June 28, 2021
Previously, a business’s success depended on its product. A company that provided a great, well-rounded product was one of the top competitors; however, those days are long gone. With today’s consumers expecting complete control over their buying experience, the market’s top competitors are those who provide the best customer experience.
For many companies, this means implementing an omnichannel experience. By connecting a brand’s offline and online experience, customers are provided with a single and seamless interaction that spans the entire customer lifecycle—from a website visit to in-person assistance.
With customers interacting with your brand from a variety of platforms, it’s crucial that your customer service extends to each one. In fact, the most forward-thinking companies are those who have given customers a way to email an issue one day and pick up the same issue via text messaging the next day.
While many brands are working to make themselves more available to customers, many struggles to find both a strategy and platform that provides the level of support today’s consumers demand. That’s where Microsoft Dynamics 365 comes in. Below, we’ll review the features of the solution and how it enables you to provide the instant gratification your customers expect.
What is Omnichannel?
The terms multichannel and omnichannel are often used interchangeably; yet, these terms are very different.
Multichannel support provides customers with more than one way to interact with your brands such as social media, live chat, or email. However, each channel is its own silo; information is rarely shared between the various platforms. Usually, when a customer contacts your company through one channel, a ticket is created by the team operating that channel. However, if they contact you again through another channel, another ticket is created, forcing customers to repeat information which creates a fragmented experience.
Omnichannel shifts the perspective away from ticket resolution to customer relationship building. The approach allows customers to switch between channels while still providing consistent customer support. When done correctly, omnichannel support ensures customers have 24/7/365 to support across each of your channels which drastically increases customer satisfaction.
Dynamics 365’s Omnichannel Experience
Those looking to provide an omnichannel experience with D365 can do so easily. The solution can be modified to configure live chat, SMS text message, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WeChat, WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, and other popular platforms together to share information. Once configured, data and information from chat transcripts, emails, text messages, and file attachments are easily accessible to customer support teams.
With all this information available within a single platform, customer service agents are able to see all previous conversations without losing context, enabling them to provide more responsive service. For customers, questions or issues are answered or resolved more quickly on their preferred channel which increases overall satisfaction.
In addition to deep integration with popular platforms and applications, D365 also features:
Automated messages, surveys, and customer conversation options for voice call.
Up to 10 active chat sessions with multiple tabs open inside a single session. This enables representatives to access customer account, case history, current cases, etc.
Chat notifications which must be accepted by the customer service agent.
Internal-facing messaging platform where agents can get additional help without the customer’s knowledge.
Assigned point values signaling to representatives which interactions need to be hit.
Knowledge articles that can be created based on chat notes, each of which are saved on a timeline for fast, easy contact.
Ability to forward chat sessions or messages to a supervisor or direct them to a different queue.
Utilizing these features, you’re able to build seamless flows between your marketing and sales channels, creating an omnichannel customer service experience.
Omnichannel Licensing Information
To take advantage of the features within D365, you must have a Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise license. Currently, the omnichannel license is not included with the D365 Customer Service Professional license. This license is $95 per month.
Next, you’ll need to purchase D365’s digital messaging service which is $75 per month. However, if you only want information from web chat, you can purchase the Chat Add-In for $60 per month.
Contact JourneyTEAM for Additional Support
The world of customer service is shifting. What was acceptable yesterday likely won’t be tomorrow, which is why businesses must utilize an omnichannel experience to navigate changing customer expectations.
For any additional questions, please contact JourneyTEAM at (801) 565-9199.
Why JourneyTEAM
JourneyTEAM is an award-winning consulting firm with proven technology and measurable results. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we have extensive knowledge of each of Microsoft’s products including Dynamics 365, SharePoint intranet, Office 365, Azure, CRM, GP, NAV, SL, AX, and can help you tailor the software to fit the exact needs of your organization. We have solutions for sales, marketing, productivity, collaboration, analytics, accounting, security, and more. JourneyTEAM specializes in the industries of Finance, Media & Communications, Capital Equipment, Manufacturing, Installation, and Service. Whether you’re looking for total project support or someone to help you along the way, JourneyTEAM will provide the exact level of support you need.