5 Omnichannel Outbound Use Cases that Outperform Your Auto-Dialer

A staggering 97% of consumers reject or ignore phone calls from a business or a person they don’t know. Outdated auto-dialers have trained us to press decline when a number we don’t recognize calls. And even as the typical auto-dialer has “progressed” to mimic our area codes or appear familiar, your customers are done falling for the tricks. 

Chugging through lists of callers might appear productive, but it doesn’t get you in front of your customers. Outputs don’t equal outcomes. That’s why we built Sharpen OmniOut – an automated omnichannel outbound tool to make your teams more efficient and to give your customers a better experience. 

The best part? We set out to help you communicate with your customers the way they want to communicate. With omnichannel communication, like SMS and chat in addition to voice, you know your customers get the info they need, how they want it. About 98% of customers open an SMS in the first 5 minutes. And 45% of those people reply, giving you predictable two-way communication with customers.

>> Learn More: Use outbound on any channel to connect with your customers

Why Sharpen’s New Omni Outbound Tool Isn’t Your Average Auto-Dialer

The typical auto-dialer targets crazy outreach numbers, placing thousands of calls knowing that only a small percentage of customers will actually answer. Campaigns revolve around volume. With OmniOut, your agents spend less time waiting around in a queue for customers to (hopefully) answer outbound outreach, and more time handling interactions for customers and prospects who actually need help.

Automate phone calls, text messages, emails, or any combination of channels, to send your customers appointment reminders, ask them to pay a bill, opt-in for deals and promotions, or collect feedback with CSAT surveys. (Among a dozen other use cases.) You can trigger SMS/MMS, emails, or phone calls to an entire list. Or, you can send a one-to-one reminder to a customer at a specific moment in their experience, like when their Invisible Fence® technician is on the way.

OmniOut’s Agentless capabilities use logical sequencing to let you create fully automated experiences for your customers on any channel, so your agents can focus on pre-qualified interactions and your customers can self-serve when it suits them. 

5 Ways You Can Use OmniOut to Improve Customer Service and Grow Revenue

1. Let customers know a technician is on the way

Have you ever spent all day waiting around for the internet installer to finally show up? It was Saturday and you had better things to do, but nope. Instead, you waited on a technician to show up during the last half-hour of your eight-hour install window.

OmniOut solves this customer pain point. Rather than making your customers play a guessing game, create an automated Agentless campaign to send a text when your technicians are en route to a customer’s house. Share an ETA and give your customers a grace period to get home if they’re out and about. They’ll be thankful they weren’t stuck at home all day, and your technicians will show up confident that they won’t have to handle disgruntled customers.

2. Customer feedback and surveys

Collect customer information and feedback with CSAT surveys after an interaction. Use OmniOut to trigger a survey after your agents close a support case or once your sales rep seals the deal. Send a single survey question in a text message, or create a longer survey to use after a complex process, like an implementation. Use OmniOut’s logical sequencing to tailor your delivery and messaging to each customer.

3. Appointment reminders

I rarely remember the dentist appointment I scheduled six months ago. If I’m lucky, they caught me on a good day and I immediately added it to my calendar. But more than likely, I forgot. You have customers just like me. 

Remind your customers about upcoming appointments, so you don’t waste time (and money) on no-shows. Use OmniOut to trigger appointment reminders via text, email, or phone. Drop customers into a campaign flow that sends a quick text message one week out, a follow-up text two days ahead, then leaves a voicemail the day before. 

4. Order confirmations & tracking

Divert inbound calls from your contact center with proactive messaging on shipping and deliveries. Instead of your customers calling in to track down an order, automate shipping notifications to send post-purchase. 

Include details like the date you shipped an order to a customer and tracking information to help them keep tabs on it with self-service. Even trigger a follow-up message to tell the customer when the order is expected to arrive. Keep your customers informed during every step of their experience. 

5. Loyalty program updates

My favorite text messages are the ones that tell me I’m one purchase away from a free cup of coffee. You know the one. It reads something like this: “Thanks for your order today! You currently have 9 stars. Once you hit 10 stars, you get a cup of coffee on us.”

Automate messages and build outbound campaigns to keep your loyal customers in the know. Do they get a discount after spending a certain amount of money with you? Or, do they score points after every purchase? Send updates as your customers gain more points or get closer to their rewards, so you encourage them to keep coming back. 

>> Talk with us: Take your outbound campaigns to the next level with Sharpen