The omnichannel catch 22
Gone are the days of the one-size-fits-all phone number for customer service. Today, you need to meet customers where they are, and provide extraordinary experiences when you meet them there.
Customers today are highly diversified — across different demographics and geographies — so it’s impossible to ignore that their communication preferences are going to vary. Some customers may want to pick up the phone and reach a real human ASAP. Others may prefer to use your mobile app. And some may not want to be torn away from their social media feed.
In the same way you niche your brand to better target customers for sales, you need to look at where your customers live. How do you show up where you’re easily accessible? And, even more challenging, how do you manage the cost channels require?
You know it’s expensive to be present on multiple channels and give customers a high quality experience. As a business leader, you need to limit scope creep, manage expectations, and think about your resources — which often translates into limiting your support channels, hours, or response times.
It feels like there’s no winning: either your resources are spread too thin to provide great service or your great service is limited. Regardless, your customer experience suffers.
But this does not have to be the case with AI customer service.
