Digitising the customer experience so that most interactions are technology-driven is a cornerstone of emerging communication practices. However, despite the shift to tech-based customer relations, HubSpot revealed that 90% of customer service leaders found that expectations around quality customer service have risen to an all-time high.
So, whether a customer interacts with your business via a connected device or in-person at your storefront, they are going to expect a consistent experience. This may initially seem daunting; however, it can create an exciting opportunity for businesses that are willing to harness the power of technology.
With the use of Unified Communications (UC) tools, you can start creating a more unified customer experience that establishes a consistent interaction standard. This can help you leverage a competitive advantage that makes it easier to retain and build a loyal customer base since each interaction consists of the same content, functionality and branding across multiple touchpoints and channels.
Let’s discover how your organisation can leverage UC tools to create greater consistency within the customer experience.
What is Unified Communications?
Unified Communications refer to a central platform where multiple teams, including sales and marketing departments, call centre staff, and business support offices can have visibility over customer communications. With all channels (phone calls, live chat, text messaging, and email) in one location, responsibilities like handling customer enquiries, orders and other requests become more streamlined. This makes it easier for your team to locate important customer information and achieve greater consistency in the external experience for your customers. Let’s investigate how.
[H2] How you can achieve greater consistency with Unified Communications
1. Highlight the professionalism of your brand
Customers may not be privy to the internal workings of your organisation, but they can establish a perception of how trustworthy your business is based on how professional your communications seem. If the appearance, branding and experience are consistent, regardless of whether a customer calls, emails, or sends an instant message, this can foster greater brand credibility.
2. Customise approaches
Using UC tools, you can more easily maintain customer interactions while seeking out relevant files and notes, regardless of time, location, device, or who the customer was previously dealing with. This allows you to meet the customer where they are, helping to create a more personalised experience. If you’re able to treat your customers well and meet their needs, not only are they more likely to return to your business, they are more likely to recommend you to others.
3. Facilitate faster resolution of customer issues
The ability to access notes on previous business communications with a customer is important. It allows your team to use this information to deliver improved support and resolve potential issues quicker and more efficiently. The use of UC tools also means that any team member can resume a customer conversation and the likelihood of misplaced information is reduced. You can also help minimise the chance of delays between customer follow-ups with a system that auto-refreshes and allows real-time updates.
4. Provide diversity of choice to customers
When it comes to communication channels, UC can help give your customers the luxury of choice, which in turn facilitates a more consistent experience. Regardless if they prefer email, voice calls, or SMS, your customers can choose the channel that is suitable for them at any point during their engagement with your organisation.
5. Support collaboration between staff and customers
When employees work well with each other and customers, it can result in positive customer experiences. Utilising team collaboration tools can facilitate this by supporting the flow of ideas and information across your organisation. Collecting ideas from team members, customers, and management in one, central platform can allow your business to collect data, gather insights, and implement learning. This, in turn, can also provide an improved customer experience moving forward.
6. Reduce disruptions to service delivery
UC can support your team in making and receiving calls from your business phone number, regardless of whether your team is on the road using a mobile device or at the office using a laptop. That way, employees can take and make calls from multiple places and even switch to alternate devices without disrupting customer communications.
How TBTC Sydney West can help
Solid internal processes and a sound IT infrastructure are generally what creates a positive customer experience. If you want to learn more about how to leverage team collaborations tools like UC to help power your comms, talk to TBTC Sydney West. We can deliver Unified Communications solutions that align with the way you do business. Get in touch to have your business better collaborating.
