Communication has become an integral part of our lives today. The rapid growth of technology is a major reason for this. The proliferation of digital platforms and smartphones has completely changed the communication scenario today. It has given customers a lot of mediums through which they can connect with the enterprise as per their convenience and thus, businesses are one of the first ones to adopt the changes to keep pace with the changing requirements of the customers.

This technological advancement has fueled a mishmash of nonlinear, multi platform engagement opportunities. Trends suggest that customer asses a business starting from its website and moving on to visit its app on a mobile device, or its social media pages, followed by a store visit or talking to a call center executive and so forth.

The Problem
Increasing number of customers interact via different channels with companies and thus companies need to constantly adapt and expand to newer channels of communication. Also, customer preference varies from person to person, which affects the way they communicate with a company. Problem arises when businesses undertake this expansion without proper planning and strategy. The crux lies in understanding that integration is the key. What actually happens is that companies end up entering multiple channels to interact with the customers but follow different approaches for each channel instead of creating a fully integrated multichannel strategy. Customer service reps lack information of customer’s past interactions from different channels which leads to unsatisfied customers.

Companies strive to achieve seamless customer experience as this is becoming pivotal for every business. Along with presence on multi channels, it is imperative to provide the best possible experience possible across all platforms of communication. The ultimate motive should be cohesive customer experience irrespective of the customer journey.

The Solution
Customers use multi channel route to reach a business and there fore Omnichannel

solution is an ideal solution that ensures higher agent productivity and superior customer experience by creating a single queue for email, chat, ticketing, call, and social media. According to a report by Ernst & Young, businesses are using 360° integrated Omnichannel approach to marketing, indicating that digital and social media marketing is being integrated with traditional marketing strategies to engage with customers through multiple touch points. Companies with omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain on an average 89 percent of their customers compared to 33 percent to companies with weak omnichannel customer engagement. Companies are in need to be constantly in touch with their customers nowadays due to the stiff competition where personalized customer experience is the key for retention. Omnichannel communication allows customers to interact via various digital channels like chat, emails and social media platforms yet maintaining the context across all touch points.

To make the most of the value and efficiency of multiple touch points in this hyper-connected world, businesses need to provide consistent experience that spans across platforms and screens

The omnichannel solution provides multiple advantages to customers like improved first call resolution time, seamless experience across channels and decreased service time to customer. Apart from being advantageous to customers, it is also beneficial for customers as it provides with enriched data with all relevant history and contact details, a single agent can handle Calls, Emails, Social Media, Chats etc.

Technology & Marketing- Enhancing Customer Experience
Technology along with marketing has changed the way consumers interact with companies and businesses as multichannel are now being replaced by Omnichannel. Hence, it is important to understand the difference between the two. On one hand, in multichannel, every channel has its own goals to serve with different incentives to maximize performance. The consumer data here is stored and managed separately for each channel. Thus, this solution tends to be more channel-specific. On the other hand, in Omnichannel, incentives are derived across all channels. The consumer data has an integrated view as all the information from across the platforms is collated.

Technology and marketing has resulted into personalization which is a recent trend. Most of the recent personalization debates focus on optimizing the online customer experience and Omnichannel customer experience is one of the most important among these. In light of this, Omnichannel marketing or customer service has evolved as a key element for transforming customer experience by making it more dynamic. The interactions with brands are no longer isolated rather they are connected and based on multiple touch-points. Thus, companies have gained enormously by adopting Omnichannel.

To make the most of the value and efficiency of multiple touch points in this hyper-connected world, businesses need to provide consistent experience that spans across platforms and screens. The bottom line is that the customer service must anticipate what the customer wants to do next to give him a contextual, real time and seamless experience on any channel which is the essence of customer retention.