Today's consumers want to connect with brands whenever they want, wherever they are. But embracing an omnichannel approach can be a CX-damaging ordeal for businesses — here's why, and more importantly, how to avoid the problem entirely.
In theory, providing an omnichannel experience sounds ideal; however a customer chooses to contact a brand — whether it be via chat app, text, email — no message will be left behind, no sale opportunity ever missed. It's a 'win-win' for everyone, right? Not quite.
With all those channels feeding into brand's customer services systems, there's a risk of agents becoming overwhelmed with no way of wrangling customer messages coherently, never mind effectively. The bitter irony is that instead of optimizing CX, such a tangle of communications risks harming it. In turn, this could lead to irate customers who find themselves, say, waiting too long for an agent to join that insufferable web chat.
Critically, such inefficiencies could prove to be devastating for a business as 67% of customers are willing to switch brands after a single negative experience. As for Net Promoter and Customer Satisfaction Scores, expect them to take a serious hit too. All in, the seeming 'win-win' scenario offered by the omnichannel could become 'lose-lose' very quickly.
Unpicking the omnichannel knot with tyntec's Conversations Inbox
To ensure brands not only survive but thrive in an omnichannel world, Conversations Inbox offers an easy-to-use, intuitive but powerful platform designed to bring order to the potential chaos. It enables companies to:
- Answer customer inquiries coming from any connected channel
- Engage the lead/customer throughout the entire customer journey
- Send and broadcast messages to opted-in customers and leads
- Manage missives from WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger, and more.
Top 5 features of tyntec's Conversations Inbox
The solution features several tools and processes that put brands in total control of their omnichannel presence as well as agent organization and deployment:
1. Managing customer conversations
Agents can manage two-way conversations on different channels in one place via the solution's main 'Inbox' area. This displays all conversations, no matter the channel, enabling agents to view, monitor and answer customer queries in moments, not minutes.
Better still, agents can assign conversations with the click of a mouse button, either answering queries themselves or, if busy, passing them on to an available agent or virtual assistant.
For more information about managing conversations in real time, head to tyntec's guide here.
2. Exchanging messages
One of the omnichannel's greatest challenges is quickly responding to customers once they have connected with the brand. Typically, agents must switch between different platforms and portals depending on the messaging channel. tyntec's Conversations Inbox removes such hurdles, replacing them with a one-stop solution where all messaging channels are displayed within a single window.
When replying to a customer inquiry, agents can type a response into Conversations Inbox's text field or deploy a standardized quick reply. If starting a conversation, message templates can also be created quickly (and approved if required) before being dispatched. Such powerful functionality leads to greater agent efficiency as well as hugely improved issue resolution times.
Learn more about Conversations Inbox's quick replies with tyntec's comprehensive tutorial here.
3. Broadcasting messages
Conversations Inbox allows single messages to be broadcast to multiple opted-in customers at once via chat app. For instance, the WhatsApp Business API (which comes as standard with tyntec's solution) enables bulk messaging through the use of approved message templates. While these templates must feature standardized text, they can be personalized using numbered placeholders. These represent the message's variables that can be replaced with customer names, dates, times, even special characters.
Targeted customer lists can also be created within Conversations Inbox in moments. Simply import contacts from an external source such as a CRM before assigning the approved message template to them for broadcasting.
Discover how to leverage Conversations Inbox's powerful bulk messaging solution by reading tyntec's in-depth guide here.
4. Deepening collaboration
Managing personnel more efficiently is vital to a successful omnichannel strategy. Conversations Inbox's 'Teams' feature allows brands to effortlessly organize agents into different groups dependent on criteria such as their region, language or specialization using a simple five-step process:
- Teams Management Head over to ‘Teams’ in the menu under ‘Navigation’. Here you see all teams that are already setup.
- Add a new team Select the orange ‘Add’ button on the top.
- Team details In the first step, fill-in the details about your team.
- Team channels Select the channels your team is assigned to. Note that only those channels will be visible to the team.
- Team members Select the agents you want to assign to the team.
Additionally, a unique email address is assigned to each team so they never miss a notification again. More importantly, Conversations Inbox also offers an internal chat option, enabling agents to talk to each other without the need for costly third party chat tools. Combined, this helps foster a more collaborative environment where teams can, for instance, ask for help from colleagues or share difficult cases with one another. The net result? Better morale coupled with faster support response times
Uncover how to boost agent collaboration levels with Conversations Inbox by heading to tyntec's guide here.
5. Creating auto replies
While customers prefer immediate responses to their queries, there are inevitably times when a business has 'shut up shop' for the day. Instead of leaving a consumer waiting on an agent, use Conversations Inbox to deploy auto-reply messages that are synced to the business hours of an individual channel.
This ensures the customer is never left 'hanging on', and instead receives an official 'away' message stating their query has been received and will be answered within a specific timeframe. It's a small but powerful ability that guarantees the customer is always kept updated, no matter what time of day — or night — it is.
Read tyntec's quick-fire guide to creating auto replies by clicking here.
How to get started with tyntec's Conversations Inbox
Such a raft of powerful functionality may suggest a potentially lengthy and complex implementation period but Conversations Inbox is designed to be quick to set up with zero dev work required. Featuring WhatsApp Business functionality by default, other existing channels can be integrated including Viber, Twitter, Apple Business Chat, and SMS.
Once connected, the channels and their message threads can be viewed under Conversations Inbox's 'Channels' tab. Best of all, tyntec's team is on hand at every stage to offer support and advice whenever you need it!
Make integrations and automations super simple with Conversations Inbox
Such extensive feature sets would be for nothing without the ability to connect Conversations Inbox with existing CX systems such as CRMs or chatbot solutions. It's why tyntec allows customers to effortlessly integrate Conversations Inbox with leading solutions such as:
It’s also possible to create customized integration solutions for proprietary CRMs if required.
Importantly, Conversations Inbox creates two-way conversations between the platform and any CRM system (or chatbot), enabling a brand to automatically sync its customer information and conversations so all CX systems and services remain in exact alignment
Learn more about how leading CRMs can be connected with Conversations Inbox here.
Why mastering the omnichannel matters to both customers and brands
By introducing Conversations Inbox into CX strategies, brands can move beyond the promise — and often hyperbole — of the omnichannel and begin experiencing its full benefits from the get-go, whether it's aiding agents perform their roles more effectively or delivering fantastic customer experiences. Critically, in this CX-focused world, such versatility is now essential, as tyntec’s customers have already experienced with Conversations Inbox, from Lidl and Decathlon to Total and Die Post.
After all, according to Salesforce, 91% of customers say they are more likely to make a repeat purchase after a positive experience, while 71% say they have made a purchase decision based on the quality of their experience. With Conversations Inbox, companies can deliver optimized omnichannel experiences to their customers as well as provide a platform for their agents to flourish on. All in one place.
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