Richpanel - Customer Data Platform Software
Richpanel Effortless customer support for your ecommerce store
A decade back, social media apps like Instagram became popular as a way to stay digitally connected to your near and dear ones Since its inception, platforms have Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest have seen many transformations and upgrades With the recent surge in online consumerism, it was only natural for these platforms to shift towards a more eCommerce-centric approach This shift has brought forth a change in the way online businesses look at their customer experience Ecommerce businesses are incentivized to gauge their brand image in terms of social currency accumulated over a number of channels
An eCommerce business cannot survive solely on one channel anymore The discovery of new products has evolved in the last five years Instagram, Facebook, and even TikTok have become the default shoppers' choices A multichannel experience, which used to be a differentiator, has become the table stake in the eCommerce industry Your customer needs to talk to you NOW And they want to do it on their preferred channel
Multichannel customer service is very channel-centric It focuses primarily on the customer journey through one interaction The method is widely popular but it is siloed and tends to create an inconsistent customer experience It is also overwhelming to keep up with this form of customer service
multi channel customer service brings with it its own set of benefits and challenges:
In an increasingly-service centric market, customer satisfaction is becoming the key differentiator for growing businesses Customer expectations have increased over time and multi channel customer service is one of the many new benchmarks in the industry *Helping Ecommerce Businesses to Scale Their Support Teams. Richpanel is the customer service platform for Ecommerce teams. We design & develop tools that make it easy for eCommerce teams to automate their support and remain personal as they scale.
There are several benefits of multi channel customer service The most important ones are- Multi channel support, especially on social media, is directly tied to customer engagement When people interact with a brand on these channels, they expect to see an empathetic friend, sharing updates, thoughts, and even experiences With an established online presence, a business owner opens up conversations about customer problems, the solutions you offer, and the issues your existing customers may have
So brand awareness and multi channel customer service go hand-in-hand With an established online presence and subsequent brand awareness, people find it easier to connect with your brand on a human level and reach out with their problems This brings us to the second benefit: I’ll admit that I'm an Instagram addict I spend a couple of hours scrolling through it, and I can vouch that Instagram ads have single handedly halved my savings! Since I use this one platform, being able to find the stores that suit my preferences is a big win And I’m sure it’s the same for businesses who are able to reach their target audience through these platforms Opening up to multiple channels also allows you to tap into a new pool of potential customers
Convenience is one of the most apparent results of multichannel presence Customers find themselves spending their time online on various platforms To be able to use these platforms to communicate their concerns is a big check in terms of customer satisfaction
Multi channel support isn’t all roses Setting up a multi channel customer service comes with its own set of challenges
Multi channel support can be difficult to configure and even more difficult to keep pace with Even channel prioritization can be a little tricky A 2001 research study by Forrester showed that 62% of leaders think self-service is the most important channel of customer service There are two plain reasons for this-
However, most businesses fail to utilize this channel to their advantage Consider an eCommerce business that sells pet products- food, hygiene products, and accessories A website visitor is piqued by the slashed prices and contacts the store to see which food would be best for their dog, who is allergic to lamb
There’s no filter on the site, so they shoot a message on the chat, and the AI Bot replies “This pack is the best choice for dogs aged 6-10 months” It’s not the response you want to hear
The struggle with AI/chatbots that do not offer the answers customers want In other instances, there is an overwhelming number of FAQs leading you down a “link spiral” What’s worse? 20 tabs later you realize it doesn’t offer you the information you are looking for
In fact, research by BT in 2006 pointed out that more channels will increase the number of interactions a customer has with your customer service reps
Not only does this frustrate your customers, but it also leads to increased interactions If the aim was to find an efficient and cost-effective solution- multi-channel support ends up being neither
It also affects the business in the long run When a customer has a bad experience and ends up switching channels to get the point across- they either want to change businesses or look for your competitors If you have a more substantial presence and more loyal customers- your problem doesn’t end there either
When customers have a terrible experience with one channel, they tend to revert to their old or preferred ways of communication like the phone support This means all the time and money you’ve spent on utilizing other media are going to waste
Are you keeping toe-to-toe with your competitors, who can provide support on the other communication channels? Inefficient multichannel support harms your overall customer satisfaction and their perception of your brand
In this way, the value of your customer service is measured by the weakest link in the chain To strengthen your customer support, you need to streamline the channels and make sure that the quality of service (in terms of speed and effectiveness) is translated through all the communication channels
Omni channel customer service helps achieve just that:
Multichannel and omnichannel customer service are terms used very interchangeably However, there is a big difference between the two- Omnichannel customer service is a customer, experience-centric model It creates an umbrella for all customer communication channels like live chat, phone support, and social media platforms It is a cohesive model that helps unify all customer communication and streamline the customer experience
Omnichannel customer service strategy has an edge over multichannel because of the increased first call resolution With the right integration and complete customer context provided by omnichannel customer service, the agents can significantly reduce their handle time
It also empowers agents with more customer history and deeper context, allowing them to avoid redundancy and have meaningful interactions with customers It reduces their workload and helps them concentrate on revenue-generating opportunities, which impacts their performance as well as work satisfaction Having well-planned omnichannel customer service improves agent retention due to these reasons
Another benefit of omnichannel customer service is that it helps centralize data and acts as a CRM as well It allows you to better understand your customers and improve customer service through more targeted selling and data-driven offers Omnichannel support helps build a better customer profile
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