First, let’s understand exactly what an omnichannel call center entails. Bright Pattern’s call center software solution is cloud-based and omnichannel, giving you the ability to communicate across all channels: text, email, voice, social media, video, live chat, and web chat, including messenger apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
Customers expect to be able to use their preferred channel, and they expect a seamless experience when they do. Invariably, a customer will need to be transferred from one agent to another, and the system must transfer both customer-provided information and historical data quickly behind the scenes. Your customer satisfaction increases when they don’t have to repeat their story multiple times. Happy customers are return customers. This is the first way omnichannel contact center solutions help drive your business sales, but it’s not the last.
In fact, leading industry analyst group Gartner (Corporate Executive Board) noted how reducing customer effort with an easy omnichannel customer experience can increase revenues and retain customers:
- 94% of customers going through an effortless experience are likely to repurchase vs. only 4% of those went through a high level of effort
- 88% of customer going through an effortless experience are likely to spend more vs. only 4% of those went through a high level of effort
- 96% of customers going through a high level of effort are likely to churn vs. only 9% of those those who went through an effortless experience
- 81% of customers going through a high level of effort are likely to share their bad experience with friends vs. only 1% of those those who went through an effortless experience
Upsell and Cross-Selling Opportunities
Now that you understand the omnichannel nature, let’s see how it truly advances your sales capabilities. By integrating your Bright Pattern solution into your customer relationship management (CRM) system, you give your agents upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
Upselling occurs when your agent is able to sell customers additional or upgraded services to solve their problems. Cross-selling is when an agent is able to sell complementary services to customers. The agent can see a customer’s complete relationship history through the CRM integration. Having this information in front of them enables upsell and cross-selling.
In addition, if a customer is marked as a “gold” customer in the CRM system, the contact center platform can route a gold customer a specially skilled “gold” agents. Or if a customer is marked as an “upsell candidate” in the CRM, they can be routed via the contact center platform to an agent with a skill set such as “upsell trained sales specialist”.
Through webchats or video chats, your agents can share pictures to work through problems or present these new offerings. This is the second way omnichannel contact center solutions help drive your business sales, but it’s not the last either.
Giving Customers a Voice and Appreciation
Customer service is such an important endeavor because it’s an opportunity to create a relationship. Your customers want their voices to be heard and appreciated. They want to know their experience matters to the organizations with which they do business. The marketplace is crowded, and unhappy customers won’t hesitate to find a new solution should yours not meet their expectations.
But how does an omnichannel contact center elevate this experience? The answer lies in outbound communication – whether via text or email surveys or outbound dialers.
We often think of customer service as a conduit to receive information, but outbound communication channels make it easy to initiate that conversation. With Bright Pattern’s comprehensive cloud-based technology, your organization can send customers surveys asking about their experience. This gives your customers a voice and a say in the relationship.
Likewise, you can send out automated texts that simply say, “thank you.” You can also offer them a discount on their next purchase. This lets buyers know you appreciate them and are proactively inviting them to connect again. Because they’re automated, you don’t need additional personnel to ensure this outreach happens.
Improved Customer Experience
The right omnichannel contact center solution improves even the basic customer service frustrations such as hold time. No one likes to be put on hold for very long, if at all. When they’re able to contact you through chat, however, they don’t have to worry about being put on hold. In fact, according to the leading technology industry analyst Gartner, shoppers aged 18–49 prefer live chat above all other methods when buying something online.
Additionally, video chat is now a ubiquitous technology. Imagine giving your customer service agents the ability to connect to their customers virtually but still face to face. Thanks to the covid-19 pandemic, video conferencing is now a standard way of doing business. Your customers will appreciate the improved experience and come to depend upon it, eventually resulting in referrals to their friends.
In addition to the actual communication, an omnichannel contact center has the potential to transform how you track your customers and retain their information. We’ve mentioned the CRM integration, and with Bright Pattern’s comprehensive data security, your customers will enjoy knowing they’re safe. It’s HIPAA, PCI, TCPA, and GDPR compliant.
Insight into the Customer Journey
The customer journey is no longer linear. With a smartphone in hand, customers hold more power to research and compare brands than they’ve ever had. The brands that personalize their interactions via omnichannel call centers will be the ones with the strongest relationships.
Businesses that only focus on capturing the initial sale miss out on a greater opportunity to create a long-lasting, profitable relationship with their customers. The last stop on the customer journey is evangelism — you want your customers to go out and tell everyone they know (or don’t know) how great your service or product is. This happens via reviews, social media shares, and everyday conversation.
When you look at all the right omnichannel contact center offers, it’s easy to see how it drives sales. Not ready for all it has to offer? That’s okay, too. The beauty of a cloud-based call center is that it’s scalable. Your capabilities grow as your needs grow, and thanks to flexible, pay-as-you-go pricing, you only pay for what you use.
As technology continues to advance, the customer journey continues to change. Bright Pattern is committed to giving your customers an experience that’s personal and efficient and your organization a tool that’s easy to use at an exceptional value.
