Customer Experience 
| Omnichannel Customer Support Definition: Omnichannel customer support means providing a seamless and connected customer experience across all communication channels, like phone, email, live chat, and social media. It allows customers to connect with your support teams through their preferred channels, creating a convenient customer experience. |
When customers have endless choices, how can your brand stand out from competitors? Omnichannel customer support is the key.
Providing seamless, consistent experiences — especially when your customer switches between phone, email, social media, or live chat — will create loyal customers and brand champions who spread the good word about your business.
Our guide to omnichannel customer support breaks down the benefits, challenges, and the right tools you need to create a successful strategy to help your business build lifelong relationships with your customers.
Benefits of Omnichannel Customer Service
Omnichannel customer support offers various advantages. From happy customers to higher sales, implementing omnichannel communication into your contact center is a recipe for success.
Helps provide more personalized experiences
Customers expect personalized support with each interaction, making that a customer service standard. By unifying customer data across channels, you gain a 360-degree view of their needs and preferences. This valuable information allows you to tailor interactions, provide personalized product recommendations, and build lasting customer relationships.
Improves customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention
When customers need support, they don’t want the added challenge of connecting with your customer service team. A convenient, effortless omnichannel customer support experience allows customers to reach support agents quickly and easily on their preferred channel. This improves customer retention, satisfaction, and loyalty, increasing their chances of sticking with your brand over competitors.
Increases sales and conversions
Seamless omnichannel customer support removes friction from the customer journey. For example, when a customer browsing your website has a question, making it easy for them to switch to live chat for a quick answer can remove the roadblock hindering the purchase. Easy omnichannel communication across customer touchpoints makes the experience smooth, boosting conversions.
Enables better insights into customer behaviors
Tracking interactions and gathering customer data across all channels allows you to uncover valuable insights about customer behaviors and preferences. You can see which channels they prefer, what pain paints or issues they commonly face, and how long they typically wait for support. This creates a data-driven decision-making process that helps you continuously improve your customer service strategy.
Ensures fast, convenient support where customers already are
Customers want support wherever they are, making omnichannel customer support a necessity. They might start their research on social media channels, like Instagram or Facebook, then switch to live chat for a quick question or place a call for more complex issues. An omnichannel approach to customer support ensures that your support team is there at every touchpoint.
Omnichannel Support vs. Multichannel Support
Both omnichannel and multichannel contact centers offer customers multiple ways to get help. The key differences lie in how these channels work together.
Multichannel support provides a variety of channel options, like phone, email, or social media, but the data can be siloed. There’s no guarantee of consistency between channels, and agents might not have the full context of past interactions.
With omnichannel support, all channels work together seamlessly, and customer history and preferences are accessible no matter which channels the customer switches to during the conversation. This creates a more personalized experience and allows agents to provide faster, more effective support.
Omnichannel vs. Multichannel
| Omnichannel Support | Multichannel Support |
|---|---|
| Channels are interconnected, allowing a seamless transition between channels during a conversation Unified view of customer data Focuses on creating consistent and personalized experiences | Channels operate independently Customer data gets siloed in each channel Customer experience varies depending on the channel |
The Challenges of Omnichannel Customer Support (and How to Solve Them)
While omnichannel support offers a plethora of benefits, implementing it smoothly requires overcoming a few hurdles.
Providing consistent experiences across channels
Customers switching between channels expect consistent service and access to their history. The challenge lies in ensuring all agents, regardless of channel, have the information and training to deliver a unified customer experience.
| 💲 Invest in an omnichannel ticketing system like Nextiva that provides a complete view of customer interactions. Standardize service procedures and offer comprehensive training for agents across all channels. |
Breaking down data silos across departments
Without the right CRM or customer experience software, customer data can be trapped in silos making collaboration between departments — like sales and support — difficult. Fragmented data between systems makes it difficult to personalize interactions and understand the complete customer journey.
| 📊 Implement Nextiva’s centralized customer data platform (CDP) that unifies data from all departments. This allows for a holistic view of the customer, facilitates targeted support based on their needs, and enhances collaboration between departments. |
Ensuring seamless handoffs between teams
A seamless handoff is crucial when a customer’s issue needs to be escalated to a manager, transferred to the right department, or from an AI agent to a human agent. Without proper handoffs, information can get lost, increasing customer frustrations.
| 🤝 Nextiva’s omnichannel call center software allows for seamless handoffs between AI agents and human agents. Our software allows agents to easily share customer context and history during transfers, ensuring a smooth transition. |
Omnichannel Customer Support Tools
Providing your team with the right tools is crucial for successful omnichannel support experiences. Here are some key tools to consider in your omnichannel contact center.
AI and automation
AI chatbots and intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs) can provide 24/7 support, answer common questions, troubleshoot issues, and personalize product recommendations. This frees up agents for complex inquiries while offering customers self-service options, which can reduce wait times and improve overall satisfaction.
Live chat and messaging
Live chat and messaging platforms allow for real-time conversations directly on your website or social media. Customers get immediate assistance from human or conversational AI agents, creating positive customer experiences.
Omnichannel contact center software
The right customer service contact center consolidates customer interactions from all channels — like phone, email, live chat, or social media — into a single workspace. Agents can access customer history, manage tickets efficiently, and collaborate seamlessly across teams, leading to faster resolutions and improved agent productivity.
Reporting and analytics
Advanced reporting tools provide valuable insights into customer behavior and support performance. By tracking metrics like resolution rates and customer satisfaction across channels, businesses can identify areas for improvement and optimize their omnichannel strategy, ensuring they’re meeting customer needs and maximizing the return on their investment.
Omnichannel Support Examples and Use Cases
Businesses across industries can enhance customer experiences and internal operations using omnichannel communication solutions. For example, the Florida Panthers, an NHL team, upgraded to Nextiva’s platform to engage fans across various channels and improve internal workflows, overcoming the limitations of their old system.
Believe, Ltd. needed an omnichannel customer support platform that could unify communications across their four global brands. Their legacy customer support system couldn’t meet their business needs, causing delays, manual ticket processing, and providing inaccurate data.
Switching to Nextiva’s platform streamlined their operations by consolidating over 50 support channels into one central dashboard, automating responses, and prioritizing complex requests. This improved productivity, enabled 24/7 support, and allowed the team to focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences.
Best Practices to Maximize Your Omnichannel Customer Support Strategy
Implementing a successful omnichannel customer support strategy can be easier than you think. Here are some best practices to get you started:
Target one business use case at a time
Consider starting with a specific area where omnichannel support can have the biggest impact. This could be a high-volume channel like social media customer support or an internal department like your IT help desk. By focusing on a single use case, you can streamline the implementation process, gather valuable learnings, and demonstrate the benefits of omnichannel support within your organization.
Use omnichannel support software
Investing in the right software is crucial. Omnichannel contact center platforms consolidate customer interactions across all channels into a single workspace. This empowers agents with a complete view of customer history, simplifies ticket management, and facilitates seamless collaboration across teams. This translates to faster resolutions for customers and increased agent productivity.
Collect and implement customer feedback
Your customers are the ultimate source of insight. Regularly gather feedback through surveys or polls to understand their preferred channels, satisfaction levels, and areas for improvement. Actively listen to their input and use it to refine your omnichannel strategy. Demonstrating that you value customer feedback fosters trust and loyalty.
Prioritize the right channels
Not all channels are created equal. Identify which channels your customers use most frequently and tailor your strategy accordingly. Analyze the types of inquiries received through each channel and allocate resources accordingly.
For example, live chat might be ideal for real-time troubleshooting, while email could be better suited for detailed explanations or complex issues. By prioritizing the right channels, you ensure that you’re present where your customers need you most.
Consolidate Support Channels With Nextiva
Customers expect a seamless and connected experience across all touchpoints. By implementing an omnichannel customer support strategy, you can empower your agents, improve customer satisfaction, and boost your bottom line.
Nextiva’s AI-powered contact center solutions can help you consolidate your support channels, gain valuable insights, and personalize the customer journey. Let Nextiva help you unlock the full potential of omnichannel customer support today.
Chat with customers anywhere, anytime.
A true end-to-end omnichannel platform for sales and customer service.
Omnichannel Customer Support FAQs
If you want to dive deeper into the world of omnichannel support, look no further. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions.
Omnichannel support encompasses various channels where customers can reach you, such as email, live chat on your website, social media messaging platforms, SMS text messaging, and even self-service options like knowledge bases and FAQs.
The four C’s of omnichannel customer support serve as a guiding principle for a successful strategy and they are:
Context: Understanding the customer’s situation and past interactions across all channels.
Channel: Providing a seamless and consistent experience across all touchpoints.
Content: Delivering the right information at the right time through the right channel.
Continuity: Ensuring a smooth flow of communication regardless of channel transitions.
Several companies have mastered the art of omnichannel customer experiences. Here are a few examples:
Nextiva: Trusted by businesses of all sizes and industries, including billion-dollar sports franchises like the San Antonio Spurs and Florida Panthers. Nextiva’s omnichannel support software makes providing exceptional customer support across channels easy.
Zappos: The gold standard for stellar customer service experiences, Zappos provides proactive customer support and empowers agents to handle inquiries across all channels, offering personalized and flexible support.
