The benefits of omnichannel customer contact

The main point of contact for many customers with their financial services provider is with customer service agents in a contact centre. The interactions they have with these agents play an important role in the experience they have with that brand, and therefore have a huge knock-on influence on how that brand is perceived. A subpar customer experience (CX) has the potential to result in adverse reviews and a tarnished reputation, which, in turn, can erode customer loyalty and hinder the ability to attract new customers. A good CX means retaining customers in the long-term, a positive brand name association and a higher chance of winning customers in a competitive marketplace.

Considering 96% of customers will leave a brand due to bad customer service, the stakes are high. In addition, the customers of today expect a lot from their financial services providers. Nearly 70% of customers wants more personalisation from their banks, 72% want immediate service from financial services, and 79% are happy to pay more for convenience. Financial services organisations then must meet these expectations and deliver a positive and efficient CX if they are to maintain customer loyalty now and in the long term.

This may appear to be a tall order, but looking to an omnichannel approach to customer service will go a long way to fitting the bill.

What is omnichannel CX?

Accelerated by the rapid digitalisation of the past few years, tech-savvy consumers are demanding omnichannel journeys from their favourite brands. An omnichannel customer service, in simple terms, offers customers more than a phone line to get in touch with their banks, insurers and other financial services. This could be anything from email and chatbots to social media messaging and video calls. True omnichannel joins these channels together in a coherent way, ensuring the customer journey is seamless as they move from one channel to another. For example, a customer might start by asking an automated website chatbot a series of questions, before being routed through to a live customer agent, either on the phone or on live chat, encountering the same level of service on each channel.

Providing these options for customers is a must in today’s digitalised world. As of 2021, 71% of consumers considered texting their favourite businesses as an effective form of communication, whilst Gartner predicts that by 2025 digital messaging, such as WhatsApp and WeChat, will be the favoured method of delivering CX. With digital natives also entering the market – 53.2% of global internet users aged 16-24 use social networks as a primary source of information when researching brands – and 90% of customers claiming that the experience a brand provides is as important as its products or services, there has never been more incentive for brands to embrace omnichannel CX to meet customer needs.

The benefits of an omnichannel CX

By moving to an omnichannel model, financial services organisations can realise hugely beneficial outcomes, from maintaining customer loyalty to futureproofing CX.

1. Maintain customer loyalty

Give customers what they’re clamouring for by providing them will multiple ways to get in touch with their queries. Not only do customers expect a good CX, they expect a good omnichannel CX. And if they don’t get it, they’re likely to leave those negative reviews and jump ship to a competitor who can provide the level of service they’re expecting.

Providing a joined-up experience across channels is key to ensuring a positive omnichannel experience. CCaaS platforms should be considered here as tools that combine the traditional inbound voice channel with outbound, digital and social channels, all in one place.

2.Better understand the customer journey

There is always room for improvement, and having an omnichannel CX can help financial services contact centres to better understand what their customers want. For example, by integrating the likes of text analytics into channels such as email and chatbot messaging, contact centres can analyse if there are any complaints about services or products that are frequently reported.

The same tool can also analyse if there are any pain points or friction to the customer journey itself, such as if the customer is having to provide the same information multiple times across channels, leaving them frustrated.

With key customer insights to hand, financial services organisations can take action to make improvements to not only what they provide customers, but to the pivotal customer journey as well.

3.Better manage customer demand

There’s nothing worse than waiting on hold to speak to a customer service agent, and then being put through to the wrong department. Contact centres today are also fighting against the rising costs of calls, increasing call volumes and staff shortages. According to Contact Babel the average cost of an inbound call is £6.55 – 70% more than email and 96% more than a web chat, a cost that is increasing year on year. And with increasing call waiting times as a result of staff shortages, customers are left frustrated and call abandonment levels are high.

Omnichannel provides much needed diversification of customer inbound contact and helps contact centres to deliver the same level of customer service in a more cost-effective manner. With omnichannel, financial services providers can ensure the customer journey is more efficient whilst also ensuring contact centres aren’t overrun with calls.

By using an AI-powered chatbot, for example, customers with straightforward queries can find their answer without ever having to pick up the phone. Or by being proactive with communications such as SMS and email to inform customers of any updates relevant to them, unnecessary inbound contact can be avoided, reducing the pressure on agents.

And by connecting the dots between channels, for instance by integrating CRM systems into the customer journey so all previous interaction history across all channels is accessible to agents, when a customer does need to get on the phone, they are routed through to the right person who can jump straight in to solving their issue.

Deliver the CX of tomorrow today

Customer expectations will only continue to grow as digitalisation increases and transformative innovations like the strides forward being made in AI become more prevalent in our everyday lives. By looking to omnichannel CX, financial services providers can engage customers where they’re at, meeting their expectations today to ensure their loyalty tomorrow.