Omnichannel customer experience has been the goal of many organisations for a few years now, but over the pandemic period, consumer expectations have evolved, alongside growing comfort and accessibility of consumer communications. A clear gulf is becoming noticeable between brands who have genuinely embraced a truly customer-centric omnichannel environment, and those who still expect their users to seek them out to get in touch.
A new report from Mitto, The State Of Customer Experience, highlights the many benefits, some of which are not always well understood by brands who are yet to exploit all that a mature omnichannel CX strategy has to offer their bottom line. As Sandro Stupar, Director of Product Management, pointed out, it’s all about meeting customers where they already are, and making it easier for them to connect with you.”
“Nearly all businesses understand the concept of providing a top-tier customer experience, but omnichannel as a component of that is a rather new development. We all know that technology evolves fast, and as we see from the research data, customer expectations grow quickly too. In our “always on” culture, customers expect the latest and greatest. For long-term success, it’s imperative that businesses adapt to meet these needs.”
When brands really put the customer at the heart of their communications model, good things happen across the board, as Stupar continued. “Beyond just enhancing the customer experience, there also may be a lack of understanding of the benefits omnichannel provides to businesses.” As the report clearly indicates, providing an omnichannel customer experience creates benefits for higher revenue growth, NPS and CSAT scores. When customers receive a great experience, they “become more loyal, they spend more, and they stick around longer,” he pointed out.
A new customer experience environment
While omnichannel may have been regarded as a good end goal or nice-to-have, the report makes it clear that it is rapidly becoming a non-negotiable expectation, for today’s consumers.
“The global pandemic has greatly shifted how we live our lives,” Stupar reflected. “Moving to an all-digital environment overnight has created massive changes in business operations and customer expectations. In-person support and customer experience came to a halt and brands realized they needed to find a way to offer a similar experience digitally. A substantial piece of this is providing a seamless, frictionless digital customer experience from acquisition through to retention. Omnichannel communications provide a solution for businesses looking to capture this experience.”
Just as the way we work has changed forever during this turbulent time, our expectations of the brands we use will not go back to ‘BC’ era thinking, where customers had to manage the continuity of their conversations across different teams within a business.
Great CX is forever, not just for the holidays
And, while we may still not be back to ‘normal’, the coming holiday season is the perfect time for brands to up their game, and address any deficits in their CX offering. As Stupar concluded, “This holiday season, brands should be prioritizing availability for their customers. As overall demands rise, customer inquiries and support requests will rise as well. Now is not the time to cut back on customer experience resources. Keep your trained employees happy and on hand to handle complicated resolutions, while onboarding chatbots and automated voice systems to help the influx of simple requests.”
“Avoiding long hold times and delayed responses will help customers save precious time during the already hectic holiday season. And as the report finds, brands that embrace omnichannel provide a better overall experience for customers – faster response rates, one consistent brand voice, less chaos, and better ease of use”
Those who get it right will be well-placed to generate loyalty and satisfaction for their customers, well into 2022 and beyond.
Learn more, by downloading the new research report from Mitto.
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