Delivering a seamless customer experience from one channel to the next

Blogging, tweeting, live-streaming - in the past few years a myriad of channels and apps have been created to communicate and document data, news, brands, work and lives.

"The idea that the omnichannel is complex can certainly create inner anxiety for any business - big and small - especially as it is often emphasised that we have to be on this or other social platform - or go home. Take a breather," says Ebrahim Dinat, COO at South African contact centre solutions provider, Ocular Technologies. "With the right support and a strong omnichannel strategy, it can run smoothly and achieve its desired results for your business."

As with all elements of the contact centre, the purpose of the omnichannel is to satisfy your customers' requirements. Nitin Mangtani, a leading voice in the mobile commerce space, argues that, for retailers and brands, the mobile phone is the true omnichannel device. "It's the one thing that consumers carry with them no matter where they are. They carry their mobile phones while they're sitting at home on their couch, in the office, walking downtown and in your store," he points out. "If there is one experience that you want to get right, it's mobile. It is the unifying experience that brings all these channels together. It is developing every consumer interaction with mobile at its centre, starting with early user experience designs. It means revamping existing e-commerce interactions from the ground up, not simply retrofitting them for mobile." (Why Mobile Is The Solution To An Omni-Channel World, Forbes magazine).

According to Chris O'Brien, digital content manager at Ocular Technologies' partner company, Aspect Software, "customers aren't just demanding more ways to interact, they're demanding a seamless experience from one channel to the next."

She highlights the following five reasons why Aspect believes that the omnichannel effort "might be missing the mark and what you can do to set things right."

1. You are disconnected: Are you locking each self-service channel into a separate silo and preventing a seamless customer experience?

2. You're not engaging your customers where they are: Are you failing to deliver the two-way engagement customers are demanding on social networks?

3. You don't know your customers: Historically, self-service applications were designed with a company's cost savings in mind, not the customer experience. But all that is changing.

4. You're creating obstacles: Patience with "waiting in line" and resolving issues keeps getting shorter; meanwhile customer expectations continue to rise.

5. Your customers don't have "anytime access" to service: If customers can't reach your business when they need help, it doesn't really matter how many different channels you offer.

"Purchases happen when consumers encounter no challenges from first view until end of transaction," adds Dinat. "Delivering an excellent customer experience has become crucial, and this experience includes enabling your technology to reflect in real time a single customer view and changes across all channels - online, mobile and social media, as well as bringing these channels into a store. How great would it be if a customer browsing in store could immediately order a wish item/ size, not in stock, directly on a mobile device by simply scanning a barcode, for delivery at home/ work? The possibilities are endless and span industries - not only retail. Some businesses have already grasped the omnichannel. Unfortunately, others have not. And, with technology innovation at full tilt, now is not the time to be left behind, which is why Ocular Technologies is serious about getting the right reaction for our customers' omnichannel action."