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Read Time: 9.5 minutes

Introduction

There’s an oft-repeated phrase: “Knowledge is power.” While it might seem cliche, this statement is particularly true in an ever-changing marketplace where customers’ expectations rapidly shift. As consumers demand more timely and personalized service across channels, you want to ensure your call center agents are empowered with relevant information and the right technology to meet these demands.

In this article, we’ll explore what a call center knowledge management system (KMS) is and how it can bridge the gaps between your agents, information storage, and customer service. Read on for a blueprint for building and maintaining a successful knowledge base

Key takeaways

• Why? As self-service systems get smarter, your agents are left to manage more complex customer issues.
• What? A call center knowledge management system offers a platform for agents to seamlessly access relevant content to efficiently resolve customers’ queries.
• How? To build and maintain a successful knowledge base for your call center, you’ll want to curate high-quality content and present it in an intuitive interface.

What is a knowledge management system?

A call center knowledge management system is a centralized repository of critical information. It consolidates information on your standard operating procedures, troubleshooting guides, and logistics.

Typically, a KMS is built with call center management in mind. That means it includes:

• Onboarding and training guides for new agents
• A search function
• Troubleshooting guides
• Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
• User manuals
• Step-by-step guides

Advanced call center knowledge management tools go beyond mere repositories. Their functionalities extend to dynamic knowledge creation and application, making them instrumental intelligence tools for delivering a consistent customer experience across all touchpoints.

In an era of empowered customers, contact center knowledge management enables agents to seamlessly access relevant content to quickly resolve customers’ issues. In other words, a KMS reinforces the general call center’s mantra of delivering timely and efficient customer support.

Importance of knowledge management in call centers

A call center isn’t just about answering phones. It’s the front line of your business. For example, 76% of customers will make a special effort to do business with you if you offer excellent customer service. Eighty-six percent will switch brands if you deliver a superior customer service experience.

Yet customer-facing agents still deal with various daily stressors — questions they can’t answer off the tops of their heads, angry customers, and floods of calls — any of which can compromise their service delivery if not appropriately handled. A robust knowledge management strategy can alleviate these challenges and help your company deliver a better customer experience.

Enhancing customer satisfaction

Ninety-two percent of customers expect a quick response to their queries. They are irritated by long wait times, situations in which they have to repeat themselves, and any difficulty they face in reaching customer support. A KMS reduces the time agents spend searching for information to address customers’ questions, resulting in shorter handle times.

As a centralized information hub, a KMS offers a single reference point to reduce redundancy and minimize confusion. Agents stay up to date with the most accurate information, which translates to improved customer interactions.

Reducing agent training time

Customer service agents undergo constant training cycles to meet ever-increasing customer expectations. A KMS can help your business reduce its agent training time by centralizing training materials, resources, and guides. Instead of relying on prolonged training sessions or senior colleagues, a KMS facilitates:

• Self-guided learning with pre-organized modules, FAQs, and troubleshooting steps
• Just-in-time learning during live interactions as agents access real-time data to reinforce their knowledge
• Reduced shadow dependence — new hires can navigate the KMS for solutions instead of heavily depending on senior agents

Ensuring consistent information flow

A well-integrated call center knowledge management tool unifies customer communications across channels to provide a consistent experience. With a centralized information hub, all your agents, customers, and automated systems access the same data to reduce the risk of conflicting information. 

If any information changes — due to product updates or policy modifications — the KMS facilitates instant updates across all channels to maintain accuracy.

4 key features of an effective call center KMS

An effective knowledge management system has a range of features that improve collaboration, usability, and accessibility. Here are the primary features to seek out.

1. Advanced search capabilities

Advanced search capabilities are the heart of an effective call center KMS. They allow users to quickly locate the most relevant content with minimal effort. 

The search function uses a sophisticated algorithm to present the most relevant results, enabling faster, more informed resolutions. Most search functions also have smart filters that sort results using tags, categories, and keywords to refine the results quickly.

2. Integration with your CRM and other tools

Seamless integration with your existing technology is a key feature of an effective KMS. Linking your KMS with your customer relationship management (CRM) system ensures that knowledge flows freely, avoiding data silos and enhancing your overall efficiency. 

This integration creates a cohesive ecosystem to support collaboration and streamline your workflows.

3. Categorization and tagging

Categorization and tagging make it easier for agents to find and use your resources, leading to faster issue resolutions and lower handle times. Tagging and categorization also enhance your search functionality by narrowing the results, further enhancing the user experience.

4. User feedback for continuous improvement

Every call center strives for perfection. In reality, though, there’s always room for improvement. 

A knowledge management system with analytical tools can capture agents’ and customers’ feedback through clicks, ratings, likes, and comments to shed light on areas that need improvement. 

You can use the gathered insights to update your KMS and keep it relevant over time.

7 customer service KPIs that a call center KMS can improve

Ninety-five percent of customers say customer service impacts their brand loyalty. With KMS application programming interface (API) integrations, your organization can get insights into customer interactions and make informed decisions.

Here are some KPIs an effective call center KMS can improve.

1. Abandon rate

Call abandon rates reflect the number of customers who hang up the phone while on hold to talk to an agent. With the right KMS, you can deflect simple queries to a self-service platform and escalate the complex ones to a human assistant, relieving the pressure on your agents. 

When interacting with customers, your agents can quickly retrieve information in your knowledge base to reduce customer wait times and the likelihood of call abandonment.

2. Average handle time

A call center knowledge management system puts relevant information at your agents’ fingertips. They can quickly find correct answers to customers’ questions to decrease their average handle time and improve their resolution quality.

3. First-call resolution rate

Another critical metric you can improve with a KMS is your first-call resolution rate. Since a KMS empowers agents with accurate and comprehensive information, they can resolve more customers’ issues in a single call. 

Such capabilities reduce the need for follow-ups, saving time and enhancing the customer experience.

4. Agent errors

A contact center employee handles many daily interactions, each with intricacies. While you might try to cover nearly everything a customer can possibly ask in your training program, it’s nearly impossible for your agents to remember everything. 

With a KMS, agents can access clear, up-to-date, and reliable information, minimizing mistakes caused by incorrect or outdated information.

5. Customer experience

With heightened competition, simply meeting expectations no longer cuts it. Instead, the market demands that you go the extra mile to retain customers and attract new ones. 

A knowledge management system allows you to upgrade your call center management with smooth, informed interactions to deliver a seamless customer journey. The enhanced information accessibility and usability help agents meet predefined standards, which has a ripple effect on the customer experience.

6. Customer satisfaction

Happy customers often lead to repeat business. If you adopt an AI-powered KMS in your call center, you can analyze customer patterns to predict their requirements and identify gaps in your existing approach. These insights can help improve your customer satisfaction and boost your brand loyalty.

7. Service levels

In contact centers, agents handle various queries across complex processes. Quick access to relevant data ensures consistency, efficiency, and accuracy, which helps you maintain and exceed your service standards.

Building and maintaining a successful knowledge base

Merely adopting a call center knowledge management tool isn’t enough to improve your customer service. You need to build a strong knowledge management framework to form the foundation of your call center’s operations.

Content creation and curation

In a world of information overload, quality always outshines quantity. You’ll need well-written, relevant, and regularly updated content to get the most out of your KMS. That means understanding what your end users need most, curating the right resources, and prioritizing them accordingly. 

Solicit:

• The questions customers and agents frequently ask
• The information senior agents hold
• The daily responsibilities your agents undertake
• The policies agents need to abide by

Create content based on your findings. Then, regularly audit your existing information for relevance and accuracy to ensure your call center knowledge management base evolves with your needs.

User-friendly design for easy accessibility

Once you have the right content, organize your knowledge base in a structured format for intuitive navigation and ease of use. 

Classify your content into clear categories and subcategories. Add a search function with filters and predictive suggestions for easy access. You can also include screenshots and videos to make the guide more comprehensible. 

Adopting an intuitive design encourages agents and customers to use your knowledge base.

Monitoring and updating

An ideal knowledge base is always dynamic because there will always be areas for improvement. Collect feedback on the usefulness of your content. You can also deploy customer analytics tools to identify any gaps. Use the insights to refine your content. 

In case of a new product, service, or policy, roll out a process for timely updates to keep your knowledge base aligned with customers’ needs and the company’s objectives.

Benefits of outsourcing knowledge management for call centers

While a well-managed knowledge base is a lifeline for any call center striving to deliver exceptional customer service, building and maintaining a call center knowledge management system can be quite a lot of work. Outsourcing this task to an external provider like Global Response lets you tap into years of experience and focus on your core operations while ensuring your KMS is robust.

Here are some of the biggest benefits you can take advantage of.

Cost reduction

Outsourcing your knowledge base management will help your business save on operational and staffing costs without compromising on quality. You won’t spend on hiring, training, and retaining an entire staff to manage your knowledge base. Instead, you’ll tap into a global talent pool at a relatively lower cost.

Expertise

Outsourced partners specialize in knowledge management. You’ll access expertise that ensures your knowledge base is well-structured, accurate, and aligned with your customer service goals.

Scalability and flexibility

As your call center grows and faces new demands, outsourcing allows you to quickly scale your knowledge management efforts. Your partner can adapt to your needs, ensuring your knowledge base seamlessly evolves with your business.

Partnering with Global Response for knowledge management ensures your business stays agile and customer-focused while reaping these advantages. Focus on delivering exceptional service while we handle the complexities.

Read Time: 12 minutes

Introduction

Looking to understand and use contact center analytics to boost efficiency and build customer loyalty? You’re in luck! In this article, we’ll explore what contact center analytics are and cover some of the best practices for using contact center analytics to improve business performance and strengthen customer relationships.

Key takeaways

• Understanding contact center analytics: Contact center analytics collect consumer data to help you review customer interactions and make informed business decisions.
• Benefits for business: Tracking analytics can increase customer satisfaction, employee performance, and business efficiency. 
• Types of analytics: Performance metrics are measured using different approaches, including descriptive, predictive, prescriptive, interaction, speech and text, self-service, and cross-channel analytics. 
• Best practices: Anticipate future customer demands by focusing on the most critical metrics, using consumer data responsibility, and leveraging real-time and historical data. 
• Getting started: Define your goals and objectives to set up analytics tracking properly to view customer satisfaction and agent performance

What are contact center analytics?

Contact center analytics involve gathering and reviewing data from customer interactions to help make data-driven decisions that improve the customer experience. This data comes from multiple channels, including phone calls, email conversations, and chat sessions. It’s used to track valuable KPIs, including: 

• First-call resolution (FCR): Measures how many issues agents can resolve during the first call, usually expressed as a percentage. 

• Average handle time (AHT): Tracks how long an agent takes to complete a customer service interaction. 

• Call abandonment rate: Expresses the percentage of calls customers hang up on before speaking with an agent.

• Customer satisfaction (CSAT): Evaluates customer satisfaction through post-interaction surveys, asking them to rate their experience on a scale. 

• Net promoter score (NPS): Guages customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to return and recommend your services to a friend on a scale from 1-10. 
• Customer effort score (CES): Rates how easily agents could resolve customer concerns. 

These are just a few metrics to measure contact center performance

The critical role of contact center analytics

Now that we’ve defined contact center analytics, let’s discuss why analytics tracking is so essential. Contact center data analytics are central to improving business performance and customer satisfaction. By analyzing customer data, you can discover insights into how call agents interact with customers and identify opportunities for operational efficiency. 

Tracking first-call resolution (FCR) and other metrics, for example, help you pinpoint where agents excel and where they can improve. Additionally, using contact center reporting and analytics allows you to stay ahead of the curve and reduce churn by predicting future customer behavior.

Types of contact center analytics you need to know

With a clear understanding of the importance of contact center business intelligence, let’s take a closer look at the seven types of contact center analytics that can transfer your customer support strategy.

Descriptive analytics

Descriptive analytics focus on using past data to look for patterns and trends. This is useful for call centers to understand customer needs and make informed decisions.

Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics use historical data to predict future call volume and identify problems before they arise. Knowing these trends can help you plan how to assist customers in the future.

Prescriptive analytics

Prescriptive analytics use descriptive data to give specific recommendations on actions to take, allowing you to adjust strategies in real time.

Interaction analytics

Interaction analytics evaluate all customer-agent interactions to identify patterns, quality of service, and the need for more training. 

Speech analytics and text analytics

Speech and text analytics review verbal and written customer interactions via phone, email, and social media to understand common customer queries and trends.

Self-service analytics

Self-service analytics measure how customers use automated tools like chatbots, interactive voice response (IVR), or frequently asked questions (FAQs) to help improve these self-serve options when agents are unavailable.

Customer journey or cross-channel analytics

Cross-channel analytics track the customer journey across multiple communication channels to uncover the most effective ones to use.

Advantages of using contact center analytics

While we’ve briefly discussed a few advantages of contact center analytics, let’s dive deeper into the three key benefits of using contact center analytics.

Improved customer satisfaction

When it comes to improving customer satisfaction, personalization matters. Based on data from McKinsey, 71% of consumers want personalized experiences in their company interactions. With real-time analytics, call agents can tailor their responses by gathering consumer data across multiple channels and anticipating customer needs before they arise, all while reducing wait times.

Increased operational efficiency

Contact center analytics can drive operational efficiency using data-driven insights. With these insights, you can track how many calls are being resolved and how much time an agent spends with each customer. These metrics allow you to anticipate staffing needs, make informed decisions, and look for opportunities to cut costs.

Enhanced employee performance

Contact center data analytics allow you to monitor calls, chats, and emails shared between call agents and customers. With specific metrics in place, you can see if agents are hitting their goals and pinpoint where they might need additional training.

Mastering contact center analytics: best tips for success

Becoming a master of anything takes time, and mastering contact center analytics is no different. Here are a few tips to increase your chances of success.

Focus on the most impactful metrics

Instead of monitoring every metric, focus on tracking analytics relevant to your business goals and objectives. For example, if customer satisfaction is a top priority, use metrics like the net promoter score or first-call resolution. Narrowing down your focus allows you to make effective data decisions without overwhelming employees.

Combine real-time and historical data

Real-time data provides insights into how many agents are available and how many customers are in the phone queue, allowing contact centers to take calls in an orderly manner. 

Historical data, on the other hand, keeps track of trends, patterns, and recurring customer pain points. Using the two together, you can adjust staffing needs and workflows to ensure customers are being cared for.

Leverage predictive and prescriptive analytics for better forecasting

Predictive and prescriptive analytics make it easier to stay ahead of customer needs by forecasting future trends and offering actionable recommendations to make any necessary adjustments.

Prioritize data privacy and compliance

Handle customer data safely and responsibly by encrypting sensitive data and collecting information with explicit consent, like Europe’s general data protection regulation (GDPR)

Strategies for tracking performance with contact center analytics

So, you know what contact analytics are and their importance, but what about monitoring them? Here are the steps you need to take to track contact analytics to improve your business performance effectively.

1. Select the right tool

Before searching for the right tool to track call center data analytics, reflect on your goals and objectives. Once you’ve defined your goals, list the desired features and functions you’d like to have in an analytics tool. For example, if you want to track the customer journey across multiple channels, find a contact center analytics software that uses omnichannel tracking. You might also want to consider if the tool integrates with your customer management system.

2. Define performance benchmarks

Measure your call center goals and objectives by setting a few performance benchmarks for agents to focus on, such as first-call resolution, call transfer rate, and average abandonment rate. Having these benchmarks set proactively will clarify expectations between agents and customers.

3. Set up tracking

Now that you’ve selected the right tool and set specific performance benchmarks, it’s time to track analytics. Start by enabling call recording with a pre-recorded message letting customers know their conversation is being recorded. This will allow you to gather all the data you set up to track and view on an analytics dashboard.

4. Analyze agent performance

With call monitoring and tracking in place, you can view whether agents are hitting their goals. You can also use speech analytics to learn the tone and phrases agents use with customers. Accessing this feedback allows opportunities for coaching and retraining.

5. Evaluate and refine

Monitor analytics and feedback as often as possible to improve business performance and customer satisfaction. For example, you can adjust KPIs to track new customer data that meets your goals and objectives

By following these five strategies, you can set your agents and customers up for success. 

Contact Global Response to see how we can support your call center goals.

Read Time: 17 minutes

Introduction

What is scalability? How does outsourcing affect your business operations and success? This article explains how call center outsourcing helps companies scale operations to ease workloads and strengthen bottom lines.

Key takeaways

• Scalability is essential for business growth: Scalability allows businesses to adapt to market fluctuations, managing resource allocation to maintain customer service quality during growth or slow periods. Outsourcing is a key strategy for scaling operations without the need for constant internal staffing adjustments.
• Outsourcing call centers improves cost-efficiency and flexibility: External providers offer access to skilled talent and technology, allowing businesses to scale up or down quickly based on demand, especially during seasonal fluctuations.
• Call center services enhance customer experience: Outsourced services like inbound, outbound, and omnichannel support help businesses improve customer engagement by offering responsive and seamless communication across various platforms. This strengthens brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.
• Strategic considerations for successful outsourcing: Businesses need to carefully evaluate outsourcing partners based on industry expertise, data security measures, and technology compatibility.

Why scalability is critical for modern businesses

Scalability is the ability of an organization to perform well under increasing or decreasing workloads according to seasonal demand or fluctuating markets. Developing a strong strategy for adapting to market growth keeps businesses successful, giving them the tools for retaining employees during slow times or hiring rapidly in preparation for busy periods.

Growing companies face common challenges when scaling their businesses — namely, resource allocation. With high operational costs, it can be tempting to neglect customer service. However, the resulting inefficiencies will inevitably impact customer satisfaction and engagement with the business.

What is call center outsourcing?

Call center outsourcing is when a company contracts labor outside of its business to handle customer service operations. This removes the need to staff internally by contracting agents who are already trained and experienced in customer experience. Certain agents may also have specific workforce training, ideal for businesses looking to urgently hire and minimize training time. Outsourced agents located in various parts of the world offer businesses of all sizes access to quality help at competitive rates.

Common roles managed by external providers include inbound customer service calls, outbound calling to contact potential leads, technical support, multi-channel sales support (such as text, email, phone, or social media), back-office support (such as sales, billing, and appointment setting), and multilingual support.

Call center services that drive scalability

Understanding the types of services that outsourced support can scale is the first step to integrating call center support. Prioritize these three basic services.

Inbound services

This encompasses the calls customers or suppliers make to a business. Inbound calls concern customer service issues, technical support requests, and order management questions. Once a business has set in place training processes for operations and processes, the outsourced contact center can hire according to the appropriate demands in inbound support.

Outbound services

Certain business strategies take a more active approach from the company. Agents dedicated to outbound services will make telemarketing calls, generate and follow up with leads, and develop strategies to improve customer retention. Reaching out to existing or lost contacts can prove significant measurable financial growth for the business.

Omnichannel support

Integrating seamless customer interactions across channels such as email, chat, phone, and social media can significantly improve relationships between a business and its customers. Automating simple responses eliminates excess calls and any accompanying call wait time frustration. Quick, reliable answers strengthen trust with the brand as it proves accessible and responsive to customer needs.

The role of call center outsourcing in business growth

Cost-efficiency for expanding businesses

As businesses grow, so do associated overhead costs. Hiring and training employees to keep up with increased workload requires the resources that even growing businesses may not have or want to spend when they could outsource. These experts are trained in managing large amounts of similar cases, reducing the need to build out complicated infrastructure.

Access to skilled talent and advanced technology

Outsourcing providers have access to large pools of various trained workforces, empowering these partners to rapidly hire agents that are relevant to a specific industry and experienced in meeting associated service level standards. 

Many outsourcing companies also provide integration of state-of-the-art technology without additional investments. This technology will track and monitor communication for constant accountability and improvement.

Flexibility to handle fluctuating call volumes

One of the biggest reasons companies outsource is to avoid building out internal teams they will have to let go after seasonal spikes in demand. By contrast, outsourced call centers manage these fluctuations by hiring workers for a specific period of time, maximizing the client’s demands and the workers’ schedules.

This help is often already trained, limiting onboarding time. Outsourced call center agents manage dynamic customer demands with comprehensive internal knowledge bases to help them efficiently find solutions.

An outsourcing provider can also help a business set up an interactive voice response (IVR) system to answer simple questions such as contact information or other specific requests.

What to consider when outsourcing your call center

Call center outsourcing is the best solution for many businesses, but as professionals shop for a partner, they should take into account these important factors:

• Vendor expertise in your industry. Can the provider show evidence of existing relationships with similar brands to yours? What results have their solutions brought previous partners, and can you expect similar results?
• Data security and compliance measures. Does the provider have experience with the expected certifications and regulations? How does their software secure data?
• Costs and return-on-investment (ROI) expectations. Thoroughly review pricing sheets along with budgets and take into account how successes in the contracted timeline will manifest in your bottom line.
• Compatibility with your company’s technology and processes. When deciding whether to use the provider’s technology or your own, consider how each can track, monitor, and improve performances. Should the new provider integrate with existing systems or implement their own? Keep an open mind, but judge according to your business priorities.

Challenges of call center outsourcing

As efficient as outsourcing is, it can present certain challenges that business owners should be aware of to plan for long-term success.

Developing a plan for scaling

Outsourcing work without a plan for fluctuations in the market will lead to over- or under-staffing, which leads to business and revenue losses. Instead, companies should develop a plan with their outsourced provider including current metrics and goals so they can align staff and workload strategies for maximum business growth.

Outsourcing the wrong services

Identifying the right services to outsource is critical for success. A business owner must know their processes and inefficiencies, as well as their audience’s demographics and needs, to appropriately hire targeted services that directly address these needs. This approach ensures the solutions provider turns challenges into successes, improving productivity and partnership satisfaction.

Data breaches

The outsourcing partnership requires trust and security. Allowing anyone access to a business and its customers’ confidential — often financial — information presents security risks, but this isn’t a reason not to outsource. It only highlights the need to be aware of data security risks and the need for secure outsourcing partners.

Professional partners will hire agents certified with the necessary certifications and come equipped with powerful technology that securely manages data.

Benefits of call center outsourcing for scaling companies

Streamlined focus on core business activities

When a business isn’t overwhelmed by following up on leads or stressed about unresolved customer issues, internal staff can focus on the strategies that make the business theirs: skills tailored to their expertise or to managing their products. Outsourced call center support allows businesses to focus on growth-oriented tasks like product development and marketing for constant business development.

Global reach and multilingual support

Businesses of all sizes can outsource customer support, especially as their audiences move or grow. As markets expand and customer demographics change, the demand for language- and culture-specific support increases. 

Companies can find nearshore and offshore outsourcing solutions at competitive prices, trainable to a company’s culture so they can match it with that of the customer. This specialized engagement improves customer satisfaction and establishes brand loyalty.

Key industries leveraging call center outsourcing for growth

eCommerce: Retail brands of all sizes and types are answering the question of “Why outsource contact center operations?” Agents specialized in the intricacies of order fulfillment and associated issues relieve their internal teams of these issues, allowing them to focus on the products and marketing.

Healthcare: As individual and community health needs grow and change, hospitals and healthcare providers require multilingual assistance for calls and appointment setting. Outsourced support provides translation services and vital administration support to meet those needs.

Utilities: Many city organizations must learn how to outsource contact center support as their communities grow. Increased payments means increased demand for technical support teams who can handle large amounts of personal information.

Small- and medium-sized businesses: Outsourcing isn’t just for large corporations. Independent businesses benefit from outsourcing as they utilize specialized agents or leverage call center support, eliminating the need to spend valuable resources of their own.

Global Response: Your partner in growth

Expertise in scalable call center solutions

Global Response is a leader in call center operations, with measurable success in more than nine industries. Global Response’s capabilities include inbound services, outbound services, omnichannel customer support services, technical customer support, customer acquisition and retention, staffing, and more.

Customizable services for any business size

Our expertise in scaling solutions to companies of all sizes according to their needs and business strategies is what sets Global Response apart as a solution dedicated to each partner’s success. Learn more about how our tailored solutions can empower businesses like yours to achieve remarkable results.

Read Time: 7 minutes

Introduction

Exceptional customer support addresses an audience’s needs, expectations, and problems, establishing a business as trustworthy and reliable. Meet your clients where they’re at, better than ever before with Voice of the Customer (VoC) technology. Read on to learn how to use VoC insights to forecast contact center demand.

Key takeaways

• VoC Data Utilization: Voice of the Customer (VoC) data captures valuable customer feedback across various channels, offering deeper insights into pain points and service gaps to enhance customer support strategies.
• Improving Customer Experience (CX): By regularly leveraging VoC insights, businesses can identify common customer issues, address them proactively, and create a better, more responsive customer experience that encourages loyalty.
• Predictive Analytics and Proactive Service: Analyzing VoC data historically allows businesses to forecast demand, predict trends, and ensure agents are prepared to handle customer inquiries during peak seasons, improving overall support efficiency.
• AI Integration and Sentiment Analysis: Integrating AI tools with VoC data enhances sentiment analysis, enabling businesses to track emotional tones and customer satisfaction levels in real-time for more informed decision-making and support strategies.

What is Voice of the Customer (VoC) data?

Voice of the Customer data is the information a business collects to quantifiably track customer feedback. VoC insights offer deeper understandings of potential pain points to improve on in business operations and customer support strategies.

Types of VoC data

VoC data comes from however you gather feedback: surveys, reviews, net promoter scores, chat communication, social media activity, observations of customer behavior, and interactions between customer and support agents, to name a few. Each has its own purpose and can provide valuable insights into the customer experience. Determining which is right for you depends on a number of factors, but an outsourced contact center will have the resources to comprehensively take on the task for you.

Defining VoC in the call center context

Call centers are equipped with technology to track and monitor not only calls but also specific requests and pain points within calls and other methods of communication. This tracking empowers agents to deliver actionable feedback to a business about what issues are preventing customers from effectively using a product or continuing a membership.

How VoC differs from traditional customer data

VoC sources data from many sources while tracking who each piece of feedback comes from, allowing a business to focus on top priorities such as leads and loyalty customers or empowering them to analyze data according to specific metrics, such as location, language, or age group. 

VoC offers a more comprehensive view of the customer experience than traditional customer data can by capturing what customers say, who they are, and why their feedback is important.

Why call centers need VoC data

Call centers are hubs of crucial information not only to field complaints but also to manage them, to help customers feel seen and heard, to resolve issues, and to escalate issues to experts who can fix them. VoC data organizes all of these nuances to help companies prioritize and act on specific measures.

Enhancing customer experience (CX)

Businesses regularly leveraging Voice of Customer data enhance customer experience by quickly identifying pain points and ensuring each item is followed up on. This helps customers feel heard and valued, bringing them back to your company for support or uninterrupted future use.

Identifying pain points and service gaps

VoC allows agents to organize complaints by type, reflecting volume and level of importance. This identifies problems and service gaps business owners may not have previously noted or properly allocated resources to, proving their importance.

Informing staff training and development

Often these pain points and service gaps prove significant and widespread enough to signal to a business owner that some changes need to be made for more efficient processes and higher customer satisfaction. Use these VoC insights to inform staff training, and set up a culture of constant improvement to match volume, skill, and knowledge demand.

Driving proactive customer service through predictive analytics

VoC data can be tracked historically, allowing businesses to anticipate problems and strategically ramp up support. Look at your data to predict trends. Do certain issues only arise at peak seasons? How many tickets can each agent handle at peak seasons? Answering these questions prepares and empowers you to proactively own an excellent customer service strategy.

Methods for collecting VoC data in call centers

Call centers employ VoC best practices with technologies and personnel trained in these important methods.

Real-time customer feedback channels

Real-time feedback captures sentiments at the time of a customer’s experience or immediately after an interaction. Addressing these in a timely manner shows customers that you value their time and have the resources to promptly resolve issues. 

Channels that provide real-time customer feedback include the following:

• Live chat support
• Online surveys
• Email feedback requests
• Social media monitoring
• Customer reviews and testimonials
• Feedback forms on websites
• In-app feedback
• Customer feedback software
• On-site feedback tools

Post-interaction surveys and follow-ups

Businesses can actively seek feedback by asking customers to fill out surveys after buying a product or using a service. This approach encourages customers who might not otherwise write a review to do so, providing businesses with fresh insights into processes.

Using speech analytics and AI to capture insights

You can learn how to improve Voice of the Customer data with AI tools that analyze emotional tones and sentiments during interactions. Complex algorithms detect cues to capture customer satisfaction levels without manual transcription or analysis, saving time and money.

Social media listening and sentiment analysis

Sentiment analysis tools track a brand’s presence on social media, and more importantly, with what sentiments the public is discussing them. This new social media marketing tactic alerts business owners of conversations, identifying issues that may not be portrayed in reviews.

The outsourcing partnership requires trust and security. Allowing anyone access to a business and its customers’ confidential — often financial — information presents security risks, but this isn’t a reason not to outsource. It only highlights the need to be aware of data security risks and the need for secure outsourcing partners.

Professional partners will hire agents certified with the necessary certifications and come equipped with powerful technology that securely manages data.

Transforming VoC data into actionable insights

Now that you have VoC best practices, learn how to make the most of the VoC experience.

Analyzing feedback for patterns and trends

Identifying patterns alerts professionals to common issues in their product or service. Analyzing these patterns by demographic or particular trends can help you find the cause of the issue for swift resolution.

Aligning VoC insights with call center KPIs (First Call Resolution, CSAT)

Analyzing your VoC customer service success includes targeting specific key performance indicators. How long does it take, for example, for agents to handle a call (AHT), answer a call (ASA)? What abandonment rates (ABA) should you aim for? How often does an agent resolve an issue on first call (FCR)? How do you determine customer satisfaction (CSAT), numerically?

First, capture these metrics at their baseline. Track trends, take into account peak seasons, and establish trends. Then deploy new strategies for improving processes or agent success. Track how your numbers change across different time frames to pinpoint your most effective strategies.

Case study: How VoC data improved a client’s call center experience

In 2013, Rack Room Shoes embraced social media monitoring as part of their customer care strategy. Rack Room Shoes worked with Global Response to customize the social media care process to Rack Room Shoes’ needs, including hours of coverage, response protocols, escalation decision trees, and more to understand how customers talk about the brand. 

Rack Room Shoes now monitors social media during extended business hours, holidays, and weekends for day-to-day care.

Implementing VoC-driven strategies in call centers

VoC insights improve processes in call centers by applying data trends to day-to-day operations.

Streamlining processes based on customer needs

Customers provide valuable information on redundancies. A fresh mind can tell you a lot about what can be cut and how processes can be streamlined for better usability or more efficient use of information.

Developing personalized training programs for agents

VoC insights highlight not only customer feedback but agent communication, as well. Conversation data allow businesses to identify topics for further training or building out in an accessible knowledge base.

VoC in call routing and customer interaction customization

Tracked call routing data helps you customize your systems for certain easy answers to requests. For example, setting up your telephony with automated answers for requests such as contact information or hours of operation will answer these questions easily, improving contact rates, call volume, and customer satisfaction.

Measuring the impact of VoC data implementation

Implementing these VoC strategies will improve business processes and customer satisfaction. FILA outsourced Voice of the Customer support with Global Response, who resolved all of the brand’s hundreds of backlogged cases for increased first call resolution. Global Response provided FILA with a direct line to customer needs through transparent VoC best practices.

The future of VoC data in call centers

Businesses will enhance their connections with customers as they embrace technologies’ feedback tracking tools. Outsourcing support to call centers empowers you to scale support according to your busiest seasons, making the most of resources all around.

AI and machine learning in customer sentiment analysis

AI technologies are only getting more sophisticated, expanding our abilities to quickly assess customer sentiment across multiple channels. This empowers agents to meaningfully engage with customers and provide swift, relevant solutions.

VoC data and omnichannel customer experience strategy

Diversify your VoC customer service options by incorporating an omnichannel strategy including social media, text, phone, and email support.

Predictive customer behavior and anticipating needs

Showing that you’re a business that understands your customers and anticipates their needs will set you apart as a business that is not only in tune with the trends but is, more importantly, ahead of them. Set yourself apart as an industry leader by building out your business’ exceptional customer care.

Discover how you can utilize Voice of the Customer best practices. Contact us for a free quote!

Read Time: 4.5 minutes

Intro

At the beginning of 2025, we’re exploring the contact center future trends that are poised to define the coming year. From tech tools to customer experience, we’ve rounded up the most influential trends to watch for in the near future. Let’s jump in.

Key takeaways

• Focus on cloud-based solutions and data security: The utility and popularity of cloud-based systems are driving a trend of growth in Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solutions. Additionally, with increased CCaaS and AI, there is a renewed discussion of transparency and compliance regarding data use.
• Evolving paradigms of customer experience: Omnichannel communication and the inclusion of self-service tools are no longer bonuses, but are quickly becoming necessities for positive customer experiences.
• AI providing potential boosts in CX and productivity: AI-powered tools like chatbots, agent assist, and post-call documentation can provide major improvements to the customer experience and agent productivity when used responsibly.
• Remote work still a contact center staple: Despite a small trend of tech industry return-to-office orders this year, the contact center industry shows no signs of decreasing remote and hybrid work programs.

Contact center technology trends

The work of contact centers and their agents is deeply impacted by the tools they use. Here are some ways that tech is influencing the industry.

Cloud-based solutions

Modern tools require modern infrastructure. For the many contact centers in need of upgrades or updates, cloud-based contact center systems are the way to go. The easiest way to effectively make use of a cloud-based system and the modern tools it enables is through the Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) model, which has spurred many contact centers to pivot to CCaaS. This shift has prompted rapid growth in the CCaaS market in the past few years, a contact center technology trend that doesn’t show signs of changing in the coming year.

Data security and privacy

Every single day, contact centers are handling enormous amounts of data, which makes security and privacy a top-level concern. Especially as contact centers adopt new, powerful AI tools, it is important that new tech is used responsibly. It’s vital that content centers receive informed consent from their customers when using tech that records and analyzes interactions. As the public awareness of industry tools grows and regulations become more strict, it’s important from an ethical standpoint to be transparent and compliant about your company’s use of customer data.

Developments in customer experience

The wants and needs of customers are always evolving. See how omnichannel and self-service tools are becoming necessities.

Rise of omnichannel

Omnichannel communication is increasingly becoming the standard for customer service, as it provides a seamless customer experience from one channel to the next. As time moves forward, this is becoming less of a “nice feature” for call centers and more of a prerequisite, many customers expect it as part of their experience, and industry experts expect increased adoption of omnichannel strategies to be a major contact center future trend.

Self-service tools

Modern customers have a strong preference for self-service when it comes to simpler issues. Tools like interactive voice response (IVR) systems, chatbots, FAQs, and forums offer convenient solutions that customers can turn to for smaller issues, preventing a surplus of basic calls from clogging up the call queue. Not only does this keep customer wait times down, but it also boosts contact center efficiency, prompting the vast majority of contact centers to plan on expanding their self-service options in the near future.

Trends in contact center AI

AI continues to have new uses in the contact center world, improving both the customer experience and agent productivity.

Customer interaction

Natural language processing (NLP) has made major strides in recent years, taking the chatbots of the past from limited “if-then” statements to AI-powered systems that can provide dynamic and versatile responses to customer queries based on your knowledge base. The convenience and versatility of these tools make them a popular option in the customer experience world, with most contact centers currently using them in some capacity, and more planning to implement them soon.

Agent productivity

Not only does AI provide potential enhancements to the customer experience, but it can also be a major agent productivity boost as well. Since speech analytics tools are able to monitor and transcribe conversations in real-time (keeping track of the content, tone, and sentiment of the conversation), it enables generative AI to step in and provide live coaching to agents, giving them actionable advice to change up their approach for a successful interaction. The ability to accurately transcribe conversations also cuts down on agents busy work after the call, producing call summaries that can automate documentation tasks, allowing agents to stay engaged in the customer-facing tasks they do best.

Continued growth of remote and hybrid work

The unexpected change to work-from-home in 2020 brought many of the benefits of remote work to the forefront of the public consciousness. The improvements to work-life balance for employees immediately come to mind, but the arrangement also has many upsides for companies, including access to wider talent pools, reduced overhead costs, and higher employee retention. Despite the trend of some high-profile tech companies issuing return-to-office orders this year, the numbers bear out that remote and hybrid work programs are still strong in the contact center industry, with the majority of contact centers providing these programs, and a growing number planning on implementing them by 2025.

How Global Response can help you in 2025

Global Response is a brand-obsessed, customer-focused provider of contact center outsourcing. We provide your company with its own dedicated team, acting as an extension of your brand.

Begin 2025 with a world-class team that approaches contact center future trends with data-driven insights to produce a five-star customer experience!

Read Time: 17 minutes

Intro

When a customer starts an inquiry online with a question in your live chat, but the conversation begins to warrant a deeper discussion, the customer may reach for the phone. When that happens, it’s important for the customer experience that the change of communication channel is a seamless handoff. If the customer has to repeat themselves and re-explain their entire problem, it’s a recipe for frustration on both ends of the conversation. That’s why omnichannel customer service is such an important tool for a business to have. This article will explore the various aspects of an omnichannel approach, from its benefits and challenges to the process of implementation and best practices for omnichannel success.

Key takeaways

• Omnichannel vs. multichannel: Though both setups offer various channels of communication to their customers, an omnichannel setup offers seamless transitions between channels with no loss of context or information, while a multichannel setup is siloed.
• Benefits of omnichannel: Omnichannel communication provides a higher quality customer experience, with greater customer satisfaction, more personalized service, and consistency. Additionally, omnichannel reduces the workload and repetition for agents, mitigating burnout.
• Implementation: To successfully implement an omnichannel system, it’s essential to understand your customer journeys, select the best omnichannel support software, and thoroughly train agents to understand how to serve through each channel and navigate graceful transitions between channels.

Defining omnichannel customer service

Brands need to be able to connect with customers through many means, and omnichannel support makes that possible. Omnichannel customer service is when brands connect with customers through multiple integrated communication channels. In our increasingly digital and interconnected society, advancements in communication technologies allow customer interactions to flow across touchpoints like call centers, SMS, email, social media, and more. 

For example, a customer inquiry might start on Facebook, transition to email for detailed follow-up, and conclude with a phone call, all while maintaining continuity and context.

What omnichannel means for customer service

When brands take an interconnected approach to support using a unified view of all interactions, it ensures customers don’t have to stop and explain their dilemma at every touchpoint. This continuity makes their experience smooth and allows them to enjoy consistent, efficient service, regardless of the channel they use, and have their problems and questions resolved more efficiently. These positive brand experiences can do wonders to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. In fact, according to research, omnichannel support is associated with high customer satisfaction and retention rates as high as 89%.

Omnichannel vs. multichannel: Key differences

At first glance, omnichannel and multichannel customer service seem similar, in that they both involve communicating with customers through multiple separate service channels. However, the difference lies in omnichannel’s seamless continuity across different channels.

While multichannel customer service involves communicating with customers on various different channels — such as phone calls, text, online chat, social media, etc. — each of these individual channels is independent and siloed, meaning that each conversation lives and dies on the channel it started on.

Conversely, an omnichannel model allows each of those channels to intermingle. With the integration of a good customer relationship management (CRM) system, omnichannel customer service gives customers the option to start a conversation on one channel and seamlessly switch to another channel, picking up right where they left off since the agent should have all of the context they need.

The importance of a unified customer experience

The added level of data accessibility that omnichannel provides across touchpoints not only allows for a more cohesive customer experience, but it also provides agents with the useful context they need to offer a well-rounded approach that has room for personalization and creative solutions. The cohesive experiences available through omnichannel service help to boost customer satisfaction and cultivate brand loyalty.

Benefits of omnichannel customer service

Omnichannel is massively beneficial for both businesses and their customers. Some of the greatest benefits include:

Consistent and personalized customer experience

Omnichannel strategies are ideal for cultivating a cohesive and consistent experience, regardless of the channel your customers choose to use. The integration of a customer’s interaction history and personal preferences ensures that agents have the time and context needed to fully personalize the customer experience.

Increased customer engagement and satisfaction

When customers feel free to use the channels they prefer and to seamlessly switch between them, it greatly reduces customer frustration and allows them to feel more engaged and satisfied with the experience. Not only does this make for more loyal customers, but it also makes those customers more likely to advocate for you, spreading good will through word-of-mouth.

Improved efficiency and reduced repetition for agents

Fully integrated omnichannel systems reduce the amount of time your agents have to spend playing catch-up. The time it takes to ask repetitive questions and switch between a handful of different systems truly adds up, causing drag on your agents’ efficiency and leading to agent fatigue and burnout. With the repetition out of the way, agents are free to focus on the important details and personalize the experience for each customer.

Better data collection and customer insights

Omnichannel customer service leaves a paper trail of customer interactions across channels. Having data from multiple touchpoints then helps the business create a holistic view of the customer journey and identify how needs vary across channels, allowing them to adjust their operations as needed. By integrating omnichannel interactions, companies can track patterns, preferences, and pain points across the customer lifecycle. 

For example, a business might observe that customers frequently ask for product recommendations on social media but use email to address warranty concerns. This wealth of data enables businesses to develop more accurate customer profiles and segment audiences based on behavior, preferences, and needs. 

With deeper insights, brands can hone their messaging, offers, and support strategies to individual customers, driving personalization and satisfaction. Additionally, trends and feedback collected across channels help refine products, services, and overall customer experience.

Key channels in an omnichannel customer service strategy

Just because you’re adopting an omnichannel solution, that doesn’t require you to adopt all existing communication channels. That just isn’t practical. A much better use of your time would be to determine the communication channels that your customers prefer, allowing you to meet your customers where they are. The most common channels to include in your omnichannel strategy include:

Phone support

Customer support over the phone is alive and well. At the end of the day, a phone call makes for effective real-time communication and is an efficient way to fully cover an issue that is difficult to replicate in purely text-based communication. Additionally, having a public phone number that customers can call is an excellent way to signal authenticity and legitimacy to your customers. Even for customers who prefer using other channels, the existence of an official phone line adds an inherent level of trust that a business will continue to operate for the foreseeable future and that they have the staff to field calls and other customer communications.

Email support

Email support is an incredibly cost-effective option, as it doesn’t require much in the way of infrastructure. Though customer service should strive for promptness, email isn’t treated with the same real-time reply expectation that many other channels are treated with, so it’s easier to comb through customer emails and triage based on priority.

Live chat and chatbots

Support through live chat is often a customer-favorite as it provides instant service, especially when paired with a chatbot that can get the ball rolling. Additionally, for customers still in the shopping phase, live chat allows quick answers to the questions and concerns that keep customers from pulling the trigger on a purchase. Because of its added convenience, live chat can even increase overall conversions as it removes unnecessary barriers to prospective customers.

Social media platforms

Monitoring the social media platforms most popular to your customer base for mentions of your brand and direct messages is an effective method of providing fast help to customers through a channel where they already willingly spend their time.

SMS and messaging apps

Mobile devices are the preferred mode of communication for many people, so it makes sense to provide support tools natively within the device they use the most, whether that takes place through SMS texting or in another messaging app.

In-app and on-site support

By integrating support functions directly into your company’s website or customer-facing app, you can cultivate an intuitive customer support experience that doesn’t require customers to leave to get what they need. In-app and on-site support options also provide an experience with helpful tools like tutorials, embedded FAQs, chat widgets, and even co-browsing capabilities. This channel is particularly helpful for brands with digital products and a tech-savvy customer base.

Identifying the need for an omnichannel customer service strategy

If you don’t know what to look for, it can be difficult to determine the right time to adopt an omnichannel customer service strategy. However, once the switch has been made, it can be a transformative shift.

One major sign that it’s time to move to an omnichannel model is that your business is receiving a high volume of cross-channel interactions. If a customer starts an interaction with you on social media, for instance, and then they wrap up over the phone, it’s much easier and more seamless to do so with an omnichannel solution, since no information or context gets lost along the way. This is particularly true if you’ve had complaints from customers about having to re-explain their problems after handoffs from one channel to the next.

Going hand-in-hand with the need for seamless experiences is the need for better data integration and operational efficiency. multichannel is inherently limited because agents lack access to the customer relationship management (CRM) data that would fill in the gaps of ongoing conversations. When this information is properly integrated into the workflow, agents don’t have to miss a beat, greatly improving their efficiency along with the customer experience.

How to implement omnichannel customer service

Knowing you need to upgrade to an omnichannel approach and knowing how to implement it into your workflow are two separate things. Here are some things to remember as you implement omnichannel customer service into your business.

Map out the customer journey across channels

To successfully implement an omnichannel strategy, it’s important to understand precisely how your customers tend and prefer to interact with your business. Take note of the common touchpoints and transitions that your customers have in common and see if you can draw up a map of your typical customer’s journey and see which points along the way could use optimizing.

Choose omnichannel support software

The correct omnichannel software is a crucial ingredient for success. Pay particular attention to solutions that allow you to integrate all of your various customer communication channels with support for real-time data sharing, as these solutions will offer the greatest efficiency boosts.

Train agents for omnichannel interactions

The correct omnichannel software is a crucial ingredient for success. Pay particular attention to solutions that allow you to integrate all of your various customer communication channels with support for real-time data sharing, as these solutions will offer the greatest efficiency boosts. Without properly trained agents, you don’t have an omnichannel solution. Agents need not only the soft skills of customer service, but also a strong grasp of how to handle multiple channels seamlessly. Knowing the best practices of each channel as well as the most effective ways to shift between them using unified customer data are invaluable skills for omnichannel agents.

Integrate customer data for a 360° view

When you centralize all customer information in one convenient system, you enable greater continuity across channels and open the door for more personalized customer service.

Monitor and optimize performance across channels

The key to successfully providing omnichannel service is to continuously monitor and measure performance in all of your customer service channels. By tracking key metrics like response times, customer satisfaction, resolution rates, and others, you can gain a better idea of where things are going well and where you have room for improvement.

Challenges of omnichannel customer service

Omnichannel customer service can be a major boon for a business, but it’s most beneficial when it’s implemented effectively. Effective implementation can only come from long-term planning. An omnichannel system has a lot of moving parts and when handled poorly, there’s many places it can go wrong. Many companies have run into unanticipated issues in implementation and ultimately failed to modernize. Some of the challenges businesses face when providing omnichannel customer service include:

Preventing internal silos and ensuring consistent cross-channel service

A major challenge in omnichannel customer service is avoiding the “hot potato” effect, where no single agent or team owns the user experience from end to end. As customers move across channels, responsibilities are often passed between teams or departments without clear accountability. This lack of ownership can create a fragmented, frustrating customer experience. 

Unless leaders promote internal communication, collaboration, and transparency between teams, individual departments may operate in silos, acting and communicating differently. This can prevent customers from receiving complete answers or resolutions and compound their frustration. Brands should encourage cross-departmental alignment and ensure every touchpoint contributes to a seamless, high-quality experience.

Managing data privacy and security

Omnichannel systems require accurate, real-time data to provide personalized experiences. If customer data is siloed or outdated across channels, agents may lack context, which slows their resolution times and often leads to irrelevant recommendations. This lack of personalization reduces customer satisfaction and hampers the brand’s ability to build meaningful, long-term relationships.

On top of that, fragmented systems increase the risk of data breaches and privacy violations, as sensitive customer information may be inadequately secured during transitions between channels. This not only erodes trust but also exposes the brand to potential legal and reputational harm.

Maintaining real-time synchronization

When customer data, interactions, or updates lag behind, it can lead to confusion and inconsistency. For instance, if a customer updates their shipping address via live chat, but the change doesn’t reflect in the email system or phone support database immediately, they may receive incorrect information or service later. All channels and systems need to be synchronized in real time. 

Synchronization delays can disrupt the seamless experience customers expect and can undermine their trust in the brand’s ability to manage their needs. Businesses need robust technology integrations and automation to ensure updates happen instantaneously across systems. Without this, teams risk delivering fragmented, outdated, or conflicting information that frustrates customers and diminishes loyalty.

Training and managing multi-skilled agents

Omnichannel customer service agents need diverse skills to handle interactions across various channels. This requires comprehensive training in communication styles, technical platforms, and problem-solving strategies tailored to each channel, such as the immediacy of live chat versus the formality of email. 

Managing multi-skilled agents adds complexity, as supervisors must ensure consistency in service quality and provide ongoing support to address mounting customer expectations. Without proper training and management, agents may struggle to adapt, which may slow response times and fragment the customer experience.

Evaluating your omnichannel service readiness

To determine how prepared your business is to provide omnichannel service, it’s important to understand the steps required for an effective omnichannel approach and see where your business currently falls in that process. Where you fall in this process will help you determine your service maturity, from fragmented mult-channel, to fully-integrated omnichannel.

First, you’ll need to evaluate your current customer service channels. For all the communication channels you offer, how effective are they at meeting your customers’ needs and preferences? Do any of them underperform? What would need to change to help those channels meet those needs.

Next, analyze your current level of integration. How well are your channels interconnected? Do agents have sufficient access to customer info when picking up a conversation in a new channel, or is that information siloed?

Finally, what are your data-sharing processes? How is your customer data gathered, and what is the process for storing it and sharing it across channels? For an omnichannel strategy to be effective, it’s incredibly important that the system is unified, and that all data that is relevant to agents is shareable in real-time.

Best practices for effective omnichannel customer service

While providing omnichannel customer service, here are some tips to remember that will set your business up for omnichannel success.

Use analytics to understand channel effectiveness

By monitoring each channel and measuring its effectiveness against your key performance indicators (KPIs), you can uncover your current strengths and weaknesses in providing customer service through each channel. Knowing where you need to improve or double down will give you a better idea of where your resources need to be allocated and how to change up your processes.

Prioritize high-value channels for your customer base

Some channels will matter more than others to your customers, so it’s important to understand which channels your customers prefer so you can keep them top priority when weighing their comparative value.

Maintain consistent messaging and tone across channels

Just because you’re communicating through a different channel, that doesn’t mean the tone or brand voice changes. While it’s important to understand the best practices for each channel, the customer experience and level of service should remain consistent across channels.

Empower customers with seamless channel-switching options

The customer experience should feel flexible. A customer should never feel like they will be sacrificing context and consistency when they switch channels, because normal communication often spans various different channels. By making your omnichannel service as consistent as possible, customers can communicate in a way that feels natural and gets them the help that they need.

If your business is considering upgrading to an omnichannel customer service model, get in touch with a contact center expert at Global Response. We provide you with a team of dedicated brand advocates who are well-versed omnichannel customer service. Get a free quote today and learn how we supercharge your customer experience!

Read Time: 10 minutes

Intro

Navigating the holiday season or busy peaks of the year can be stressful for businesses and customers. These busy surges can increase product demand, cause shipping delays, heighten customer frustration, and create employee burnout. If this is the case for your business, don’t panic. 

In this article, we’ll discuss how to identify busy seasons and share how seasonal call center outsourcing can ease the load for your employees and customers.

Key takeaways

• Who? In-house call centers often need help keeping up with customer demand during busy seasons. 
• What? Using seasonal call center outsourcing grants you access to fully trained agents ready to provide seamless holiday season customer service. 
• Why? Call center outsourcing during busy seasons can reduce wait times, enhance call quality, and provide more tailored customer service.
• How? Finding the ideal outsourcing call center partner can help you scale for seasonal trends, plan for required support, train agents, and monitor and evaluate real-time performance.

Meeting the challenges of seasonal business demands

Understanding seasonal demand is the first step in preparing to meet the needs of customer support. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Anticipate seasonal business spikes

Almost every industry has seasonal business spikes. For retailers and e-commerce businesses, holiday shopping can start as early as October. For accounting firms and private CPAs, January to April is a busy time to prepare and submit taxes. The same goes for open enrollment for medical benefits and insurance. Using historical data to track busy seasons from previous fiscal years allows you to forecast when the next season will strike.

Common pressure points in peak seasons

For businesses across different industries, the busy season comes with a set of frustrations. Some of the common pressure points businesses can experience are:

• Limited resources: During peak seasons, businesses can be impacted by a shortage of labor, low stock of inventory, delays in the supply chain, overloaded IT systems, and limited storage space. 

• Longer wait times: With limited resources, customers experience longer wait times than expected. 

• Impact on brand image: Customer brand perception can be negatively impacted if holiday season customer service isn’t well-equipped to handle the demand.

Influence on customer service

During the holidays or other peak seasons, customer support teams may struggle to meet the demands, resulting in longer response times, lower customer satisfaction, and burnout.

Why in-house call centers struggle with seasonal demand

As businesses approach peak seasons, many in-house call centers need help to keep up with demand. This can be the result of over-reliance on in-house resources, the high financial and operational costs associated with providing temporary options, and a lack of scalable options. Without the right resources or support, these busy periods can strain your team, frustrating employees and customers.

Advantages of call center outsourcing during busy seasons

Now that you understand the influence seasonal demand can have on customer support teams, let’s explore the advantages of call center outsourcing.

Cost-effective scaling

Instead of hiring new full-time employees for peak-season customer support, outsourcing allows you to save on costs by only paying for the services you need.

Access to trained agents

Outsourcing provides access to trained agents and ready-to-go resources during peak seasons, eliminating the time and cost of recruiting and training.

24/7 service availability

Customers can enjoy round-the-clock service and find answers to their questions at any time of the day.

Shorter customer wait times

With fully-trained agents available 24/7, businesses can reduce call center wait times and lower the rate of abandoned calls.

Enhanced call quality

Some outsourcing call centers use call monitoring and AI tools to improve call quality by tracking metrics and reviewing calls regularly for agent feedback.

Access to multilingual support

Using call center staffing for peak seasons gives you access to agents who speak multiple languages so your customers can communicate what they need in their preferred language.

Personalized service

Personalized customer service is critical in busy seasons, especially during the holidays. With call center outsourcing, agents are trained to understand your brand, products, and customer profiles to provide more tailored customer support.

4 essential tips for scaling call center outsourcing during busy seasons

If you’re strongly considering call center outsourcing for customer support for the holiday season or other busy times of the year, here are four tips to scale your business operations.

1. Look for seasonal demand trends

Every business faces busy seasons, but knowing when they happen is a great way to plan ahead. To find out when the busy season is for you, start gathering data using call monitoring and call center software. These tools will allow you to view the call volume, call length, average wait time, agent status, and call abandonment rates to track patterns of influxes in customer demand.

2. Plan for required support

After collecting enough data, you can look back on the previous fiscal year to see how many calls, live chats, emails, and social media comments you received from customers. Acquiring this information will help you map out which channels need support and how many team members you need to take care of customers.

3. Train agents early

Train agents ahead of time about your brand values, customer expectations, and common inquiries to help them prepare and deliver more personalized service.

4. Monitor performance in real-time

Monitor and evaluate customer service metrics regularly by reviewing dashboards and reports to know if there are enough agents to support your customers.

Finding your ideal outsourcing match

When selecting the right outsourcing call center partner, reflect on the following questions:

• Expertise: Has this call center successfully handled seasonal demand in this industry? 
• Technology capabilities: Can their technology integrate with your existing systems?
• Customer experience focus: Do they spend time onboarding call agents to learn about your brand so they can represent you effectively?

Having the answers to these questions will simplify the decision process and ensure you choose the right match.

How Global Response transforms seasonal challenges into opportunities

At Global Response, we have extensive experience managing customer support during high-peak seasons for industries like retail and e-commerce. From business process outsourcing to multilingual customer support, we deliver tailored solutions to meet your seasonal needs, ensuring smooth operations and exceptional service during peak times.

But don’t just take our word for it; read this case study to discover how we helped one major retailer increase online sales by 25%.

Ready to handle your busy seasons like a pro? Contact Global Response today to learn how call center outsourcing during the busy season can transform your customer experience.

Read Time: 10 minutes

Intro

Automated customer service is reshaping how businesses handle customer support. By using customer service automation to handle routine tasks like answering FAQs, routing calls, or managing basic inquiries, companies can respond to customers faster, more consistently, and with fewer resources. Below, we’ll dive into what automated customer service is and discuss how it can benefit your business.

Key takeaways

• Efficiency: Automated customer service handles routine tasks to speed up response times and give agents the space to focus on complex issues.
• 24/7 accessibility: With tools like chatbots and IVR systems, companies can provide consistent, around-the-clock assistance.
• Scalable solutions: Automation supports growing customer bases by handling high volumes of inquiries, letting businesses expand without adding more team members.
• Balanced approach: Balancing automation tools with human support creates a customer experience that’s both efficient and personalized.

What is automated customer service?

Customer service automation uses technology to handle common support tasks automatically. It creates faster and more efficient service for both customers and agents. Tools like chatbots, interactive voice response (IVR) systems, and automated ticketing can handle common questions, track requests, and direct customers to the right resources. This frees up support teams to focus on more challenging, high-value interactions.

How does automated customer service work?

Automated customer service tools collect and process customer information to provide quick responses. AI and machine learning play a crucial role, allowing these systems to continuously learn from customer interactions to refine their responses. For example, a chatbot powered by customer service automation can learn to recognize how customers ask common questions and offer tailored responses that become more accurate over time.

Key benefits of automated customer service

Automating customer service has many advantages that help businesses provide more efficient support. Here are some examples.

Cost efficiency

One major benefit of customer service automation is the potential for cost savings. By automating routine questions, businesses reduce the need for large support teams, which cuts staffing costs without sacrificing service quality.

Availability and consistency

Automated customer service tools work 24/7, providing consistent, around-the-clock customer support even outside business hours. This constant availability boosts customer satisfaction and provides a uniform experience that builds trust.

Scalability

For businesses with growing customer bases, customer support automation offers scalability that keeps pace with demand. Automation systems handle a large volume of inquiries without additional team members. Companies can expand their support capacity smoothly and affordably.

Faster response times

Customers can receive instant responses from automated customer service tools. Chatbots and IVR systems quickly address common questions, speeding up interactions and boosting customer satisfaction. This efficiency is especially helpful during peak hours when response times might otherwise take longer.

Lower agent workload and burnout

By taking on repetitive questions, automated customer service tools reduce the workload on human agents. These tools can lower the risk of burnout among customer support staff, who can now dedicate their time to problem-solving and personalized interactions.

Multilingual support

Automated customer service can break down language barriers by offering support in multiple languages through machine translation or multilingual chatbots. This opens up businesses to a global customer base without needing to hire many multilingual agents.

Types of automated customer service solutions

Several types of automated customer support tools help businesses streamline interactions and address common questions efficiently, such as:

Chatbots and virtual assistants

Chatbots are often the first line of automated customer support, handling simple inquiries like FAQs, account questions, and product information. These tools improve response times and give customers instant answers, letting human agents focus on more complicated issues.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

IVR systems manage phone inquiries and quickly direct customers to self-service options or route them to the right agent for more assistance. This form of customer service automation streamlines call handling, reducing wait times and improving the overall caller experience.

Email and ticketing automation

Automated email and ticketing systems sort incoming requests, categorize inquiries, and respond with relevant information. By organizing customer issues efficiently, customer service automation helps support teams stay on top of requests and prioritize effectively to provide a more organized, responsive experience.

How to automate customer service and boost customer satisfaction

When it comes to automated customer support, companies must find an approach that helps both the business and its customers effectively. Here are some tips for creating the right automation strategy.

Understanding customer needs

The first step in creating a successful customer support automation strategy is understanding what your customers need. Analyze common pain points and frequently asked questions to help you develop automation tools that align with customer expectations.

Selecting the right tools

Choosing the right tools is vital for maximizing the benefits of customer service automation. Options include chatbots for instant messaging, CRM systems for tracking customer interactions, and self-service portals that let customers find information on their own. You can streamline support and improve customer satisfaction by selecting tools that match your business’s unique needs.

Balancing automation with human support

A balance between automated customer support and human interaction creates a well-rounded customer service experience. While automation handles routine inquiries, human agents are essential for addressing complex, sensitive, or personalized issues. This balanced approach lets businesses offer efficient yet personable service that customers value.

Integrating AI in customer service automation

AI is revolutionizing customer service automation with tools like natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning that enhance customer interactions. NLP helps automated systems understand natural, conversational language, letting chatbots and virtual assistants respond more humanly and intuitively.

Machine learning further improves automated customer support by letting systems learn from each interaction and continuously improving responses based on past inquiries. This adaptability helps systems stay current with evolving customer language and needs.

AI also helps identify customer intent by analyzing behavior and language patterns, which allows automated tools to deliver more relevant, proactive support. Integrating these AI-driven technologies creates a seamless, personalized experience that increases customer satisfaction while improving efficiency.

Challenges and limitations of automated customer service

Automated customer service has many advantages, but it’s not without its limitations. Implementing customer service automation requires careful planning to avoid pitfalls, maintain high satisfaction, and create a smooth experience. Here are some examples of challenges you may face with automation.

Limitations in personalization

One major challenge with customer support automation is replicating human empathy and personalization. Automated systems can respond consistently to common questions but typically can’t understand context, tone, or emotional nuances that a human agent would naturally pick up on. For complicated issues or emotional customers, automated customer support may feel impersonal, which could affect satisfaction. 

Make sure to strike the right balance, where automation handles routine questions and human agents manage more sensitive or difficult situations.

Over-automation risks

Too much automation can frustrate customers, especially when they need a more customized response. While automated systems are efficient, over-reliance can create a barrier between customers and human support. For example, if a customer needs help with an uncommon issue, a chatbot or IVR system might struggle to provide the necessary support, leading to a negative experience. Offering clear options for customers to reach human agents when needed can help avoid these challenges.

Implementation costs and maintenance

Although customer service automation can offer long-term savings, the initial setup can be expensive. Developing and using chatbots, IVR systems, or ticketing software requires investing in both technology and personnel for effective implementation. Regular updates and maintenance are also necessary to keep up with changing customer needs, which can add to ongoing costs. Businesses should weigh these expenses against the benefits and create a plan for keeping their systems relevant and functional over time.

Balancing automation with human touch

Finding the right balance between automation and human interaction is crucial for creating a customer service experience that feels efficient and personable. While automation can handle routine tasks, human agents can offer empathy and problem-solving skills for complex situations. Here are some strategies for creating a hybrid model that combines the best of both worlds.

Determine the best tasks for automation

Start by deciding which tasks automation can handle effectively. FAQs, order tracking, and basic account inquiries are great candidates. Automating these common questions can free agents to focus on cases needing more detailed attention.

Create clear escalation paths

Customer service automation systems are great for handling routine tasks but must be set up to know when to hand off a customer to a human agent. Create clear escalation guidelines so automation can recognize complex issues or signs of customer frustration. For example, programming keywords or sentiment indicators can alert the system to connect customers with a live agent.

Use human agents when they’re needed

While chatbots and automated responses handle the basics, human agents are valuable for cases that require empathy, critical thinking, and adaptability. When customers have difficult issues or need reassurance, speaking with a human can go a long way in building trust and satisfaction.

Use data from automation to improve human interactions

Automation tools can collect valuable data on customer preferences, common issues, and feedback. Analyzing this information can help human agents gain insights that help them provide more personalized, effective service when they step in.

ROI of automated customer service solutions

So, what is automated customer service doing to help businesses improve profitability? Measuring the ROI of customer support automation systems provides insight into their impact on efficiency. Here are a few helpful metrics to track.

Cost savings

Automating common questions and tasks reduces staffing needs, which can save on payroll and overtime expenses. By tracking reductions in these costs, you can see just how much automation lightens the load.

Customer satisfaction​

Quick responses improve customer satisfaction, which is measured by Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSAT) and Net Promoter Scores (NPS). These metrics show improvements in the overall customer experience.

Productivity

With routine questions answered by automation, your agents can focus on more complex, value-driven cases. Metrics like response times, resolved tickets per hour, and smaller agent workloads demonstrate productivity boosts.

Scalability

Automated tools handle rising customer inquiries as your business grows, reducing the need for additional hiring. Monitoring the volume of questions resolved through automation shows how effectively your support scales.

What is automated customer service going to look like in the future?

The future of customer service automation is filled with promising advancements that will reshape how companies connect with their customers. As technology evolves, so do the possibilities of making automated customer support even more efficient, personalized, and responsive. Here’s a look at the trends set to take customer service automation to the next level.

AI advancements

Artificial intelligence is improving the capabilities of customer support automation by making interactions more intuitive and human-like. With improvements in natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, automated systems are becoming better at understanding human speech and tone nuances, letting them respond in more conversational ways.

Personalized automation

Customers expect more than generic responses — they want solutions tailored to their individual needs. Future automated customer support systems will use customer data to create more personalized experiences. By analyzing past interactions, preferences, and common questions, automated solutions will be able to offer proactive and customized support, making customers feel understood and valued.

Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics will likely play a major role in automated customer service by anticipating customer needs before they’re even expressed. Access to historical data and behavior patterns allows automation to predict issues or inquiries and solve problems before they escalate.

Ready to elevate your customer support?

Automated customer service brings a new level of efficiency and consistency to customer interactions. Businesses can respond faster and more efficiently by automating routine tasks while letting human agents handle more complex issues. But achieving the right balance is critical.

Global Response is here to help you implement smart, customized customer service solutions that blend automation with human support. With our experience in both technology and personalized care, we’ll partner with you to create a seamless experience that meets your business goals and keeps your customers happy. Contact us today to learn more.

FAQ

Read Time: 12 minutes

Intro

Imagine having a brilliant assistant who can tell you anything you want to know and solve problems simultaneously. Eventually, this assistant starts picking up patterns to tailor a response whenever you ask a question. But what if this assistant wasn’t an actual person but a powerful AI system? It sounds almost too good to be true, right?

Generative AI is an artificial intelligence system used in customer service to offer personalized experiences and quick response times that make customers feel understood and valued.

This article will explore the uses and benefits of generative AI in customer service and how you can leverage this technology.

Key takeaways

• Understanding generative AI: Generative AI provides faster and more personalized customer service by analyzing customer patterns and behaviors.
• Implementing generative AI for customer support: Businesses can utilize generative AI with chatbots, automated responses, real-time agent support, and personalized care to create personalized customer experiences.
• Core benefits: Enjoy fast response times, cost savings through automation, consistent, high-quality interactions, and the ability to scale for improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Future outlook of AI: The future of AI will use data-driven insights and support omnichannel platforms.

What is generative AI in customer service?

Generative AI in customer service gathers large amounts of data to learn and understand customers’ patterns and preferences. In a survey conducted by the Capgemini Research Institute, 63% of retail businesses reported using generative AI to support their customer service processes. Why? Generative AI helps customers and human agents provide quicker, smoother, and often more helpful customer experiences.

Generative AI vs. traditional AI

If you’re new to AI, you may wonder what the difference is between generative and traditional AI.

• Generative AI analyzes patterns and examples inserted by users to create personalized responses. Ex: ChatGPT
• Traditional AI uses a set of predefined rules and data to make decisions or solve problems. Ex: An Email Spam Filter

Five ways to implement generative AI in customer service

Generative AI can transform customer service, empowering companies to deliver faster, more personalized support. Here are five ways to implement generative AI in your business.

1. Utilize AI-powered chatbots for 24/7 customer support

If you’re a frequent internet user, you’ve probably used or encountered a chatbot at some point. Chatbots are valuable for communicating with customers in real time when human agents are off the clock. However, traditional chatbots may struggle to understand the nuances of customers’ questions, replying with predictable responses. With generative AI, chatbots use machine learning to understand customers’ questions and patterns and provide a more human-like interaction.

2. Automate response generation for frequently asked questions

Most of the time, customers ask similar questions about products and business operations. Creating pre-written responses to frequently asked questions (FAQs) is a great way to communicate quickly with customers and free up agents to tackle other priorities.

3. Encourage customer self-service with AI-powered content

Generative AI can create helpful FAQs, guides, and support articles for customers to read on your website anytime. By analyzing patterns in customer interactions, AI can identify common queries and use existing product materials to create how-to guides and other helpful resources. Be sure, though, to rewrite any AI-generated content in your own words if you plan on publishing it to your website to avoid potential SEO penalties.

4. Support live agents with AI-generated suggestions

Sometimes, on customer calls, there can be a question your agents don’t have an answer to. Generative AI prepares your agents for these moments with recommended responses and solutions during client interactions.

5. Personalize customer interactions at scale

Generative AI tailors customer interactions at scale by surveying vast amounts of customer data, making each interaction feel personalized, even when serving multiple customers at once.

Benefits of generative AI in customer service

Generative AI offers multiple advantages to support your current customer service processes, including:

• Fast response times: Customers can anticipate a response within a few seconds to avoid long wait times.
• Consistent and high-quality customer interactions: While call service agents are away, customers can receive accurate and quick responses, whether they’re reaching out through a chatbot, email, or social media.
• Cost savings through automation: Generative AI allows you to automate regular tasks to save time and money elsewhere.
• Personalization at scale for better customer engagement: By understanding customers’ history and behavior, generative AI can craft personalized responses and promote current specials, promotions, or reward programs to boost sales.
• Proactive customer support and training: Generative AI can provide training guides and train new agents to practice escalated customer service scenarios.

Best practices for using generative AI in customer service

Like any new technology, you should establish clear guidelines and best practices to avoid potential risks. Here are a few best practices for using generative AI for customer support.

Address privacy and data security concerns

Safeguarding personal data is a top concern, with 81% of consumers agreeing that how an organization treats its data reflects how they care about their customers. This can become tricky with AI, but protecting your customers’ data is still possible with certain protections in place, like encryption and removing personal identifiers.

Train AI on relevant customer data and scenarios

Program your AI models with the latest information about your products and services to avoid miscommunication. You can also use customer data to create tailored responses and train call agents on scenarios they could encounter with a particular customer.

Monitor AI interactions regularly for quality assurance

While AI technology is a great benefit, it still comes with a few flaws. Checking regularly for quality assurance allows you to review inconsistencies and fact-check responses to avoid possible misinformation.

Use AI responsibly to enhance, not replace, human support

One of the simplest ways to avoid replacing human support roles is to figure out which tasks AI can support and which one’s agents can support. AI is most helpful with routine tasks and answering straightforward questions, whereas human agents can use customer insights to connect with customers on a more personal level.

Provide your customers with an option to speak with a human agent

Customers love to have options, and if they prefer speaking to a live agent, they should be able to. If a live agent isn’t available, give them an estimated time frame of when someone will be available or have them complete a form to gather their contact information if they disconnect.

Top strategies for using generative AI in customer service

Now that you understand generative AI and how to implement this technology responsibly, let’s talk strategy.

Determine your goals and objective

Before rolling out AI in your organization, determine your goals and objectives and how AI can support them. Once you’ve identified your goals and objectives, select a set of metrics you want to measure. For example, if your goal is to reduce wait times, you can use AI to track customer response time and adjust your daily operations accordingly.

Collect and analyze customer service data

Collecting and analyzing customer service data is a great way to identify customer pain points, inquiries, and patterns. Start by determining what type of customer information you want to collect and create a system to gather this information. For example, if you need email addresses to qualify leads, build a website form where customers can fill out their contact information.

Use the right AI tool

Choosing the right AI tool is vital in supporting your goals and objectives. Take time to test and evaluate existing AI tools to see which systems are easy to scale and integrate with your existing customer management software. If you find no tool is useful, consider building your own API for a more customizable solution.

Upload and categorize datasets

After you’ve selected the appropriate AI tool, start uploading customer data files in the data upload section of your AI model. Once the upload is complete, categorize your data in context, such as common complaints, product information, and billing processes. Also, be sure to remove personal identifiers and anything else from the data to protect customers’ privacy by using techniques like data masking or generalization.

Program and train AI models

Program and train your AI models to prepare for specific customer service scenarios. Include categorized datasets to provide accurate responses, such as answers to common questions, product information, and self-serve options.

Inspect and refine

Before rolling out AI in your customer service processes, it’s important to conduct a pilot test. To do this, select a few users from your target to collect feedback from in a controlled environment. After you have a sample of users, make a plan for obtaining your desired information and how you want AI to collect it. From there, call agents can fully deploy AI to start interacting with customers and provide feedback to make any refinements as needed.

Implement and seek feedback

Once you’ve fully integrated your customer service processes with generative AI, continue actively seeking customer feedback to understand the issues they face. Frequent feedback allows you to adjust your AI model and ensure you meet customers’ needs and demands.

The future of generative AI in customer service

Generative AI can transform the future of customer service by improving efficiency, personalization, and customer experience. Here are a few of our predictions and insights into the future of AI-assisted customer service.

Hyper-personalized customer interactions through AI

The future of hyper-personalization through AI may evolve into evaluating customer profiles and behavior to provide more individualized responses instead of generic ones.

AI-driven insights for continuous improvement

With AI-driven insights, including call transcriptions, customer emails, and more, you can improve your customer service by analyzing every interaction for patterns to retrain your AI model and provide more training for your agents.

Increasingly seamless integration with omnichannel platforms

Balancing customer service across different channels is a challenge. With AI, you can provide AI-driven support across multiple channels for a more cohesive experience. Contact Global Response today to see how we can enhance your customer support with generative AI for customer service and beyond.

Read Time: 18.5 min

Intro

What comes to mind when you think of the best forms of customer communication? Traditional advertising, digital display ads, email, social media or phone calls? The truth is the best form of customer communication isn’t tied to one specific channel. It’s about reaching customers — and allowing them to reach you — wherever they are. In the past, shopping was a linear experience with in-person interactions. Today, the customer journey is more complex and centralized. 

This article will explore the benefits of omnichannel outsourcing and how to effectively communicate with customers across various channels in an omnichannel contact center and adapt to their changing preferences.

Key takeaways

• Why? The way people shop has changed and become more connected, and as a result, customer support needs to be more streamlined and centralized. 
• What? An omnichannel contact center integrates customer communication across channels to provide a seamless experience and superior customer care.
• Who? Most businesses could benefit from an omnichannel contact center approach, as it provides a customer service experience that meets (and exceeds) customer needs and expectations and gives a competitive advantage.
• How? Omnichannel contact center best practices include humanizing customer service, integrating tools, tracking customer data and more, and it all begins with finding the best software.

The modern customer journey

While customers want a smooth, streamlined experience, customer journeys may include:

• Shopping online
• Doing online research and comparisons
• Shopping in-store
• Using an app
• Browsing social media
• Making a phone call
• Reading Google reviews 
• And more

Having associates in-store to answer customer questions and needs may have been enough in the past. But now, the customer support experience has evolved alongside the customer shopping experience — and it will keep evolving!

Beyond in-store experiences, many brands and businesses also began offering support call centers. Then, customer care expanded to include things like email, web chat and SMS. Now, customer care can take place in various channels, from phone to web to social media to AI and more. 

The more channels available for a customer to reach you, the more important it becomes to have an omnichannel contact center to provide a streamlined experience for superior customer support.

What is an omnichannel contact center?

Omnichannel contact centers integrate customer communication across many channels through streamlined technology and systems to provide a seamless customer experience and superior customer care.

Many brands may have customer contact or call centers, but not all contact centers are omnichannel contact centers (even if they manage customer support across many channels). 

Sound a bit confusing? Keep reading to understand the different types of contact centers. 

In omnichannel contact centers, advanced technology and systems seamlessly integrate all the channels you operate in. This provides superior, personalized omnichannel customer support while saving your team time through streamlined operational processes.

Omnichannel contact center services

Omnichannel contact centers, whether managed in-house or through omnichannel outsourcing, provide a variety of services and features, including: 

• Inbound and outbound voice calls
• CRM integration 
• Customer satisfaction tools & customer engagement analytics 
• Email, web chat and SMS 
• Social media
• Cloud-based software or other technology to integrate customer communications

As the name suggests, omnichannel contact centers can handle many different channels, from voice calls to text and web chat to email and social media. If you’re weighing inbound vs. outbound call center capabilities, omnichannel contact centers can accommodate both. 

Of course, omnichannel contact centers may not handle every channel in existence — and you should customize what channels you need for your business! However, regardless of the channels you support, an omnichannel solution will provide advanced software and technology that integrate all customer communications to a single source.

This centralization allows agents and other team members to easily understand a customer’s entire contact history when interacting with them. Technology integrates customer communication and streamlines internal processes.

Do I need an omnichannel contact center?

While this may sound good, you may wonder, “Does my business actually need an omnichannel contact center?”

According to a research study by Nemertes Research, omnichannel contact center usage increased from 8% in 2016 to 31% in 2019. While this means that omnichannel centers are definitely on the rise, they’re still much less common than they should be — especially given that new communications channels and technologies are constantly being created. 

Most businesses could benefit from an omnichannel contact center approach. Not only does it provide a customer service experience that meets (and exceeds) customer needs and expectations, but it also gives you a competitive advantage over the 69% of businesses not delivering an omnichannel experience to their customers. 

Still not sure? Omnichannel contact centers can be a great solution for any business that: 

• Needs to keep up with the demand of customer service inquiries. 
• Wants to reach their audience on more channels than just voice calls.
• Needs to provide a streamlined customer experience. 
• Works in an industry with a long customer purchase journey (customers often contact you many times throughout the purchase process). 
• Wants to optimize internal processes.

Omnichannel customer experience example

To illustrate what an omnichannel customer journey might look like, consider a fictional retail company that sells cameras online and in brick-and-mortar stores.

Let’s say a customer named Julie is looking for a new camera. She starts her buying journey online, visiting the retailer’s website to research their cameras in product descriptions and customer reviews. As she browses, she begins a live chat with a customer service agent to get more information on specifications. The agent answers her questions and invites her to visit a nearby store to learn more in person.

When she visits the physical store, Julie tests out the camera she wants and decides to buy. At checkout, she signs up for the loyalty program, which she can manage through the retailer’s mobile app. Late that day, Julie gets a follow-up email thanking her for the purchase and offering suggestions for setting up the product. After a few days, she experiences a problem and uses her mobile app to contact support. The team can see her purchase history and previous chats to quickly solve her problem without rehashing the details.

Throughout this experience, Julie interacted easily with the company through several means, including live chat, the website, the physical store, email and the mobile app. Each touchpoint offered her a personalized and consistent experience. This omnichannel interaction made her experience easy and increased her brand loyalty.

Omnichannel contact centers vs. traditional call centers

If your business already has a traditional call center, you may wonder what the difference is between traditional call centers and omnichannel contact centers.

• Traditional call centers manage voice calls and may provide inbound or outbound call support. They’re a conventional model that offers a solution for traditional customer needs. However, modern customers require modern support. Traditional call centers are much more limited than contact centers, especially if the contact center is omnichannel.
• An omnichannel contact center provides expanded support to meet modern needs and expectations, creating a more cohesive customer experience and a more streamlined business operation.

Take a look at some of the differences between traditional call centers vs. omnichannel contact centers.

Types of contact centers

Companies can use various types of contact centers, from multi-channel to omnichannel contact centers. As the name suggests, multichannel contact centers can handle customer communication across many channels. However, they lack the technology or processes to integrate all of those customer communications into a streamlined platform. 

Omnichannel contact centers integrate all of the customer’s communications and inquiries into a single platform, allowing team members to view the entire history of a customer’s contact and provide exceptional service, reduce handling time and increase customer satisfaction.

With a traditional call center or multi-channel contact center, customers may have to reach out several times to get their request handled. Each time, they’ll be stuck re-explaining their situation — and what other agents told them previously — repeatedly, increasing frustration and handling time. 

With an omnichannel center, each team member can see the previous communications by each customer, quickly get up to speed (without needing the customer to re-explain themselves!) and solve problems quickly and effectively.

Omnichannel contact center benefits

Studies have shown that customers who receive good customer care are 3.5x more likely to make repeat purchases. Not just that — 32% of American consumers say they would stop shopping at a brand they loved after just one bad customer experience. After a few bad experiences? 59% of consumers would walk away from the brand.

It’s obvious, then, that providing superior omnichannel support isn’t just for your customers — it’s also to benefit your sales and retention strategies. 

There are many benefits of an omnichannel contact center, including: 

• Improved brand consistency and messaging across all customer communication
• Increased sales and growth 
• Superior customer service that gives you a competitive advantage
• Improved customer retention, loyalty, and satisfaction 
• Cost savings for your team, as well as improved KPIs and metrics

Let’s dive into some of the biggest omnichannel contact center benefits.

Better understand the customer journey

The customer journey is the steps your customers take to make a purchase or resolve an issue when they contact your company. To provide exceptional customer service, you need to be familiar with the process a customer goes through to get in touch with you, from the first step of deciding how to contact you all the way to finding a favorable resolution. 

One of the biggest benefits of an omnichannel contact center is the ability to access and understand customer data to help develop, track and understand pain points along the customer journey. 

An omnichannel contact center centralizes all customer communication and data in one place, allowing you to see and analyze the customer journey more easily. It also allows you to improve the customer journey by reducing handle time and increasing first-contact resolutions.

Improve the customer experience

Did you know that 56% of customers won’t wait on hold for more than 2 minutes? 

We live in an instant world, and customers expect quick — if not immediate — service and answers. An omnichannel contact center allows you to improve customer experiences through faster resolution, integrated systems and a streamlined process. 

Everyone hates waiting on hold. But if customers can contact you via web chat, Facebook DM or text, they won’t have to. What’s more, responding to customers via chat is often much faster than a phone call, reducing overall handle time and allowing contact center agents to help more customers. 

It’s always frustrating to repeat your situation repeatedly to different agents as you try to solve your problem. But with integrated omnichannel contact center technology, customers won’t have to. Your agents will know exactly what’s already been communicated to the customer and won’t have to rely on tedious questions to solve the customer’s problem. 

All of this saves the customer time and energy and creates loyal customers.

Optimize contact center KPIs

An omnichannel contact center is useful for customers and one of the best ways to optimize contact center systems and KPIs. 

Another benefit of omnichannel contact centers is the ability to streamline internal processes, reducing overhead costs and improving KPIs. Whether you’re tracking average handle time, first contact resolutions, abandonment rate, CSTAT or other call center metrics, an omnichannel contact center solution can provide you with the data and technology to improve important KPIs.

Improve control over costs

An omnichannel contact center may initially seem more costly and time-consuming than having agents dedicated to specific channels, but it’s actually a more cost-effective approach. 

Omnichannel contact center tools direct routine inquiries away from human agents so they can spend their time and expertise solving the most complicated issues. This helps operational efficiency and cost control by maximizing agent productivity and reducing staffing requirements. In turn, omnichannel contact center efficiency can boost Net Promoter Score (NPS) and other metrics that correlate directly to revenue. Strong omnichannel-focused solutions have proven to increase annual revenue by 9.5% year-over-year!

Implementing an omnichannel contact center also optimizes resource allocation and streamlines operational costs. By consolidating communication channels, contact centers can reduce infrastructure expenses and minimize the need for disparate systems. This centralized approach saves money and provides more precise insights into expenditure for more informed budget management.

Make agents more efficient

Omnichannel contact center agents have a unified view of all customer interactions across channels. This unified data can increase employee productivity by 10%! With integrated customer data readily available, agents can quickly access customer histories and preferences, resolve issues faster, increase first-contact resolution rates and reduce average handling times. On top of that, omnichannel contact centers don’t need to switch between multiple systems, which saves even more time and error.

Access deeper consumer insights

Centralized customer interactions lead to more complete customer behavior and preference data. An omnichannel contact center integrates CRM systems and analytics tools, providing invaluable insights into consumer trends and pain points across various touchpoints. These insights empower more tailored services and marketing strategies, which may increase customer engagement and satisfaction.

Multichannel vs. omnichannel contact centers

People have a tendency to confuse multichannel and omnichannel contact centers. While they share similarities, they take different approaches to managing customer expectations.

• The goal of a multichannel contact center is to have a presence across many channels without the focus on integrating the experience. Each communication channel operates independently and may be managed by different teams or systems. Without channel integration, customers may experience disjointed service when switching between channels. For instance, a customer might need to repeat information when switching from email to phone support.
• Omnichannel contact centers reduce redundant tasks and provide customized services based on comprehensive data. In an omnichannel contact center, all communication channels are integrated into a single system for seamless interactions, no matter the channel. Agents can also access a centralized view of customer interactions across channels to provide personalized service and understand the full context of each interaction.

Omnichannel call center best practices

Despite the clear benefits of omnichannel call centers, it’s still important for businesses and organizations to follow omnichannel contact center best practices to get the most benefit and the strongest customer support. 

Here are six best practices to optimize your omnichannel call center and provide standout customer experiences that build loyalty.

1: Structure for brand and service consistency

The stronger and more consistent your brand voice, the more easily recognizable you’ll be — and the more market share you’ll be able to capture. 

Of course, it’s not just your brand voice and communications that need to stay consistent across channels — it’s the entire brand experience. That means if you’re super quick to answer phone calls from customers but never bother to respond to social media messages (despite having a social media presence), customers will have inconsistent experiences with your brand, leading to frustration and decreased brand loyalty. 

A recent survey found that while most call centers aim to answer at least 80% of calls within 20 seconds, more than 60% of companies never respond to customer emails. To optimize your omnichannel contact center practices, aim to make your brand experience consistent across all channels — both in terms of messaging and engagement. A true omnichannel approach will make this much easier by introducing tools and processes to streamline internal and external communications.

2: Outline the customer journey and touchpoints

The integrated data from an omnichannel contact center strategy provides ample data from which you can construct an understanding of various customer journeys. 

Not only that, but you’ll also be able to see all of the customer touchpoints experienced at various stages of the journey — from in-store experiences to phone calls, web chat and website messaging to transactional emails, social media messages and more. 

With this data in front of you, you can develop outlines of all customer touchpoints and align your brand and messaging across them. You can also develop a deeper understanding of the pain points across the customer journey and optimize your omnichannel approach to provide a frictionless experience for customers.

3: Integrate your tools & communications

The best omnichannel contact centers rely on advanced technology to track customer interactions and engagement. Then, that data and communications will be integrated across channels into one seamless platform. 

While this can be limited to just customer communications, it can also be expanded to include online purchases and transactions, reservations, website and mobile app data, product availability, in-store data and more to create a seamless shopping experience at all customer touchpoints.

4: Humanize Your Customer Service

While many claim AI and chatbots are the way of the future (and certainly an important part of your omnichannel strategy), there’s no substitute for the personal touch and empathy of a one-on-one support call with a customer-obsessed team member. In fact, nearly 90% of consumers prefer to speak with a real human when resolving a concern or issue with a business. 

 

At Global Response, we specialize in creating a human-centric partnership powered by technology so that our customer-obsessed brand associates can provide your customers with the highest level of personal attention and care. There are few better ways to build trust with your brand than by providing exceptional customer service where the consumer knows they will be taken care of. 

See how FILA improved brand trust and loyalty and created repeat customers through Global Response’s human-centric omnichannel approach.

5: Track and analyze customer data & preferences

Of course, all of the data that an omnichannel contact center solution can provide does no good if it’s not tracked, analyzed and used. 

One of the best practices for your omnichannel contact center is to use all the data and customer preferences being acquired. This is important not only for your product — what common complaints might be eliminated through a feature fix, a helpful guide on your website or some other means — but also for customer preferences in general. 

Customer preferences evolve over time. New channels might become more important within your omnichannel contact center strategy and older channels might need to be dropped to allocate resources more efficiently. 

In addition, tracking and analyzing customer preferences and history can help you provide a more personalized customer experience in the future, creating more loyalty and happy customers.

6: Personalize the customer experience

Creating a personalized customer experience is one of the best ways to optimize your omnichannel contact center strategy. 

Customers expect speedy service that understands who they are, what they want and what their needs are. The best way to know the answers to those questions and provide solutions? Pay attention to what your customers are already telling you. 

By analyzing customer data and history, including how they contact you, what questions they’re asking, what products or services they’ve been interested in the past, what issues they’re running into and more, you can discover how to best personalize their experience in the future. 

The more personalized the experience, the quicker and more effective the customer service resolution.

How to transition to an omnichannel call center

It’s easier than you think to transition to an omnichannel call center. Most companies with existing call centers or contact centers can make the transition within 4-8 weeks. If you have a complicated existing call center, the process may take slightly longer, but with the right tools and processes from your new omnichannel contact center, the transition will be easy and smooth. 

When onboarding with Global Response, the process is carefully managed by an experienced project management professional, ensuring that your onboarding and transition process is as smooth as possible. 

Once you’re ready to onboard or transition to an omnichannel call center, there are five key elements or stages that will be worked through: 

1. Technology: Our team will work with you to ensure our technology stack integrates with your current tech and to onboard your team’s customer communications into our tools and tech platforms.
2. Recruiting and hiring: We make sure that our agents are dedicated to your business and become brand specialists — which means we’ll recruit and hire dedicated agents committed to your brand. 
3. Training: We’ll make sure your new brand specialists are trained on best practices for call center and omnichannel contact center management, customer service, your brand guidelines and culture and everything else they need to know.
4. Transition to production: Once the above steps are completed, we’ll be ready to fully transition your contact center management to our Global Response team. They’ll handle omnichannel contact center management, voice calls, help desk tech support and more.
5. Measurement and reporting: Our involvement doesn’t end once you’re up and running. Our experienced leaders make sure we’re measuring the KPIs necessary to take your business to the next level and will analyze and report on customer data and service analytics to grow your brand and optimize our contact center processes.

Key features of omnichannel contact center software

An effective omnichannel contact center begins with excellent software that can consolidate and unify customer communication — but with all the options out there, it’s hard to know what you really need. Here are a few key features an omnichannel cloud contact center software needs to have for maximum impact:

• Easy channel integration: Integrates communication channels so customers can switch without losing context
• CRM integration: Integrates with CRM systems to enhance customer profiles with additional behavior and preference insights and aligns customer support efforts with sales activities 
• Collaboration tools: Offers internal messaging, collaboration tools and access to shared knowledge bases and internal resources to help agents solve issues efficiently 
• Scalable and flexible: Can scale and be customized to meet the needs of all business sizes and needs
• Based in the cloud: Provides remote accessibility, scalability and cost efficiency by reducing the need for significant infrastructure investments
• Reliable security: Protects customer data, complies with regulations and offers role-based access controls so only authorized personnel can see sensitive customer information
• Self-service capabilities: Provides customers with instant solutions like AI chatbots and similar resources
• Customer journey data: Yields customer journey insights to identify trends, pain points and opportunities for improvement
• Performance reporting: Offers detailed analytics on KPIs such as average handle time, first call resolution and customer satisfaction and real-time dashboards

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