Multimodal: A New Mindset for Customer Service – Jason Alley of Interactive Intelligence looks at how Multimodal can improve your customer service.
Multimodal? New? Wait, that term has been floating around the contact centre industry for years… Yep, that’s right. The challenge is, it means different things to different people and is often seen from a dated and/or narrow lens. Some think of it as adding mobility to the customer service mix. Others use it interchangeably with multichannel and/or omnichannel.
If we take a step back and think about multimodal in the context of customer service in the digital revolution, it means so much more. It’s one of our trends in our new eBook, 5 Tech Trends Redefining the Customer Experience.
Here is a working definition I’d like to propose for multimodal customer service in the 21st century: providing short, targeted bytes of information to customers – in the form of content and/or personal interaction – incorporating an optimal combination of communication modes (aural, gestural, linguistic, spatial, visual) and channels (chat, video, voice, email, social, mobile, Web) to effectively resolve a specific customer service need in the shortest amount of time possible within a single/the same interaction.
The need for speed
According to Forrester research, 73 percent (of online, U.S. adults) say valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good service.1 Most of us can relate – time is often our scarcest resource. This is where “…in the shortest amount of time possible,” becomes important in the definition.
Targeted multimodal CONTENT
Creating short, targeted bytes of content using an optimal mix of modes of communication is key to meeting the need for speed. It dramatically reduces comprehension time and, thus, speeds progress. Think about how we consume news stories.
How our kids and grandkids learn science and math. How we approach fix-it projects at home. The simultaneous use of words, images, sounds and video makes it much easier to understand the subject and get to the desired outcome. Heck, even a non-handy guy like myself can watch a YouTube video in a couple of minutes and figure out how to fix stuff. This is exactly the kind of content we need to arm customers and agents with to speed resolution and enhance the experience.
Targeted multimodal PERSONAL INTERACTION
While open access to useful content will help customers better service themselves, there will always be a need for folks to interact with an actual human. These personal interactions must also be reduced to short, targeted bytes of information, and use an optimal mix of communication modes across available channels to resolve the customer’s issue as quickly as possible. This includes being able to effortlessly transition between modes of communication within the same interaction. And, importantly, content can also be used to enhance a personal interaction.
A buddy to omnichannel
Multimodal customer service, as defined, helps deliver a more effective omnichannel experience. Omnichannel for contact centres involves blending all customer communication channels using consistent routing rules, unified reporting and real-time visibility into omnichannel performance. Multimodal content and personal interaction brings life to these channels to help meet customer needs quickly and intuitively.
How to proceed – Here are five steps you can take to get started:
1. Brainstorm ideas: Pull a tiger team together to start thinking about ways to speed customer progress via effective use of communication modes and channels.
2. Test theories: Identify use cases that short, targeted multimodal content and personal interaction tactics can be developed for and tested against.
3. Create strategy and plan: Expand the team to include additional stakeholders to develop a comprehensive multimodal customer service strategy and plan.
4. Execute plan: Begin executing on plan, including the development of a modern resource centre to hold newly created multimodal content.
5. Evaluate and refine: Define metrics to evaluate effectiveness, and refine content and personal interaction strategies to improve performance.
So go ahead. Be a change agent and help your company develop a new multimodal mindset for customer service.
Additional Information
Jason Alley is a Senior Solutions Marketing Manager for Interactive Intelligence.
To download Interactive Intelligence’s eBook ‘Omnichannel Is No Longer Optional’ Click Here
For additional information on Interactive Intelligence visit their Website or view their Company Profile
1Forrester, “Trends 2016: The Future of Customer Service,” 2016
