According to the IMRG and Capgemini, UK consumers are expected to spend £7.75bn online in the five weeks of the Christmas period. Add to this the fact that 35 per cent of consumers plan to do more shopping using their smartphone this Christmas, and its clear that brands need to be ready to provide customer service over multiple channels – whether the phone, web chat, email or social media via smartphones.

Only 28 per cent of organisations have integrated social media into customer service operations, according to recent Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise research conducted at the Social Media and Customer Services Summit. But social media is just one channel – though highly public and influential – through which customers expect excellent customer service.

And as more and more people are accessing social media through multiple devices – Facebook statistics show that around half of its 800m members access the site from a mobile device every day – to be truly effective, organisations must create an integrated multi-approach to customer service, treating social media channels and mobile devices as equally important, and which can have fundamentally powerful business benefits.

Meet your customers where they are
In order to exploit customer communication channels and enhance the customer experience, companies must meet their customers where they are – its essential that you are able to respond to customers via their preferred channel. So if a customer Tweets a query, the best response would be to Tweet in response to show that youve acknowledged their concern, and then solve it appropriately – either publicly or privately – depending on the nature of the issue. This is becoming increasingly important. Research from eDigitalResearch and IMRG shows that sales through Facebook have increased by 9 per cent over the past four months. And with 15 per cent of consumers, according to IBM, accessing retailers websites on web-connected mobile devices in the run up to Christmas, the mobile web – especially sites like Facebook – provides yet another channel through which consumers will be contacting companies this Christmas, and companies need to be ready to respond.

Provide a consistent level of service
Whichever channel customers choose to communicate through, companies need to ensure that they provide a seamless experience and gain a single view of the customer. They need to integrate all customer interactions from any channel across all departments – whether thats marketing, sales or customer service – to deliver a truly satisfying customer experience. And this same experience needs to be delivered regardless of which channel or device the consumer chooses to use, whether a smartphone or tablet. Today’s consumers rely on their smartphones and tablets to be their window to the world, and mobile applications are yet another channel through which customers can be met, and as a result, they should be integrated within a company’s existing customer service strategy in order to appeal to those customers. And then companies can look at creating personalised applications and location-based services for mobile users and start to unleash the power of smartphones in transforming customer engagement.

Build loyalty
81 per cent of customers will question the competency of an organisation if they are asked to repeat information that the organisation already holds. Why? Because increasing customer effort not only decreases customer satisfaction, but more importantly, decreases both customer loyalty and potential increase in spend. Research from the Harvard Business School showed that 20 per cent of “satisfied” customers intended to leave the company in question i.e. were disloyal; but oddly, 28 per cent of “dissatisfied” customers intended to stay – and remain loyal. Why? Loyalty, it found, has more to do with delivering on basic promises than it does with top-end rewards and bonuses. Their research found that it’s all about making it easier for customers to do business with you; reducing your customers effort is what builds loyalty. This year we have had social media and now the increasing use of mobile as new challenges in providing consistent customer service across all channels and devices. But what remains the same is the need for companies to provide a seamless customer experience, and integrate all channels across all departments effectively, in order to promote customer satisfaction and loyalty this Christmas.

Manish Sablok is head of marketing for North Europe at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise