In today’s screen-centric society, where devices are becoming increasingly complex, having all of the tools to connect with your customers is key. According to Gartner, “by 2020, the customer will manage 85% of the relationship with an enterprise without interacting with a human.” Your customers need to be able to reach you, regardless of whether they are on the go, sitting at their laptop, or sitting in an airport. The more conversations you can have with your customer, the better the relationship you can build, but you need to be able to cater to their lifestyle, and put a personality to a name and number. And it all starts by syncing your database management solution or CRM, which house limitless amounts of customer information, with your communication channels. Check-out the following benefits:
1. Gaining a true 360 degree view of the customer. Gone are the days where customers are simply a name and a phone number. By giving customers the option to connect with you on multiple channels, you are collecting more data to complete that customer profile. Do they prefer to use chat? What social media posts do they respond to? Do they pick up the phone when you call them, or respond to your emails more? By pooling all of the interactions that a particular customer has with your company in one place, it allows you to determine customer’s buying habits, preferred channels, or even online presence. Simply: the more you know about them, the easier it is to determine what they want and what they need.
2. Increased Accessibility. Customers' number one complaint about customer service is lack of availability of agents. Whether that is long hold times on the phone, or simply not being able to reach someone at all, businesses that take advantage of multichannel CRMs are enabling customers to not only reach their reps more quickly, but in a number of different ways. 44% of online consumers say that having questions answered by a live person while in the middle of an online purchase is one of the most important features a website can offer. Having the ability to talk directly to an agent via chat will increase the likelihood not only of the user having a positive experience, but will most likely close the sale.
3. Let your agents respond in real-time. Imagine a frustrated customer talking to an agent on the phone hangs up because they are repeatedly put on hold then tweets about their experience and unresolved issue. Without the ability to see this or respond, that negative review is not only out there for the public to see, but that customer has most likely moved on from your brand.
4. Providing consistent service across all channels. If your marketing department is running social media, your call center handling calls, and another division monitoring chat, chances are your customer information is jumbled, and the messaging and customer service inconsistent. According to Forrester, 43% of customer service teams struggle to support customers’ multi-channel journeys. By integrating your CRM with multichannel, you are opening up the ability to route calls to the right department, to get your clients the service they need faster. Your customer service team will be able to help your clients more efficiently, and your sales team will be able to create more targeted leads based off meaningful data which has been gathered. Instead of stagnant, flat records, this integration can provide you with a multi-dimensional view of the customer in real-time, and building a more meaningful relationship easier with each interaction.
