What are Contact Center Channels?
In the contact center world, channels refer to the method or communication channel a customer uses to interact with a business and their customer service agents. Inbound phone calls were once the predominant channel, but the digital age has fundamentally changed the way consumers and organizations communicate. Now, customers expect a variety of support channels to choose from, including chat, email, text message (SMS), video, self-service and more. Consumers can also self-serve, for example, through a company's website or app. Phone interactions are still prevalent, but digital channels are catching up.
Entities that support multiple channels are called contact centers (as opposed to call centers, which only handle voice interactions). Agents within contact centers may specialize in one channel or may be multi-channel, meaning they are able to take contacts in more than one channel. Multi-channel agents give contact centers more flexibility, as they can be deployed according to fluctuating channel volumes and can create more personalized customer interactions.
Offering multiple channels is a good first step towards meeting customers how and when they want to be met. But too often multiple channels are implemented in silos, meaning that one channel doesn't know what happened in a different channel. For example, a customer may call after already emailing a company and the phone agent may not have any visibility to the email. This makes for a bad customer experience. A concept called omnichannel solves this by allowing customers and agents to move seamlessly across channels.
What are the common customer service channels?
In today's digital age, businesses have many customer support channels through which they can offer customer service. These common customer service channels provide multiple touchpoints for customer interactions and ensure that contact center agents can meet their customers wherever they are in their customer journey, offering convenience and enhancing overall customer satisfaction.
In the realm of customer service, the diversity and accessibility of support channels are paramount for catering to the varied preferences and needs of customers. By employing the right customer service channels, businesses can significantly enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. Here's a look at the common channels through which businesses offer multichannel customer service, ensuring effective communication and support at every step of the customer journey.
Telephone Support
Telephone support remains a cornerstone of customer service, offering a direct and personal connection between customers and service agents. This channel is ideal for complex issues that require detailed discussion.
Email provides a formal channel for customer queries and complaints, allowing for detailed explanations and the submission of relevant documentation. It’s suitable for non-urgent issues that require thorough responses.
Live Chat Support
Live chat support combines the immediacy of telephone support with the convenience of digital communication. It's perfect for customers seeking quick answers while browsing a website.
Social Media Platforms
Social media platforms have become vital customer service channels, enabling businesses to engage with customers publicly and privately. They are essential for reputation management and timely responses.
Self-service Portals
Self-service portals empower customers to find answers and resolve issues on their own by accessing FAQs, knowledge bases, and forums. This channel is ideal for tech-savvy customers who prefer quick, self-directed solutions.
Text Messaging (SMS)
Text messaging (SMS) offers a direct and convenient way to reach customers for updates, reminders, and brief queries. It’s highly effective for time-sensitive communication and appeals to mobile users.
Chatbots and Virtual Assistants Powered by Artificial Intelligence
AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants provide instant, automated responses to customer inquiries, available 24/7. They're perfect for handling common questions, freeing human agents for more complex issues.
Selecting and optimizing the mix of these customer service channels based on customer data and preferences can significantly enhance the effectiveness of a business's customer service strategy, ensuring that customers receive the support they need through their preferred channels.
How NICE can help
NICE CXone is the market-leading call center software used by thousands of customers of all sizes worldwide to help them consistently deliver exceptional customer experiences. We provide solutions to support a business' preferred channels or any number of channels. CXone is a cloud native, unified suite of applications designed to help a company holistically run its call (or contact) center operations. CXone includes:
Omnichannel Routing – routing and interaction management that empowers agents to positively and productively interact with customers in digital and voice channels. These solutions include an automatic call distributor (ACD), interactive voice response (IVR), interaction channel support and proactive outbound dialer.
Workforce Optimization – unlocks the potential of your team by inspiring employees' self-improvement, amplifying quality management efforts to enhance customer experience and reducing labor waste. These solutions include workforce management (WFM), quality management (QM), recording and performance management (PM).
Open Cloud Foundation – enables rapid innovation with an extensible enterprise-grade platform that scales securely, deploys quickly and serves customers of all sizes globally. We guarantee an industry-best 99.99% availability and offer easy customization through RESTful APIs and DEVone developer program.
CXone also includes pre-defined CRM integrations and UCaaS integrations with most leading solutions on the market. These integrations provide a holistic call center software solution capable of elevating customer experiences for companies of all sizes.
