Unified Customer Experience

Today’s customer has higher expectations than ever before. They want a high level of streamlined and personalized service at every stage of their journey and at every touchpoint – whether that’s your website, mobile app, chatbot, brick-and-mortar locations, or social media accounts. This is the basic philosophy behind unified customer experience (also known as UCX or unified CX).

But what is UCX, and why is it important? Let’s find out what it is and the benefits of implementing solutions like Adobe’s Unified Customer Experience. 

Scenario A (no unified CX):

Ruth is looking for a new SaaS solution that can accommodate her business’s increasingly complex project management needs. Let’s say Ruth’s first customer interaction is with a chatbot that provides top-level details about pricing tiers, upgrade options, etc. 

After that AI chat, there are no follow-up interactions or calls from the SaaS company’s sales team because the chatbot did not record the interaction or log Ruth’s interest.

When Ruth next calls the sales number, she has to start all over again with the live sales agent, which begins to annoy her. Once the call is finished, she eventually receives a follow-up email, but the pricing isn’t what she and the sales agent talked about. Ruth quickly replies, asking the sales team to explain the discrepancy, but she doesn’t get an answer for days.

At this point, Ruth tries to talk to customer service instead, but since the company’s sales software isn’t linked to its CRM software, the customer service agent has no choice but to refer Ruth back to the sales agent, at which point Ruth’s doubts about the company begin to cement. After all, if they’re this disorganized about getting a sale, she can’t imagine what their customer service will be like. 

After two weeks of chasing the SaaS company for a follow-up, Ruth goes with another company.

Scenario B:

Now here’s what Ruth’s experience would be like if the company provided a streamlined omnichannel experience:

1. Ruth reaches out to a chatbot to ask about pricing.
2. The chatbot collects Ruth’s data and shares it with the sales team. 
3. Armed with all the details of the interaction, sales reaches out to Ruth and gives a more personalized service offering. 
4. Once the call has ended, an automated email is sent to Ruth with the details of the call, including the correct pricing. No follow-up from Ruth is needed, and the sale goes through.
5. The next time Ruth reaches out to the company’s contact center, the support agent can see every touchpoint on her account and can therefore offer a tailored service that eliminates all friction and eventually leads to brand loyalty.

In both scenarios, Ruth interacts with the same SaaS company on various customer channels, but in scenario A, there was nothing bridging the gap between the technologies being used. This caused information silos and, even worse, poor service.

In scenario B, Ruth’s customer journey was seamless because her data was accurate and up-to-date no matter how she reached out or who she talked to. This, above all else, was what Ruth appreciated the most: efficiency, consistency, convenience, and personalization.

So when we talk about what unified customer experience is, we really mean setting up your technology as a united front to offer your customers bespoke treatment every time.

Benefits of a Unified CX

While retention and loyalty are the ultimate purpose of UCX, unified customer experience management presents a multitude of benefits to your business:

Cost Savings

Streamlining your business efforts does more than lower customer frustration. Integrating all your systems helps to avoid duplication or redundant employee activity, which saves time and money. Plus, when customers have faith that no matter how they reach you, they get the same answer, they’ll be more likely to use self-serve options, which lowers your live agent costs.

Operational Efficiency

Eliminating mundane tasks through technology helps agents provide faster solutions for customers. Through a unified customer experience, wait times are shorter. Agents have all the data they need to provide exceptional service and look for opportunities to upsell. They’re more likely to enjoy their work when they have all the tools they need to provide value rather than just the bare minimum data needed to de-escalate a problem.

Stronger Brand Consistency

Unifying the CX across all touchpoints ensures a consistent brand vision no matter where or how your customer reaches out. When you meet their high expectations of a personalized customer experience, you increase customer trust and satisfaction in your company, and your brand starts to become synonymous with high-quality service.

Better Data & Insights

According to CX Today, more than 19 in every 20 CX leaders have invested or plan to invest in data integration, data integrity, or data enrichment technologies.
CX technology is designed to collect customer data to be easily shared across departments, which promotes better insights and helps your team anticipate customer needs and behaviors.

For example, using Adobe’s Unified Customer Experience solutions give your team access to AI-driven insights that make it easier to prospect for new customers and fine-tune your strategies to improve the customer journey.

Higher Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty

One of the most important things a unified customer experience strategy does is make the customer’s life easier. Sounds almost flippant in how simple it is, but it’s true: a happy customer is one who doesn’t have to jump through hoops or wait on the phone for hours to be served. Speed, efficiency, and consistency are all easily achieved through automation, AI, and technology.