from the fact that active customer service helps the enterprise to boost vital metrics, such as customer satisfaction and customer retention. Moreover, the active pursuit of customer service through various channels enables brands to gain pro-active reputations in terms of dealing with customer complaints. Multi-channel customer service also enables the corporate organization to engage with customers and seek feedback. Information compiled from such interactions can help impart future direction to the corporate enterprise. This kind of information can also help the enterprise to direct targeted marketing communications at certain customer demographics.
One of the key preparations that a business must undertake is to train customer-facing staff members in the skills required to handle multi-channel customer service. Staff members need to inculcate a fine appreciation of the fact that customer service is vital to the overall health of the corporate organization. The public image of the organization often hinges on its commitment to customer service; therefore, the staff members must do everything in their power to refine and upgrade said skill sets. In this context, we have to note that the back-end infrastructure of the customer service channels should be in fine fettle, because the state of the said infrastructure can define the limits between customer delight and business failure. We have to bear in mind the fact that most customers remain unaware of the organisational challenges that face the creation of a seamless customer service experience. Collating data from different customer service channels could pose a challenge to back-end information technology systems, but these have to be surmounted in the interests of providing flawless multi-channel customer service. First-class service can turn customers into a company’s advocates who can vouch for the efficiency and sensitivity of the business organization. This can earn the company fantastic volumes of that prized intangible called customer goodwill.
The multi-channel customer service efforts can be accelerated if the corporate organization were to set up a centralized database. This repository of information can be used to train customer service agents and generally widen their domain knowledge about the business. Case studies can be created from past customer interactions and the best way forward can be showcased. This continuum of knowledge can be an asset to any organization because it ensures a seamless distribution of domain-centric information. Frequently asked questions from customer interactions should be specially highlighted for the benefit of the average customer service employee. This kind of a corporate initiative can also guarantee that every useful bit of information has been captured and stored in the knowledge repository. Such an initiative bears the potential to make the organization immune to staff attrition and the departure of knowledge specialists.
A positive interaction with customers can also emerge as a marketing tool. The multi-channel customer service experience can be leveraged to sell new products and services to a customer. Therefore, we could state that customer service is inherently linked to the marketing machine that drives an organization. The chance to delight a customer and serve his / her queries in an efficient manner presents an opportunity to drive sales in an organization. Upselling can also emerge as an outcome of customer interactions. Therefore, the corporate enterprise should view customer service channels as a useful means to further the goals of the organization.
Modern software packages can be harnessed to boost the practices that drive multi-channel customer service. The evolution of software technologies has enabled the fashioning of multi-channel customer engagement tools that unify the various threads of customer interactions at the back-end of the business organization’s infrastructure. The various technologies include mobility, analytics, cloud technology, collaboration tools, and analysis of website traffic to present a unified dashboard. This singularity depicts a real time picture of the state of business interactions with customer(s). Information culled from the dashboard can be used to inform and predicate business decisions.
In the preceding paragraphs, we have discussed the various tools and approaches that an organization can adopt to ensure a successful multi-channel customer service experience. These practices, when successfully implemented, can help a commercial organization to attain the heights of a superlative corporate enterprise that sets the standards for excellence in conducting business. A study of corporate houses worldwide will bear testimony to this. We have to bear in mind that every business can be built from the ground up into a great enterprise by matching and exceeding customer service expectations. This attribute can help the enterprise to forge a distinct corporate image and thereby proceed to fulfil its corporate destiny.
