The Secrets of Great Multi-Channel Service
Delivering great multi-channel service requires continuous measurement of its success. Incorporate regular reporting to measure success factors such as transaction completion rate, conversion rate, revenue, call deflection rate, repeat use of channel, positive customer feedback, customersatisfaction levels and Web traffic.
Providing customer service used to be easy—customers showed up at your door or called you on the phone. But the explosion of interaction channels has changed service delivery as customers now live a multi-channel life and easily shift from self-service, to the phone, email, chat, IVRs, store visits and kiosks to get help.
As a result, multi-channel service is now a given, and the issue is no longer how to deliver multi-channel service, but how to deliver great multi-channel service. These tips will help you offer outstanding multi-channel service, providing a seamless experience that delivers rapid, accurate response while at the same time driving down costs for higher levels of engagement with your customers.
Unify your knowledge. Often, multi-channels mean inconsistent multi-answers because information is maintained in different, channel-dependent repositories. The real answer is to unify knowledge in a single knowledgebase that is shared across channels. By deploying a unified knowledgebase, you gain a single version of the truth, and answers to customer inquiries are the same no matter how customers choose to contact you.
With consistent response regardless of channel, customers are more willing to use less expensive channels, such as Web self-service, as they come to trust that answers in these channels are the same as answers in high-touch channels like the phone.
Deliver the right content. Unified knowledge that spans channels is the starting point for high quality multi-channel service. The next step is to optimize content so that it is targeted to solving the right problems. The easiest way to make this decision is to use the standard 80/20 rule. Typically, 20% of a knowledgebase's content ends up answering 80% of inquiries. By identifying the 20% of issues that are causing 80% of inquiry volume, you can focus content creation and maintenance efforts on the information that is most needed and is most likely to be impacting customer satisfaction.
Right-channel your customers. Given the fact the customers like to use different channels to meet different needs, you might be tempted to make every channel available to every customer at all times. This is costly as it encourages the use of high-touch, high-cost channels. Instead, make channels selectively available by mapping them to inquiry types and the value of the customer to your business.
You can align channels according to the types, frequency and complexity of interactions. Simple and frequent inquiries, such as requests for how to change a password can be effectively supported with Web self-service or automated email response. Complex issues, such as technical troubleshooting are best handled via the phone or chat.
You can also map channels to the value of the interaction and even the value of the customer. For instance, when customers visit a high-value product page on your website, you may want to proactively invite them to chat. However, when customers visit low-value product pages, these high-touch channel options will not be available. Similarly, high-cost channels can be reserved for high-value or long-term customers, while lower value customers are offered only self-service and email.
Make Every Channel the Best It Can Be
No matter which channel a customer uses, it should promote a positive outcome. For each channel, there are some basics that should be followed:
- Web self-service—Make it easy to find the help center on your website with a highly visible search box. Recognize that self-service cannot always answer the question, so provide easy escalation paths based on right-channeling techniques;
- Email—Enable internal access to the same help center to educate staff on the customer experience, such as auto-acknowledgements to let the customer know you received the inquiry and set expectations for response time;
- Chat—The key to successful chat is, "location, location, location." You can make chat available on every page or just the "contact us" page. Or you can use chat dynamically with proactive invitations based on right-channeling criteria; and
- Social media—Marketing organizations have figured out the value of social channels to the business. The contact center can do the same thing by focusing on key social channels for your industry and responding to posts in a timely and appropriate manner.
Also, implement a great CSR workspace. CSRs need a workspace that keeps critical service information and functions at their fingertips. This requires a unified interface that streamlines the process of finding the information that is used most commonly. Again, use the 80/20 rule to keep the 80% of the most frequently used information immediately accessible. The other 20% should be easy to reach through integration with back-end systems so that CSRs need just one or two clicks on the desktop to find an answer.
It is also important to support specific business functions with role-based workspaces that deliver the processes and information required to complete inquiries. Desktop interfaces can vary, such as an interface for tier one that presents data and processes for the most common customer inquiries, and a different tier-two interface that focuses on the information required to answer more complex questions.
There is no turning back from the world of multi-channel customer service. As companies increasingly compete on the quality of service, the ability to deliver intelligent, consistent and seamless service over multiple channels will be a key differentiator. By following the tips here, you can start to deliver great multi-channel service experiences that will help you achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty while significantly reducing service costs.
Moxie Software is an innovative software company that provides integrated social enterprise software for employee and customer engagement through its Spaces by Moxie platform. This integrated solution also includes Moxie Knowledgebase, enabling customers and employees to co-create and share knowledge. Moxie has 600+ customers including 10% of the Fortune 500.