The term multichannel is everywhere. Luckily, it’s pretty much self-explanatory: More than one, or multiple, channels.
But what’s interesting is how many ways multichannel describes business functions that are responding to customer demands.
- There’s multichannel retailing, choices in how customers buy from you—in-store, online, by phone, by mail, through comparison shopping sites and others.
- There’s multi-channel marketing to extend your reach and frequency by connecting with customers through everything from email to social to banner ads and scripting. Now there are applications which integrate channel messaging, offers and tracking into one system.
- And there’s multichannel customer service, or providing support through different channels that range from phone and email to chat, text and video.
Multichannel strategies and tools have migrated from the big guys to Main Street businesses. Being multichannel is now more cost-effective, more affordable and accessible to small and mid-sized businesses. But that’s not the key driver: Plain and simple, it’s the customer. With the still-growing proliferation of mobile devices, customers aren’t just asking for multiple service channels. They’re demanding them. They want to access, interact with and purchase from you whenever and wherever they want. And that means all through all channels, current and future.
Isn’t that kind of a tall order for most small businesses? Yes, but—in a competitive arena that’s tightening all the time, how can you not respond? And here’s another thing: Customers used to have different standards for big companies and small ones, owing, probably, to the disparity in resources—people, technology, budgets. But somewhere along the way, they became unwilling to cut any business any slack. Now consumers hold all companies with whom they do business to high standards, regardless of size or industry. And they’re impatient. When they’re dissatisfied, they walk.
If that isn’t reason enough to be getting your multichannel ducks in a row, consider this: With growing product and pricing parity, many believe there’s only one way left for most businesses to differentiate themselves and build loyalty with their customers: The customer experience they provide. And that’s where multi-channel comes in.
So if you’ve been thinking that offering voice and email contact options is good, it’s time to re-think. Because when there’s multichannel shopping, Yahoo Small Business points out, multichannel service can’t be left out. The two are really just different sides of the same equation. And it’s not enough to offer the choices. You must be able to deliver an exceptional experience to every customer, every time. Seamless. Consistent. Efficient. Effective.
In fact, Yahoo says, businesses need to go a step further to avoid experiences that are disjointed and unsatisfying to customers. This means thinking in terms of a single customer view that crosses over all channels and organizes communication around individual customers. It’s merging all your channels together into one fluid and effortless conversation.
Multichannel integration is indeed the next step for customer service, according to an article appearing on searchcrm.com. The article describes CEM (customer experience management) applications that can monitor multiple channels, analyze actions and deliver details about every contact to the right service rep at the right time. It’s not simple by any means, as it requires structured and unstructured data from a variety of sources, not to mention new customer service skills.
So what’s a small business to do? Baby steps, baby. Take comfort (sort of) in the fact that in a recent survey, more than 95 percent of respondents from a variety of business sectors called their company’s multichannel strategy OK or poor. Yikes! So while everybody’s talking multichannel, everybody’s also got their work cut out from them. When you have a minute, kick back with this guide to multichannel customer support from zendesk.com. That and a glass of wine will help you focus your thoughts and formulate your strategy for moving forward in a multichannel way.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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