47% of UK customers use 5 types of communication channels, making multichannel support essential. Multichannel support enables teams to assist across several channels. Including social media platforms, text messaging, and live chat. As well as keeping more traditional support channels, such as email and phone, open.
Help Desk Software provides the tools to deliver a seamless multichannel experience. Enabling customers to create tickets using their preferred choice of communication. Resulting in greater customer satisfaction levels and higher customer retention rates.
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Why Multichannel Support is Essential
Multichannel functions allow you to provide customer support across more than two channels. Enabling customers to contact support agents on a channel they’re most comfortable with. Whether that be social media, email, live chat, or text message.
Multichannel support not only benefits customers but businesses too. By providing support on multiple platforms, businesses can increase their brand presence. This hasn’t gone unnoticed, with 73% of marketers having a multichannel strategy in place. Other benefits of multichannel support include:
Faster Ticket Resolve Time
Help Desk Software provides a shared dashboard for tickets. Here, customer requests are tracked, categorised, and assigned. Alerting agents as soon as a ticket is created. This enables agents to deliver quick answers and achieve faster resolution times. With many channels bringing down the initial first-time response to just 60 seconds. As opposed to a manual process where emails and phone calls can go unanswered. Keep in mind that customers also expect a quick response to enquiries. With 42% demanding an answer on social media channels within 60 minutes.
Consistent Multichannel Customer Experience
Providing good customer support across all communication channels is key. By operating through various platforms, you’re able to give flexibility to customers. Not only does it reassure them of resolve, but it also displays consistency. As well as ensuring the customer has a good experience.
Provide Omnichannel Support
Multichannel support opens the door to providing a seamless omnichannel experience. Meaning customer’s don’t have to repeat their requests more than once. With help desk tools, support teams have access to all data regarding a customer’s request. This provides a consistent customer support experience across all points of contact. Allowing agents to share data and quickly find a fix to problems.
Greater Multichannel Team Collaboration
A help desk tool allows support teams to share customer and support data in one place. This allows agents to share their knowledge and help resolve tickets faster. With automatic ticket categorizing, tickets can be assigned to your best agents. Increasing the likelihood of resolving a ticket and improving customer satisfaction levels.
Deploying Ticket Creation Across all Channels
Multichannel support enables customers to raise issues across multiple communication channels. When doing so, each request is generated in a shared dashboard and converted into a ticket. Tickets are then categorised, prioritised, tracked, and assigned. Until the original request is solved and the ticket is closed.
The process of ticket automation is the same for all channels. Prompting consistency and greater collaboration among support teams. Customers expect businesses to have a presence on most modern-day channels. With 51% of companies using at least 8 channels to provide support. Today’s primary channels include:
Although channels have expanded, email remains a popular digital support channel. In 2018, 54% of customers used email for customer service tasks.
Phone
Phone support is a channel for customers who need to be walked through scenarios. But, as more platforms appear, the importance of phone support declines. With 59% of customers actively avoiding communicating with businesses via phone.
Social Media Messaging
Penetrating 67% of the UK population, social media is key for multichannel support. It has enabled customers to easily and quickly interact with businesses. Using platforms such as Facebook Messenger, Twitter DM, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
Live Chat
Today’s most popular support channel is live chat. With 77% of website visitors choosing to leave if a live chat option isn’t provided. Customers favour live chat because they have a direct link to a support agent. Meaning their requests can be answered quickly.
Source: Mobileappdaily
Improve Customer Satisfaction with Multichannel Strategies
Having a multichannel support strategy in place can improve customer satisfaction levels. As well as achieving greater customer retention rates. It costs businesses up to 5 times more to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones. Customer retention is also key for improving a company’s overall bottom line. Profits can increase between 25% and 95% with an increased retention rate of just 5%.
Today’s customers expect businesses to have a support process that provides:
- Quicker response times
- Greater first-time fix rates
- A consistent support experience
- Preferred communication channels
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Connect with Customers on Social Media
With over 3 billion users on social media, your business must have a social presence. This provides further support options for your customer base. As well as increasing brand loyalty. Multichannel support tools enable tickets to be generated from all social media channels. Including:
Source: Sprout Social 2019 Index, Edition XV: Empower&Elevate/Synerise
There are several reasons why customers prefer to get support via social media. One is the ability to have direct contact with a business and get an instant response. Something that can be accelerated with the use of AI Chatbots. Allowing you to provide 24/7 support with the help of self-service resources.