Posted by In today’s digitally-transformed world, customers no longer simply engage with organizations in a single way. While this offers organizations a myriad of new opportunities, it also presents an increasing number of challenges that they have to test and plan for. Recognizing and addressing these challenges should be a critical priority for businesses, as research indicates that an overwhelmingly high percentage of customers and users will lose interest in an organization’s application if it fails to deliver the expected customer experience across all platforms and offerings. Consequently, modern organizations must prioritize delivering a consistent experience for all, regardless of how they choose to interact.
What is omnichannel experience testing?
All organizations operating in an omnichannel environment should conduct omnichannel experience testing. This testing evaluates whether an application performs effectively across all potential user platforms and devices. Ensuring a consistent, seamless, and optimal experience for all users, regardless of their connection method, is imperative.
It’s also important to note that customers commonly use multiple channels or devices to interact with an organization. For instance, they might use a web browser on their laptop and a downloaded application on their personal phone. Omnichannel contact center testing guarantees that regardless of the number of touchpoints a customer employs, they will continue to receive a top-notch experience with complete cross-platform functionality.
Organizations not only face the challenges of testing and monitoring multiple channels but also encounter external obstacles beyond their control. For instance, an external factor affecting how a customer experiences interaction with a business could involve the device they are connecting to the organization or even the operating system of that specific device.
The key elements of omnichannel experience testing
Organizations should test and monitor several key elements of omnichannel experiences. These elements include, but are not limited to:
- User journeys: Before testing, organizations need to thoroughly understand and map out potential customer journeys. It is particularly important to remember that in many cases, customers are likely to transition between different channels, and any inconsistencies or points of friction in these transitions should be addressed at this early stage.
- Channel diversity: Testing the user experience across all relevant channels and touchpoints should occur to ensure a consistent, seamless experience regardless of the channel used. This must also include examining and ensuring that branding, messaging, functionality, and the ‘look and feel’ are consistent across each.
- Functionality testing: Organizations need to test all of the interactive elements within their offering to ensure a smooth user experience, this includes elements such as navigation menus, forms, and call-to-action buttons. Additionally, businesses must ensure that their designs are responsive and adapt seamlessly across different devices and screen sizes.
- Performance testing: Testing of loading times, performance and responsiveness is imperative across all potential devices and network conditions. This should not only be tested at the expected load and volumes but also stress tested at much higher volumes to ensure that peak traffic times will not adversely affect the customer experience. Poor performance or slow loading times are certain to have a detrimental effect on how customers perceive an organization and their brand.
- Cross-device testing: Replication of customers switching between devices must be thoroughly tested. For instance, a user might start browsing on their smartphone and later continue on their laptop. In such cases, organizations must ensure that there is correct data synchronization across all channels, for example, that the shopping cart of a specific customer is consistently and accurately replicated across all channels they are using.
- Localization testing: If the brand operates in multiple countries or regions, or through multiple languages, organizations need to ensure that the localized content and features function correctly and seamlessly.
- Security testing: Security, especially of personal information is becoming an increasing area of concern for both businesses and their customers. Security testing verifies that any customer or sensitive information is stored correctly and securely to ensure user privacy.
- User feedback integration testing: Feedback from users and their experiences is invaluable and can be vital to the continuous improvement of an omnichannel experience. Testing should take place to ensure that irrespective of the device or system a customer is interacting with, their opinions and insights are automatically sought through Voice of the Customer survey software or other chosen methods.
These are just a few examples of the myriad of tests needed to ensure a seamless omnichannel experience for customers. Importantly, organizations should remember that such testing needs to be an ongoing process. They must consistently monitor their current user experiences and aspirations and ensure a robust system is in place to promptly address any identified issues.
Automation of omnichannel experience testing
The global business-customer relationship has now been ‘digitally’ transformed and there are few limitations to the ways in which they can interact with one another. While this creates significant new business opportunities, it also imposes extensive demands on quality assurance and testing teams to guarantee users an optimal, consistent, and seamless experience, regardless of their interaction method with an organization.
Omnichannel testing empowers organizations to establish a comprehensive testing strategy and plan to ensure a top-tier experience across all touchpoints. However, given the exponential growth of channels, devices, and operating systems, manual testing of this would be impossible. This is where automated omnichannel testing can assist.
Automation of customer journey testing across multiple channels (including voice, web, chatbot, email, and SMS) can all be managed and reported on from within a single unified interface. This capability is critical and has transformative potential for businesses.
Automating omnichannel experience testing enhances the cohesion of customer journeys, providing development, quality assurance, and customer experience teams the means to test self-service journeys, agent-assisted interactions, communication pathways and much more, across all their offerings.
Cyara revolutionizes the way businesses transform and optimize their customer experiences. Cyara’s AI-based CX Transformation Platform empowers enterprises to deliver flawless interactions across voice, video, digital, and chatbot experiences. With Cyara, businesses improve customer journeys through continuous innovation while reducing costs and minimizing risk. With a 96% customer retention rate and world-class Net Promoter Score (NPS), today’s leading global brands trust Cyara every day to deliver customer smiles at scale.
To learn more, visit cyara.com or call 1-888-GO-CYARA.