The Omnichannel Customer Service Gap

As part of our analysis of the omnichannel experience today in the report "Omnichannel Marketing: The Key to Unlocking a Powerful Customer Experience," we asked marketers how they provide customer service in each channel, and whether or not they are getting AI involved. The Extent of Omnichannel Customer Service Here's what the marketers had to say: Perhaps not surprisingly, 82 percent of marketers offer live customer service over the phone, 73 percent through email and 52 percent through social media. But only 28 percent offer live service through website chat, and almost none do via virtual assistants (which is an emerging field). Very few respondents are dabbling in AI or AI-assisted customer service. However, 14 percent do so through web chat — which means half of all web chat is being handled by AI. That’s followed by social media and email. Outside of website chat bots, AI customer service is still a rare experience. Also, marketers do not yet seem to consider virtual assistants and smart speakers to be important service channels. Is That Futuristic Enough? I was a bit surprised that service was not offered more frequently in more channels. Only half of respondents said they offer customer service reps via social media. Tiny numbers offered it through website chat or virtual assistants. Is that a wide enough spread of service options to satisfy today's omnichannel customer? Is it enough to be considered "Omnichannel Customer Service"? On the flip side, does limiting those options make for a better service experience? Beyond the number of channels service was offered in, it seems that very few marketers are leveraging AI for customer service in any channels. Helping customers still means connecting them with live CSRs. Is that really the most efficient way to do things? The slower customer service is, the higher the chance you'll lose that customer to a competitor. Offering service on more channels should help you ensure a great experience. Using good AI to assist your CSR's should reduce friction and make the process more efficient. What's holding marketers back here? Is it the fear that an already damaged experience is going to be made worse? Well, I certainly don't think the robots are going to do a worse job than crowdsourcing that service. If you're nervous about creating a chat bot, we've got a great session coming up at the All About Marketing Tech virtual conference that will help you learn the basics and build a chatbot that doesn't suck. Check i out. And for more about how marketers are building their omnichannel customer experiences, click here to download the complete report for free.

Customer Retention

The Omnichannel Customer Service Gap

The Extent of Omnichannel Customer Service

Thorin McGee

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The Extent of Omnichannel Customer Service

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Thorin McGee