We have been implementing omnichannel contact center platforms for thousands of customers worldwide for more than 25 years now.
The last six customers we onboarded had the same problems that I am mentioning here.
They all were servicing their customers through multiple channels, where the agents had to toggle between half a dozen apps, customers repeating themselves, and finger-pointing between phone support and chat teams.
Does this sound familiar?
With the implementation of our platform, they were able to make it easy for their customers and drove tremendous business results.
So, we thought, why don’t we put together a playbook that would help customers like ours implement omnichannel capabilities easily?
Here is the playbook that you can use.
Pillar 1: Customer-centric strategy and experience
- Map the entire customer journey to identify every touchpoint and pain point.
- Audit how customers interact with different touchpoints like email, web, phone, chat, bot, mobile, and social. Identify where there is friction or where the services break down.
- Use journey maps and customer personas to design processes that keep customers ‘in context’ as they switch channels.
- Ensure the brand voice is consistent across all channels, and train your agents on the tone and policies for each channel.
- Solicit feedback at each touchpoint and iterate.
- Revisit the customer journey regularly to ensure your processes evolve with customer needs.
Always provide your customers with an option to talk to a live agent at any point during their interactions with you.
Pillar 2: Integrated technology platform
- Implement a cloud-based contact center software that natively supports all channels like voice, email, chat, bot, web, mobile, and social.
- Look for platforms with pre-built integrations to your CRM, helpdesk, and business systems, or look at platforms that have a provision for API integrations.
- Choose a platform that scales automatically and allows you to add channels or capabilities over time.
In essence, your customer interaction agents should never have to switch between screens, apps, or channels and never have to ask the customers to repeat themselves. You should be context-aware of every customer interaction.
Pillar 3: Unified data and analytics
- Integrate your contact center with CRM, ticketing, marketing, and product usage systems. Agents can personalize every call as they would have access to every known past issue and customer preference without the customers having to repeat themselves.
- Track trends like peak channel usage, wait times, etc., and correlate them with outcomes like sales and renewals.
- Audit your integrations often to ensure no breakage or friction is affecting customer experiences.
Unified data yields a single customer profile across all channels and interfaces that ensure a smooth and personalized service.
Pillar 4: Empowered workforce and culture
- Break departmental silos. Ensure that customer service, IT, marketing, and sales coordinates on processes and communications.
- Don’t neglect agent preferences. Based on their skill sets and preferences, allow your agents to handle channels that are appropriate for them. Let agents pick what they enjoy. For instance, some love social media conversations, while others thrive on phone calls.
- Train, motivate, and empower your agents to deliver omnichannel service through cross-training. Make your agents go through role-play scenarios where they switch from phone to chat or social without skipping a beat.
- Invest in ongoing coaching and a positive feedback culture. Conduct weekly huddles to share wins, review tough calls, and co-create better scripts.
Even the best technology fails without the right people and culture.
Pillar 5: Process excellence and continuous improvement
- Do phased pilots. For instance, launch chat first, gather feedback, optimize your routing, and then roll out WhatsApp, and so on.
- Clearly define processes for different common scenarios. For instance, when does the chat escalate to voice? Who owns VIP issues? How do you maintain consistency across channels and agents?
- Allocate time each month to analyze chat logs, review CSAT comments, and refine your workflows. You can even set up weekly reviews on specific needs.
- Ensure the platform supports all your compliance and security needs, like GDPR, TCPA, HIPAA, PCI, SOC2, DoT, and TRAI regulations.
Putting all the pillars together
Here’s the go-to checklist to get your omnichannel right.
- Document every touchpoint and pain point
- Does your solution tick the unified channels, CRM integration, and cloud-scale boxes?
- Connect contact center, CRM, and product data into one record for agents to access
- Cross-train agents and schedule regular coaching
- Define routing, escalation, compliance, and QA steps
- Launch one channel or feature at a time. Refine them before scaling.
- Track CSAT, NPS, FCR, AHT, agent engagement, and cost per contact, and review them monthly.
So, you should look for cloud-native omnichannel contact center platform with built-in workforce management, AI, and analytics, along with ready connectors to major CRMs. This allows you to focus on strategy rather than spending time on glue-code integrations.
What are the pitfalls you should avoid with your omnichannel strategy?
- Avoid technology-first thinking: Don’t buy features without a clear outcome. Always start with customer pain points and add features that would address them.
- Avoid data silos: If your agents have to jump through six apps to get context, you’ve lost your omnichannel battle. Integrate early.
- Avoid over-automation: Imagine if a customer has to go through chatbots, FAQs, and knowledge bases for all their needs without a provision to interact with a live agent. That is a potential disaster waiting to happen. Always provide your customers with an option to seamlessly transition to having a conversation with a live agent.
- Avoid single-metric focus: Balance is key when you are looking at how well your omnichannel strategy is playing out. For instance, you shouldn’t chase AHT at the expense of CSAT, as that would frustrate your customers.
- Do not neglect employee experience: Your agents are the closest to your customers. Involve agents in designing, training, and feedback.
Building a high-performance omnichannel contact center isn’t a one-time project. You cannot have the done and dusted attitude towards it. It is a journey of continuous refinement.
Approach omnichannel as a customer-first strategy, choosing the right technology, unifying your data, empowering your people, and iterating your processes.
Implement what is written in this playbook, and you’ll create a seamless and personalized experience that customers will remember.
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