Forget multi-channel – omni-channel is the way forward for customer service in 2013, according to comments from Richard McCrossan, cited by business2community.com.
As the strategic business director for Genesys, McCrossan knows what works well for businesses when it comes to customer service. He predicts that next year, an omnichannel approach to this will be popular amongst businesses of all sizes.
This encompasses monitoring and utilising every possible channel for customer service – such as social media, email, SMS, telephone and direct mail. McCrossan predicted: “In 2013, we’ll see an increased shift to an omnichannel approach, with companies tracking customers across all channels and retaining the customer interaction history at the same time.
“With this increased knowledge, companies will certainly provide superior, customer-centric service, regardless of the channel used.”
His comments could encourage businesses to re-assess their customer service set-up. For example, companies may choose to send a text to customers to check how they’re doing or alert them to changes within their account, whilst also responding to comments or complaints received via their Twitter or Facebook pages.
They must monitor the phone lines too and make sure that any emails are responded to in a quick, efficient manner. Doing this will reduce the effort customers have to put into the relationship and improve retention rates, McCrossan concluded, also cited by callcentreclinic.com.
