Contacting Customers Across Channels

When customers need help, they turn to customer service, but how exactly do they reach out? Everyone has their own preferred method, whether it’s through social media, e-mail or the phone, and it’s up to the company to ensure that customers can use the channel they want.

Social media has been becoming more and more popular for customers, so organizations are jumping on it. However, it’s mostly been used for advertising and marketing, while customers may prefer to use social media to contact a company and deal with concerns, issues, or questions. In this instance, it’s best to have someone from customer service on the other end of the computer, rather than marketing.

Of course, there are always the more traditional forms of customer service. E-mail and contact forms make sure that the message reaches the contact center, although it is less helpful for conversations, and is more used for simple questions with simple answers.

Calling contact centers is helpful for customers, as long as they call at a time when the contact centers are open and agents are available. Otherwise it’s a lot of hold music and reminders that “your call is important to us,” which can tire on their nerves.

In the end, though, what matters is the customer’s choice, so the company should be there no matter what channel they use. If a customer posts on a Facebook (News - Alert) page, there should be someone monitoring it to provide feedback, and that applies to any other social network. Just because a company doesn’t use a site doesn’t mean its customers won’t use it.

There are also helpful solutions that businesses can use, such as NICE Systems’ multichannel solutions. Its Voice of the Customer (VoC) solution collects and analyzes data across all interaction channels, as well as historical data providing quick and effective responses to the customers needs. It also has Interaction Analytics, which provides cross-channel analytics to keep a close eye on customer interactions from whichever channel they choose to use.

One thing businesses can never control is the customer, so it’s important that they provide the customers with the support and assistance they need. That means keeping an eye on any and all channels, so a customer’s concerns or questions can be dealt with no matter how they raise them. NICE Systems (News - Alert) provides some effective ways to do that, but what matters most of all is that the company pays attention to its customer’s needs.

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