What is multi-channel customer service and how should it be managed effectively?

Multichannel customer service can provide customers with more flexible options for communication routes into businesses. By offering multi-channel customer service routes, your customers can communicate in the way that works for them and the communication route they choose may differ for them dependent on their lifestyle, life stage and even the time of day. 

If your business is able to offer flexible routes for communication, you may see peak communication flows at different times of the day. Maybe calls are the primary route with given peaks within  ‘typical business hours’ and routes such as email or social media at times which are typical ‘out of hours’ or for less important communication needs such as general queries.

It is important that customers can communicate with your business, with the channel they choose and that they have a seamless customer experience regardless of the route selected. 
 

How do businesses manage multi-channel customer services? 
Businesses offering a multichannel customer service operation should have the infrastructure so all channels feed into a ‘single customer view’. This allows your business to benefit from a holistic approach of all touchpoints of your customers' journeys and interactions across all channels. 

For companies offering this approach, they will benefit from being able to provide a customer-centric service more efficiently, as well as the ability to review the interactions through data insights for customer audience segmentation for future marketing and advertising communications to their customers and prospects. This approach has been very benefiical to many travel, healthcare and event companies. 
Most important of all, if a company can be provide a higher level of customer service, this will lead to increased satisfaction levels and higher retention rates.
Businesses know that great customer service is at the heart of brand effectiveness, with customers more likely to recommend a company if they receive first-class service.
 

Why offer multichannel customer service?

Businesses can benefit from a unified approach to the customer experience. Your company might employ hundreds or thousands of employees and how your customers' experience of your business is directly linked to how they interact with employees and the channels that they choose for their communications. Whether customer communications are face to face, through the telephone or a digital journey of social media or email, customer service levels must be upheld to the levels your business has set.

Why outsource contact centre services to Whistl 
The contact centre support we can offer your business will meet and exceed the customer service levels your customers have come to expect. With a range of inbound call centre solutions, we offer your business bespoke contact channel managent and solutions to create a seamless experience for your customers. 

Our contact centre solutions can include a multi-channel including calls, emails, traditional letters, social media and live chat. Our muli-channel contact centre approach allows you to feel confident you customers will recieve a swift and profession response for all queries. Within the discovery phase, we will work with you to identify your business's challenges and customer contact needs, including the omni-channel approach that your customers use to communicate with you. Before the implementation stage, our technical team will provide the integration systems so that the trained contact centre team are armed with the visibility of the systems and communication channels required to communicate with your customers effectively. 

Meet Whistl's Contact Centre Agents