Outbound communication has seen a whirlwind of technological changes. What was once almost entirely driven by voice and dialer technology, has evolved to technologies providing value for the business, while keeping it convenient for the customer. With the widespread use of cost-effective channels like web, email, SMS, or social media, enterprises can tailor their omni-channel outbound strategies to engage every customer via the most optimal channel. Thus, the true value of an outbound campaign is only achieved when contact is established with the intended recipient and in the most efficient manner possible to achieve ROI.

What makes an omni-channel outbound strategy stand out?

An omni-channel outbound strategy is a combination of using multiple channels to communicate the same message across different audiences for a single campaign. It determines the best channel to reach a contact for a specific purpose. For instance, if your campaign targets three different tiers of customers (silver, gold, platinum,) with different offers being promoted to each. Based on the ROI of each of those offers for your business, you want to reach out via a channel that makes the most sense.

Why business value is the key to success

There are two ways ROI will be achieved by employing intelligent omni-channel outbound strategies over cold calling without a clear motive.

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Improving agent efficiency

For businesses that are operating contact centers with hundreds or thousands of outbound agents, every second of their time can be quantified into a hard ROI. By leveraging outbound intelligently, agents can spend a larger percentage of their time having meaningful conversations with customers. Therefore, the objective of every campaign strategy (sales, collections, notifications, etc.) is translated into a hard ROI based on the agent hours worked. Subsequently, to make it an omni-channel effort, automated channels such as email and SMS can be used to produce results without any work required from live agents.

Increasing revenue

The use of an outbound campaign (whether it’s for proactive customer communication or telemarketing and collections) is ultimately aimed at increasing sales and revenue. This varies for different verticals:

In the healthcare industry, many hospitals send reminders to their patients via SMS about upcoming appointments. While appointment messages don’t generate a significant amount of revenue, the SMS gives patients an experience without any complications. It allows them to confirm or cancel the appointment with a simple reply. Within the same campaign, the hospital has patients who are scheduled to undergo major surgery. In this case, the hospital will want to contact them through a live agent to confirm the appointment and ensure certain preparatory measures are taken. These simple reminders and confirmations will actively reduce the number of no-shows and allow the practice to effectively schedule their work days.

“Three out of four (74%) customers spend more with a company because of a history of positive customer experiences”

– American Express

In terms of B2C sales, the option of choosing from multiple channels to contact customers or prospects, both high value and low, allows businesses to align their contact channels with expected returns. For example, a high-value customer with a high likelihood of conversion will be best suited to receive a personal call about an offer or promotion. Whereas, a low-value customer with a lower likelihood of conversion will be better suited to receive a less expensive and less personalized contact such as an email or SMS.

Thus, a softer ROI can be seen in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. By delivering information and value to customers proactively, it will save them time and the hassle of reaching out to the business.

So, the key to unlocking the business values of an omni-channel outbound strategy is to

  • Invest in outbound technology that makes the most sense for your business
  • Have the expertise (in-house or outsourced) to leverage that technology effectively

Therefore, this will create an effective outbound strategy by making proper use of all channels to achieve the desired results of the business.

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