We’re living in an environment where people are more connected than ever before.
If you want to speak to someone today, you can reach them through instant messaging, phone call, video, email, or social media. Everywhere you look there are more opportunities to reach out and break down geographical boundaries.
The result of all this innovation is your customers are using significantly more channels to reach your brand. Unfortunately, less than half of clients believe that any service channel is “easy” to use.
For companies to provide their customers with the flexible, multi-platform experience they’re looking for, they can’t just pile channels on top of each other. A good CX strategy is now reliant on the ability to blend and sew multiple environments together through the art of omni-channel service.
Why Your Service Strategy Needs More Channels
The best way to connect with your customers will always be to reach them through the channels that they like most. For some, this will mean having an instant messaging app on your website where you can offer suggestions on which services to buy and answer common questions. Around 73% of customers consider live chat to be the best way to communicate with a business.
Other clients will want to hear your voice over the phone or see the functionality of your service through a video demonstration. Video is rapidly emerging as an extremely valuable channel for customer contact because it offers a way to mimic the face-to-face environment when in-person interactions aren’t possible.
Multichannel solutions are about figuring out what kind of ways your customers like to hear from you about offers, support, and guidance, and creating opportunities as a result. Ideally, you’ll also link all those contact channels together in a way that feels consistent for your target audience. For instance, you might start a conversation by reaching out to a client on LinkedIn, then follow up with a video conference, and send notes from that conversation to your customer over email.