Just imagine one of your loyal customers trying to contact your business using the phone for an issue they need to resolve urgently. When they dial the number they find a busy tone. They don’t feel like sending a text message or email, so they try to find your presence on some popular instant messaging platforms. Unable to find you there, they go to your social media profile and send you a direct message (DM). But they still don’t get any response.
In such a scenario, no matter how calm and composed a person is, they can’t help but feel annoyed and frustrated. Do you think they will ever try to contact you after that bad experience? If they are like a majority of customers, they will switch to a competitor.
That’s why every business must prepare itself for omnichannel communication by leveraging sophisticated tools such as omnichannel contact center software. This blog post discusses the benefits of using sophisticated omnichannel contact center software and how you can find the right software solution in a highly crowded market. So, without further ado let’s dive in into the blog post.
Advantages of omnichannel contact center software
Sophisticated omnichannel contact center software can enable all types and sizes of businesses in multiple ways such as:
1. Enhanced efficiency and productivity
Equipped with a wide range of cutting-edge features, omnichannel contact center software can enhance agents’ efficiency and productivity by leaps and bounds. The main benefit of using sophisticated omnichannel contact center software is that it can enable agents to handle text conversations on two or more channels simultaneously. Also, agents can find the right solutions to customers’ issues and queries by searching the web or asking their senior colleagues without letting the customers know.
2. Cost-effective and enhanced revenue
Research conducted by Aberdeen Group found that robust omnichannel organizations register a year-over-year cost drop of 7.5 percent per contact while weak omnichannel organizations report just a 0.2 percent y-o-y reduction. Another study revealed that organizations with strong omnichannel customer engagement witnessed 9.5 percent year-on-year growth in their annual revenue, whereas businesses with poor omnichannel engagement just 3.4 percent increase in their annual revenue. The findings of both studies prove the cost-effectiveness and high revenue potential of omnichannel contact center software.
3. Customer loyalty
Just put yourself in your customer’s shoes and think. You contact an organization through the phone, you find their number engaged. You visit their website and use the live chat to reach them and you receive a prompt reply and your issue is resolved (or query is answered) in no time. Would you be surprised to know that companies that provide omnichannel customer service enjoy higher customer loyalty? Certainly not! A study conducted by Softtek found that businesses with strong commitments to omnichannel communication on average retain 89 percent of their customers. However, businesses with weak commitments to omnichannel communication retain less than a third of their customers.
4. Faster call resolution
When a customer contacts an organization, they expect the agent to resolve their issue or answer their query in the first instance itself. But when that doesn’t happen they get a poor experience. In single-channel organizations, the rate of first-contact resolution is low compared to their omnichannel counterparts. In the former, agents tend to transfer the call or request customers to call back if they can’t find the proper solution. But in the omnichannel contact center, agents can find the right solutions to customer’s problems and queries as they interact with them via live chats, instant messages, or social media.
5. Improved engagement
Omnichannel contact center software enables organizations to enhance their customer engagement across all channels. An Omnisend study revealed omnichannel campaigns witnessed an 18.9 percent engagement rate while single-channel campaigns witnessed only a 5.4 percent engagement rate.
How to handpick the right omnichannel contact center software?
When it comes to investing in omnichannel contact center software, handpicking the right software provider can make all the difference. Here are some effective strategies you can follow to handpick the right omnichannel contact center software:
1. Analyze your organization’s communication needs
In today’s time, receiving customers’ messages from a wide range of communication channels is extremely common. After all, a majority of people today have an ultra-powerful communication device known as a smartphone, using which they can:
- Send instant messages
- Comment on social media platforms
- Engage in live chats
- And, of course, make phone calls and send text messages
That’s why before looking for any omnichannel contact center software it’s extremely critical to analyze your organization’s communication needs first. What channels does your organization need to prioritize? How many customer service representatives are you going to employ and how many channels each should handle? You see, the customer representatives that will handle phone calls, cannot handle text messages and other channels. Such agents must be kept exclusively for phone calls. But representatives that can handle text messages can simultaneously handle social media posts, webchats, and instant messages. Analyzing your company’s communication needs will help you determine the features you need in your contact center software.
2. Look for reliable and reputable omnichannel contact center software providers
After assessing your organization’s omnichannel needs, the next step is to look for omnichannel contact center software providers. You don’t need to do anything else other than open a browser and type some high-intent search terms such as “best omnichannel contact center software,” “top omnichannel contact center software,” “cost-effective omnichannel contact center software,” and “cloud-based omnichannel contact center software.”
If you want location-specific results, then you can type in search terms such as “best omnichannel contact center software in the US,” “best omnichannel contact center software in the UK,” “top omnichannel contact center software in Australia,” “top omnichannel contact center software in Canada,” “best omnichannel contact center software in South Africa,” and more such countries.
3. Visit websites and compare features, prices, ratings, pros and cons
After pressing the enter button, you will get many results on the search engine result page. Some websites can belong to reputable and reliable omnichannel contact center software providers while some can belong to top aggregators such as SoftwareSuggest, G2, and many other leading names in the business.
If you visit software providers’ websites, you will get a detailed idea about their software solutions, their mission and vision, what their customers say about them, and their contact information. If you choose to visit the websites of some top aggregators (such as 20 Best Omnichannel Contact Center Software in 2023) then you’ll get a comprehensive overview of the best 20 or so omnichannel contact center software. It will enable you to easily compare their features, prices, ratings, pros, and cons in a single place. This will help you shortlist some promising software providers.
4. Contact the shortlisted omnichannel contact center software providers
Now, it’s time to contact the shortlisted software providers using your favorite communication channel. That would give you a good idea of how responsive they are in multiple channels. You can call them if you would like to type your message on their web chat or reach them via instant messages or text messages. Ask them about the features they offer in their omnichannel contact center software. Also, probe about their pricing plans and payment options. Last but not least, ask them if they provide a free demo. If they refuse to provide a free trial, then politely excuse yourself and move to the next provider on the list.
Rinse and repeat the process, till you find the software provider that meets your needs and is ready to provide a free demo so that you can use their solution and make an informed decision.
5. Get the free trial and seek your team’s feedback
The last and final step is to introduce the free trial of the omnichannel contact center software to your customer service department and use it for a given number of days to learn how it works. Also, seek feedback from your team members and ask them to rate the software solution on each aspect such as ease of use, features, and whether they need any training to handle it better. After that, take an informed decision. If the software ticks all the boxes, buy it without wasting any more time.
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All said and done,
Today, a majority of people use smartphones and have access to the internet. Why would they want to wait for calls to get connected with agents when they can contact them over chat, instant messages, and social media? The lack of omnichannel support can provide them bad customer experience and drive them away. To prevent that, every business must partner with a trustworthy software provider and invest in high-quality omnichannel contact center software.