The need to adopt an Omnichannel strategy
The digital age has brought unprecedented change to the way companies engage with their customers. Today’s consumers have a variety of ways to interact with brands on a daily basis. From visiting a physical store, to browsing a website, to sending messages via social media or a mobile app. This constant connectivity has created a new paradigm in the digital business-to-customer relationship.
Omnichannel communication is emerging as a solution to this need on both sides, forever redefining the way brands engage with their audiences. The aim is to allow the customer to choose the channel they prefer to interact with, and to get an efficient customer service regardless of the channel chosen.
An omnichannel strategy involves the integration and coordination of multiple channels to interact with all customers. For example, a user could contact a supplier both through the app/website’s chat, email, WhatsApp or directly by phone, and always expect to be treated equally regardless of the channel. All without being redirected from one channel to another, unless they have specifically requested so.
And all of this is only possible using an Omnichannel Communication platform (both “one-to-one” and “one-to-many”) that allows having a centralized, legally compliant and yet personalized communication with all audiences.
The benefits of Omnichannel Communication
In a global economy where companies need long-lasting relationships with customers, especially in the subscription business, its vital to keep customers engaged.
The advantages for those who implement a strategy for omnichannel communication and, rely on trustworthy tools and resources for it, are endless, but here are our top favorite:
- Streamlining ofticket resolution and therefore efficiency, benefiting both the business and its customers.
- Retaining and growing the current customer base through better understanding of buyer personas. This way , the product and service offer can be better tailored to real customer needs.
- Today’s companies, have started seeking for other ways to measure customer satisfaction (eg. NPS). Instead of asking their customers or sending them surveys, they may consider tools that, through AI, can detect users’ sentiments.
- Improving brand awareness. Working to ensure consistency across all communication channels reinforces your identity in the eyes of the customer.
In a global economy where companies need long-lasting relationships with customers, especially in the subscription business, its vital to keep customers engaged. Having an omnichannel comms strategy in place that allows customers choose their preferred channel heavily increases:
- Customer retention and growth
- Higher attention to communications sent
- Advocacy
How to make it work for you
- A customer-centric approach.
For this to work, it is essential that information is shared and seamlessly synchronised across all channels. For example, a customer can start a conversation via email and continue it via live chat without having to repeat the same information.
- Customer data security
In terms of cybersecurity, this may seem a little ambiguous at first, but isn’t the sharing of channels likely to make customers’ private information less secure?
The challenge here is twofold: enough data needs to be collected to provide a seamless and personalized customer experiences, but information must be kept safe from increasingly common cyber-attacks.
It’s a fact that companies need to be legally compliant with GDPR. The use of personal devices to store customer information is no longer permitted. Therefore, companies need to use tools that allow centralizing customer data and communication tools under one roof that keeps customer data safe.
- Proactivity
Proactive messaging allows businesses to anticipate future needs, saving time while also personalizing the customer experience. This, combined with a solid omnichannel strategy, allows companies to significantly improve customer service.
Proactive messages are those that follow the direction of the brand to the customer, rather than the other way around, which would be the traditional model. It can be managed manually, but by using a powerful software, a significant amount of time can be saved through the integration of several channels as well as tailoring the messaging by channel and customer audience.
FROGED’s vision of the future
It’s important to empower both the teams and the business itself, to improve not only agent productivity but also business profitability.
A strong value proposition aligns well with the creation of a strong and effective omnichannel communications strategy. Companies who master this should be able to combine one-to-one with one-to-many communications in order to facilitate:
- Companies:
Obtain visibility, traceability and control of the information. “How are my teams performing?” “How and when are my customers being contacted and treated?” “Are we doing it complying with GDPR laws?”
- End-users:
Speed of use, centralized work under one unique platform and, therefore, efficient daily work. “How can I serve my customers better?” “How can I reach more customers in a more efficient but yet personalised way?”
All in all, it’s important to empower both the teams and the business itself, to improve not only agent productivity but also business profitability. With the right strategy and tools in place companies can transform traditional cost centres, such as Customer Support, into revenue generating activities if they contribute to better customer growth and retention:
- OMNICHANNEL INBOX:
- One platform for all users and channels:
All channels centralized under one unique inbox (Chat, WhatsApp, Voice calls, Email, Facebook Messenger). No need to use multiple tools and devices anymore.
- Conversation history:
Not only you can view all of your customers’ contact information within every conversation, but also review all previous conversations to ensure you don’t miss anything relevant.
- CUSTOMER DATA PROTECTION:
While maintaining a high level of cybersecurity is essential, at FROGED we like to look a little further. We ensure that we maintain security by complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (read more about this here) and by continuously investing in data infrastructure and encryption.
We believe that one of the key benefits of using an omnichannel platform should be that your employees don’t have to take their devices with confidential data home. In recent years, it seems that most companies have understood that asking for less information when making purchases or payments reduces the risk of cyber-attacks: the less information available, the less data can be stolen. This re-education in handling data is due to the alarming rise in phishing attacks since 2021, increasing by 436% in the retail and wholesale sector.
- PROACTIVITY:
FROGED allows your teams proactively communicate with your users/customers by automating different types of communication, both In-App or via Email and WhatsApp. Another great advantage is that you can segment your audience so not everyone receives the same communication (content, language, etc).
And last, but not least, if customers reply to any of your “massive” communications, you can start one-to-one conversations through the Omnichannel Inbox and offer a personalized customer experience (assistance, commercial opportunities, feedback, etc).
If you’d like to learn how to create an effective Omnichannel Communication Strategy, we recommend watching this video and start your free trial here. For extra tips and information , check out the following article.
