Close the omni-channel customer experience gap – IBM

Article Synopsis :

No matter how well you perform in a single channel, your customers will quickly lose patience if they can’t move smoothly across channels. Particularly for businesses with complex business processes and those seeking to differentiate based on customer service, closing the omni-channel customer experience gap is essential.

Omni-channel means all channels working as one in service to the customer  

In “Close the omni-channel customer experience gap”, IBM discusses the business imperative for top-of-market omni-channel capabilities, specific outcomes of which include:

• Faster problem resolution and shorter call handle times
• Improved first-call resolution
• Improved customer satisfaction and decreased customer churn
• Higher customer value

The reality is few businesses have built channels to operate in a consistent fashion. For example, in a survey of more than 500 companies conducted by Econsultancy (and cited in this report), 44% of companies said the ownership of the omni-channel customer experience lies with a mixture of different departments. Even fewer companies are able to transfer context from one channel interaction to another. Without context, a contact center agents pick up the phone without knowing, for example:

• What was the customer doing or trying to accomplish before they called?
• What products, pricing, or offers were they seeing?
• What factors might have prevented them from completing their transactions online? Were they confused? Did they run into a problem? Or were they just looking for advice?

One of the quickest wins, per the report, is porting visibility of the online customer experience to the contact centre. Online visibility:

• Speeds problem resolution and reduces call handle times
• Improves first-call resolution and customer satisfaction
• Increases customer value by saving time and frustration

Useful case studies on a regional bank, loan originator, global hotel chain, Internet travel firm, and insurance company are provided.

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