Featured Image for the blog: 16 Statistics on Why Omnichannel is the Future of Your Contact Center and the Foundation for a Top-Notch Competitive Customer Experience

*Click* The call drops, and so does my stomach. After waiting on hold for 45 minutes, I  finally started a conversation with a real person. Someone who was going to help me with my overpriced bill. She was walking me through the first steps to get the issue resolved and then…call dropped. 

Before I reached her, no one had taken my name or given me a case number. So, I thought, what are the odds my details are recorded or remembered? And how will I get back to that same agent? She’s probably already moved on to the next ticket and new customer. 

Download Now: What questions should you ask before diving into new technology? Take a look at our 101 questions to ask when evaluating your new contact center platform.

I dread these situations. I’ve wasted my entire lunch break trying to get help from customer service departments without resolution. Bad experiences like this leave a bad taste. It’s hard to make purchases or use services from brands that don’t value customer experience.

And, when it comes to making a purchase, 64% of people find customer experience more important than price. Customer experience matters. It can make all the difference in customer retention, revenue and competition.

Omnichannel Service is the Foundation of Good CX (Research Proves it)

Considering my poor service experience, it didn’t even matter if the agent I talked to was prepared and capable. By the time I reached her in person, my touchpoints with the company left me close to a breaking point. 

Aside from the issue — an incorrect bill — I didn’t get an email back from my initial complaint. And my phone call was a maze through their IVR system, pressing button after button just to get to someone who would listen. 

These bumps along the way can make it impossible for the customer service rep at the end of the line to salvage the relationship. Excellent interactions — consistently and across all touchpoints — are the foundation of an effective customer experience. Each step of the customer journey impacts the potential for long-lasting customer relationships. 

Without adequate channels and processes to enable quality engagement, all other aspects of the customer journey can be unwittingly blunted.

Download Now: Use the Data Living in your Contact Center to Build Better Customer Experience Strategies

 

Today’s customers don’t only demand the best from products and services, they also demand the best from people and systems. They demand access to your brand when and how they want it. And they crave an experience more personalized and seamless than the last. 

Providing an excellent customer experience across all available channels — from pre-purchase to post- isn’t just a nice thing to do. It’s essential to maintaining success and staying one step ahead of the competition, and there’s research to prove it.

We did the research for you and compiled a list of 16 statistics on why omnichannel service is important to your customer experience.

1. Omnichannel customers spend 4% more in-store and 10% more online than single-channel customers. For every additional channel they use, customers spend more money. (Harvard Business Review)

2. Nine out of 10 consumers want an omnichannel experience with seamless service between communication methods. (UC Today)

3. Almost three-fourths of all consumers – 71% –  want a consistent experience across all channels, but only 29% say they actually get it. (Gladly)

4. Some 60% of companies think they’re providing a good mobile experience, but only 22% of consumers feel the same. (Temkin Group)

5. Businesses that adopt omnichannel strategies see 91% higher year-over-year customer retention rates compared to businesses that don’t. (Aspect Software)

Put your customers and agents at the heart of your omnichannel strategy to see the best results and a return on your investment

 

6. More than 60% of Americans prefer solving basic customer service issues through a self-service website or app. (American Express)

7. Approximately 60% of millennials expect consistent brand experiences—whether in-store, online or by phone. (SDL)

8. Some 73% of consumers shop on more than one channel. (Harvard Business Review)

9. Nearly 80% of consumers have made a purchase using a mobile device in the last six months. (Outer Box Design)

10. As many as 85% of digital consumers start the purchasing workflow on one device yet finish it on another. (Google)

11. Nearly half of all companies (44%) have already moved to a digital-first approach for customer experience. (IDG)

12. Almost 90% of retail leaders agree a seamless omnichannel strategy is critical to business success. (Research Live)

Download Now: See how Sharpen stands out among competitors — the cloud-native, omnichannel platform that best supports your contact center and customers

 

13. One-third of consumers who ended their relationship with a company last year did so because their experience wasn’t personalized enough. (Accenture)

14. Up to 90% of consumers expect companies to have an online portal for customer service. (Microsoft)

15. More than 50% of consumers would rather text for customer support than call, if given the option between the two. (CustomerThink)

16. The number of companies investing in the omnichannel experience has jumped from 20% to more than 80% since 2012. (PWC)

Read up: How to meet high customer expectations by creating customer service strategies that put your customers first. 

 

Putting People First in Your CX Strategy

Today’s consumers don’t just buy products or services. More and more, their purchase decisions revolve around buying into an idea and an experience. The research shows that customers value seamless omnichannel service and personalized tools. And, they make purchasing decisions based on interactions that give them both. 

The next time you seek out new technology for your contact center, evaluate it with your omnichannel experience in mind. Get 101 questions to ask vendors in your next RFP.