<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nOmnichannel support is a definite improvement over traditional support paradigms that focused mainly on the phone and then, at some point, email. The introduction of live chat improved the customer service experience, giving the customer a way to initiate an \u201cinstant\u201d conversation from the website without having to place a call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Artificial intelligence (AI) and bots improved this paradigm even more. Now, when a customer service agent was not immediately available, a customer could often self-serve to simple answers via a bot booked up to a knowledge base. AI could also route customer queries to the correct agent or department in the first place, speeding up the efficiency of the customer service organization and the customer\u2019s experience as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Basically, the promise of omnichannel support is that customers can choose to contact customer service organizations on whichever channel is most convenient. But omnichannel support is a limited idea if it\u2019s not matched with sophisticated messaging options. Today\u2019s customers gravitate to conversations that occur in a messaging format (such as in-app messaging) and strongly prefer when conversations can be asynchronous: meaning that the customer can exit the conversation and return to it later without losing and momentum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, if a brand\u2019s various customer service channels are not connected, the omnichannel support approach backfires. The customer experience is siloed from channel to channel, and the support organization is inefficient and expensive. After all, it shouldn\u2019t be about paying for more and more customer service channels. It should be about connecting channels to make the operation more efficient and economical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n