All industries and businesses are different, but delivering great customer service is one of the best ways to increase your chances of success regardless of your specialty. Providing excellent service is a great approach to forging long-term relationships with your clients and building a reputation for quality. But, in order to deliver superb service, you need to focus on omnichannel customer engagement.
Engaged customers are more receptive to your marketing message and have higher chances of understanding the benefits of working with your business. Additionally, a solid omnichannel engagement strategy will also put your customers in control and allow them to choose how they interact with your business.
At Hiya, we specialize in helping businesses obtain better results from their interactions with customers over the phone, so we’re familiar with the techniques available to keep clients engaged. Below, we’ll go over the definition of omnichannel customer engagement, its benefits, and tips on engaging customers through multiple fronts.
What Is Omnichannel Customer Engagement?
Omnichannel customer engagement is a process that employs multiple channels to interact with clients and prospects in order to keep them interested in a product or service. Through omnichannel customer engagement, companies can ensure that customers get a consistent experience, even if they change platforms in the middle of an interaction.
For example, if you need to contact a customer, you should be able to give them a call, write them an email, or send them a text. Creating multiple channels allows your customers to get the information they need in the way that is most convenient for them.
The goal of omnichannel customer engagement is to create a seamless and consistent experience regardless of the channel that your customers choose to contact you.
Unlocking Success and Increasing Value Through Omnichannel Customer Engagement
Consumers want to engage with your business on their own terms., so To satisfy this desire you have to give potential customers everything they need to make a decision on their own. Rather than trying to push or sell products that customers are not necessarily interested in, modern companies study the buyer’s journey, find crucial points, and simply offer specific information at these stages. In these cases, the target audience is more likely to be receptive and use the information that’s available to them.
But, the only way to achieve this is to create an omnichannel customer engagement strategy that allows customers to interact with your business however they see fit.
Some of the benefits of developing an omnichannel customer engagement strategy include:
Reach Customers Wherever They Are Located
The average consumer wants immediate gratification, which means that your customers will choose the product or service that suits them most. The location of the service provider or product will directly impact which customers engage with your business, and an omnichannel engagement plan helps ensure that all relevant areas are being targeted.
Online channels like social media, email, and local directories have empowered customers, encouraging them to find the best fit every time they need a product or service. By engaging with interested customers located within your service area, you’ll increase your chances of success while keeping local clients happy.
Collect Huge Amounts of Data
Today, companies can leverage different platforms for marketing and each one of these has a unique set of metrics. That said, remember that each platform has a unique set of statistics, so you need to get familiarized with the different metrics and keep a close eye on these throughout the duration of your campaigns.
As we mentioned before, the metrics will vary by channel, but some of the most common statistics you need to track include the number of contacts, interaction duration, and customer satisfaction, just to name a few. Once you have enough information, you need to analyze the results and figure out what improvements you need to make to boost performance.
Increase Customer Loyalty
Customers absolutely love brands that invest in improving user experience. Not only does it show attention to detail, but customers also feel appreciated when they are engaged through multiple channels. In addition to keeping customers engaged, communicating with customers through different channels can also help improve client loyalty and reduce churn.
Maintaining customer loyalty is crucial because people can now choose from a huge list of companies, regardless of the type of service they’re looking for. By ensuring that current customers are satisfied and happy to work with your business again, you can help secure your long-term future.
Interact with Users at Crucial Points
We mentioned the buyer’s journey before, which represents the steps that customers go through before interacting with your company. Although not all customers go through the same decision-making process, understanding the different stages can help ensure that you interact with users at crucial points.
Modern consumers like to be in control. So, instead of pushing for clients to purchase a product, you should study the buyer’s journey and interact with potential customers at crucial points. For example, if you notice that almost all customers read online reviews about your product, you can send out an email reminder at this stage telling potential buyers to check out the review sites where you have the best ratings.
Deliver a Better Experience to Each Customer
The quality of your customer service and overall user experience will influence how satisfied your customers actually are. And, needless to say, if your customers are happy, they are more likely to interact with your business or recommend your services to their peers.
Delivering quality solutions is the first step to accomplishing superb customer service. Additionally, you also need to keep users engaged and answer any doubts they may have right away. This will make customers feel appreciated, which can help you stand out from the competition and encourage clients to keep interacting with your brand.
Challenges You Need to Overcome to Achieve Omnichannel Customer Engagement
When it comes to omnichannel engagement, one of the biggest challenges companies face is that customers now rely on multiple devices to communicate with them. This adds another dimension of communication, so companies have to develop content as well as apps specifically for these devices.
For example, a customer may send an email to a company from a desktop computer, receive the reply on their smartphone, and then contact the business through its mobile app. If an app is not available, it can disrupt the user experience and result in lower engagement rates.
Not only this, but some of the additional challenges you'll need to overcome include:
Data Inconsistency
Maintaining a consistent experience is the only way to keep customers engaged. This means that customers should have the ability to begin a process through one channel and finish it off through another.
However, if customers have to start every process from scratch whenever they switch devices, you’ll see reduced engagement across the board.
Failing to Produce a Fully Tailored Experience
Omnichannel engagement requires you to understand now not only your audience in general, but also each individual customer. As a matter of fact, you should create a fully tailored experience for each customer and ensure that every single interaction is personalized to their specific preferences. If not, you run the risk of losing customers that feel like they’re being pushed, rather than reminded.
Frustrating Customers
Customers are the ones who determine if your omnichannel engagement strategy is working. That said, there are many things that can frustrate your customers. For example, having to repeat themselves whenever they switch channels.
To avoid this, you should make sure that you only deliver high-quality services and that all of the features in your omnichannel support network work properly.`
Delays that Produce Duplicate Experiences
The communication channels that customers use usually reflect how urgent a matter is as well as the type of interaction they are looking for. Therefore, you should adapt your omnichannel strategy and avoid creating duplicate experiences.
For instance, if a customer is contacting your business through social media, this person most likely wants to open up a dialogue and get a response right away. If your social networks don’t produce the results they are looking for, consumers will do the same with every one of your communication channels until they get an immediate response.
Want to Engage Customers Using an Omnichannel Approach? Contact Hiya Today
A truly omnichannel approach leverages all the communication channels your customers use, including phone calls. That said, getting your customers to pick up the phone can be challenging, unless you identify yourself as the caller and provide a reason for the contact.
Interested in learning more? Download our Sales Metrics eBook to find out which metrics you should be optimizing to boost sales.
