96% of people across the UK have access to the internet, and 50.9 million people in the UK use social media platforms. Because digital channels are so widespread, almost every company uses them to engage with current or prospective customers, whether it’s through Facebook, virtual assistants, or WhatsApp.
However, several engagement channels lead to siloed data stored across various platforms. Not only does this cause confusion for sales team members and the customer service team, but the customer journey lacks personalisation and clarity. This situation is common among social housing providers.
You can find out more about creating a single view of the customer here.
Giving customers a choice of channel ensures customer satisfaction through high levels of convenience and trust, paired with minimal effort. By maximising customer satisfaction early in the customer journey, housing providers are empowered to help their tenants when they’re in need of support.
Microsoft Dynamics 365’s omni-channel experience combines customer data across channels and line-of-business applications, to resolve issues faster with the help of productivity tools. Customers can seamlessly navigate through self-service, peer-to-peer service and assisted-service channels, while receiving the same customer experience.
By instantly connecting with customers across a range of channels including Live Chat and SMS, Dynamics 365 Omni-channel for Customer Service has the opportunity to drastically improve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Contextual customer identification, real-time notification, integrated communication and agent productivity tools like KB integration, search, and case creation are all included in Omni-channel for Customer Service to maintain effectiveness of the sales and customer service teams.
Orlo - a digital conversion management platform that integrates with Dynamics 365 - brings together all digital conversations into one inbox. This means customers can still take their pick of a selection of channels, while the customer service team saves time with the centralised system. Sales team members can be assigned messages, can add notes, and set up validation processes before sending messages out.
Orlo elevates social media insights by combining them with the rich data within an existing CRM system. This allows housing providers to access all key information, including social behaviour, without changing apps. As a Microsoft Premium Partner that is able to integrate with Dynamics 365, the data combined through Orlo can be visualised using Microsoft’s Power BI, to improve monitoring and analysis. Alongside this, the Performance Analytics solution instantly provides customisable reports to further understand customer progress.
Portals are dedicated self-service websites that can act as a customer engagement or information hub. Queries, bookings, appointments, and documents can be managed through portals, as well as an area for Live Chat or knowledge-based articles. They are key to driving customer engagement, so tenant forums can be set up for help requests, or to build a community.
Portals are easy to get started with and are cheaper than alternative engagement methods. The portal can stay with tenants for their whole journey, which improves overall satisfaction. Bookings and requests are quicker and easier to make, and the centralised system keeps tenants informed.
While an omni-channel experience for customers is essential to satisfaction levels, omni-channel internal operations can revolutionise the way a housing association serves its customers.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 integration can transform contact centres into a cloud-based, omni-channel system which allows contact centre agents to access tenant information remotely. Not only is this essential when working from home, it is also key when visiting customers.
Contact centre agents can respond to customer via Dynamics 365, via phone, video call, email, chat or more. By integrating internal contact centre operations, customers have a quicker and more accurate response. This solution can include reason codes, an agenda, customer recognition and the customer queue, to equip the sales and customer service teams with the right information to do their job.
Agent Scripts streamline customer engagement by providing guidance on responses to customer queries – ensuring consistency of messages. By maintaining accurate, company-approved responses, customer care is more efficient and effective. The sales or marketing team can create a set of standard responses than can be sent as text instructions, macro, or agent scripts. By equipping the customer service or sales teams with a short description of the required step, users can keep track of what has been done with the actionable icons – ensuring nothing has been missed from the process. This is another form of customer engagement that can be integrated with Dynamics 365.
Omni-channel customer experiences offer choice of channel for tenants – improving overall satisfaction. But while omni-channel methods are beneficial for customers, housing providers benefit from well-rounded responses, shorter waiting times, and streamlined operations by using Dynamics 365 and Orlo integration.