What is an Omnichannel Contact Center and Why Do You Need One?

What is an Omnichannel Contact Center and Why Do You Need One?

No one enjoys repeating themselves, least of all your customers. Whether they call you, chat with you, or ping you on social media, they shouldn’t have to state the details of their issue again and again.

That’s why it’s crucial to provide a seamless, consistent experience that eliminates redundancies across all your customer service channels. An omnichannel contact center can help with that. can help with that.

What is an Omnichannel Contact Center?

An omnichannel contact center uses cloud-based software to unify customer messages from different channels—whether they be from chat, phone, email, SMS, social media, and more—into your customer relationship management system (CRM).

The contact center connects all your customer data so your agents have complete visibility into the history and context of a customer’s issue, even if the conversation moves from channel to channel—reducing the need for the customer to keep repeating information.

For example, a customer may initially reach out via a self-service web chat. They provide their account details and an overview of their concern. Despite going through the self-service options, they still need further support, so they request to get routed to a live agent so they can speak to a “real person”.

Once the agent hops on the call with them, the agent immediately has visibility into the self-service chat history and previous interactions taken on the customer’s account. From here, the agent can immediately jump into giving timely, high-value support only a human can provide.

Benefits of Omnichannel Contact Centers

Let’s dive into the many ways your business can benefit from using an omnichannel contact center:

Better customer experiences

Having an omnichannel contact center allows customers to receive support from their preferred channel. People may use different channels based on context—the phone when they need answers fast, or chat or text when they’re unable to hop on a call.

Providing flexible communication options shows customers that you’re inclusive and accommodating to their needs.

An omnichannel contact center also greatly improves the customer experience from end to end. No matter where the customer starts contact, they can move from channel to channel without having to repeat information.

Since agents have access to contact history from past calls, they pick up where the customer left off last time they called.

This eliminates redundant questions and demonstrates to the customer that you’re receptive and responsive.

Improved customer retention and loyalty

These improvements to quality of life may seem simple, but they have a significant impact on customer experience.

Accommodating a range of customer needs when it comes to communication can make them feel valued and understood. Resolving issues quicker leads to shorter call times. Finally, tailored, seamless, and consistent experiences build stronger customer relationships. This generates repeat business and forges customer loyalty.

They may also recommend your business to friends and colleagues, generating positive word-of-mouth. A glowing reputation can give you an advantage in competitive markets.

Improved agent efficiency

On the agent side, an omnichannel contact center unifies communication channels so agents don’t need to switch between tools or systems.

Call routing drives the right call to the right agent, which helps optimize workloads. Having access to all of the customer’s data and history in one place eliminates repeated questions and shortens call times.

This boosts agent productivity and allows them to serve more customers in a day.

Comprehensive analytics and insights

With omnichannel contact center software, businesses can collect data from all customer interactions across all the different channels., businesses can collect data from all customer interactions across all the different channels.

Data is consolidated into one platform, where it can be grouped into reports and analyzed to help businesses identify trends, optimize processes, and improve customer service. You can get deeper insight into customer pain points, behavior, and preferences.

This information can then be used to brainstorm solutions and innovations, refine existing processes, and continuously improve the customer experience.

Best Practices for Managing an Omnichannel Contact Center

Acquiring sophisticated communication technology is one thing, but maximizing its value is entirely another. Here are some best practices to keep in mind to make the most out of your omnichannel contact center.

Ensure consistent communication and branding

Consistent messaging helps build trust and recognition. Whether a customer reaches out via phone, SMS, email, live chat, or social media, your tone, word choice, and visual branding should remain coherent.

Make sure to establish brand guidelines for all team members to follow, ensuring that every customer touchpoint reflects the same values and message.

Use technology for data integration and analysis

Your omnichannel contact center can gather data from customer interactions across various channels. If analyzed wisely, this data integration enables a holistic view of customer behavior, preferences, and feedback, allowing you to make decisions that drive improved service efficiency.

Train staff for a unified customer service approach

Agents should be equipped not only with technical knowledge but also soft skills such as empathy, active listening, and problem-solving. Encouraging a culture of collaboration among team members can create a unified approach to customer interactions, ensuring that regardless of the communication method, customers receive consistent support.

Key Features of GoTo’s Contact Center Solutions

GoTo Connect offers comprehensive contact center solutions plus all-in-one phone and meeting – encompassing everything businesses need to connect with customers, anywhere.

Our omnichannel contact center offers the following features:

  • Multiple communication channel capabilities. Connect with your customers via phone, email, chat, social media, webchat, WhatsApp, and more for convenient, personalized interactions.
  • AI-powered contact center software. GoTo’s AI-powered contact center can assess customer emotion during interactions by providing sentiment ratings and summaries. This helps you find and fix any gaps in your customer support process.
  • A full suite of integrations. GoTo Connect Contact Center can be integrated with many business tools that you may already have. This streamlines workflows and merges data silos.
  • One unified admin portal. GoTo Connect makes admin processes easy with rich analytics, real-time reporting, and dashboards for supervisors and managers.
  • GoTo’s drag-and-drop dial plan editor. Optimize customer journeys by easily configuring call flows with GoTo’s drag-and-drop dial plan editor.
  • Robust workforce management tools. Use tools like call monitoring and coaching (including whisper, listen, and barge modes), individual agent dashboards, and quality management capabilities to improve team performance and foster an efficient work environment.

Discover why GoTo’s Contact Center is the Best Solution

In summary, the benefits of an omnichannel contact center are twofold: customers receive a smooth, consistent experience, and businesses increase productivity, customer satisfaction and loyalty, and ultimately, revenue.

Plus, consolidating all these functionalities within a single vendor saves you significant time and money.

Take customer communication to the next level with GoTo Connect Contact Center.

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