Customer Support Software Featured Articles

The way we conduct business and communicate with customers has changed dramatically over the last decade. Until fairly recently, people who needed product support had to call a customer support number during business hours. As new technologies emerged, businesses added support channels, including email, web portals and chat windows. Some companies also began using social media platforms to handle support requests.

Customers access these support channels via a variety of devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones. As the number of channels has expanded and new communication platforms have become available for accessing support, an ad hoc multichannel support strategy has emerged. But because it evolved in a reactive way, the multichannel support approach many companies use today isn’t the ideal solution – an omni-channel strategy is better.  

Multichannel support accommodates customer demand for more options to interact with the support team, so some company leaders think that by expanding channels, they’ve done enough to keep up with changing customer expectations. But the pertinent questions are these: Does a multichannel approach deliver a better customer experience? Does it help customer support agents to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively? The answer to both questions is usually no.

Providing support across multiple channels can increase the complexity for the customer support team exponentially since they must now monitor numerous platforms to manage customer interactions. And for customers, multichannel support typically means there’s no continuity when they access assistance on different platforms. That means they have to explain who they are, what product they use and what issue they’re trying to address over and over.

There’s a better way to deliver support across multiple channels – an omni-channel support strategy. Omni-channel support allows customers to contact customer support agents via whichever channel they choose using whatever device they prefer, but unlike the multichannel support model, an omni-channel approach integrates information received from all channels so that support agents have access to all service records and customer data in one unified system.

A well-designed omni-channel support strategy includes a self-service knowledge base that customers can access any time to get answers as well as numerous channels to contact agents, including phone, chat, email and social media. It enables collaboration between all departments within the company so that agents can leverage the collective knowledge of the group to quickly solve problems. Ideally, the platform also features reporting tools so companies can not only track key metrics about individual ticket resolution but monitor the overall health of their relationships with customer companies, which is crucial for B2B businesses.

As companies move beyond brick-and-mortar operations to deliver products and provide support through multiple electronic channels, it makes sense to evolve customer support practices to accommodate changing expectations: Delivering an exceptional customer experience requires it. But rather than allowing traditional support operations to haphazardly expand into new channels, company leaders should adopt a thoughtful, deliberate approach.

An omni-channel support strategy provides customers with the communication choices they demand while making sure everyone on the support team has access to a central repository of information. By integrating support requests across all channels and platforms and delivering up-to-date information on customers and products, an omni-channel approach gives support teams the best of both worlds – and the tools they need to consistently and efficiently provide an exceptional customer experience.