What are channels?
Customer service channels are the ways in which customers contact you to get service and support. These include social media, phone calls, emails, chats, and self-service tools.
Unified customer support platforms like Kayako bring all of these channels into one place, so your service agents can get full pictures of who is contacting your company and why.
The email and phone channels are still the most popular methods, but live chat, social media, and self-service tools are gaining traction. Tracking the use of these channels can shed light on how your customers prefer to get service.
You can measure which channel is used most by analyzing where the majority of inbound support requests come from.
What is channel usage?
Channel usage is an analysis of how your customers are reaching you:
- How do they get the services they need?
- How do they contact you?
- What mediums are they using?
This all important data to collect and analyze when formulating a channel strategy.
What is a channel strategy?
Channel strategy involves monitoring the channels customers are using. Doing so helps you figure out which channels are working and being used most often, and which ones are not.
Ask yourself, are there channels that are rarely being used? Do some channels make customers frustrated? Keeping an eye on these and forming an effective channel strategy will help you operate more efficiently and cut out frustrating support channels.
Related: 5 Customer Service Channels to consider in your Channel Strategy