Many businesses today use numerous communication channels to conduct daily interactions with their customers. This, in other words, means that customers might decide to contact you via email, WhatsApp, or even a chatbot. It all depends on customer preference, and your business has to be ready to meet customers where they are. 

When you offer multiple channels, all of these messages can become scattered across your support channels, leading agents to have to check many platforms when providing support to your customers. This is an inefficient and error-prone way of providing support that has severe repercussions for your customers. 

The problem can be as simple as having more than one email account to check for busy agents, leading to lost emails and dropped issues for your customers. Unsolved issues piling up in your inboxes as agents forget to check every channel leads to a poor customer experience overall and bad reviews for your customer support team. 

Long wait times and confused agents can result in unhappy customers who just want their problems resolved. A unified inbox can solve this scenario. 

What is a unified inbox?

A unified inbox can work for either the customer or the support agent. The important thing to remember about a unified inbox is that it brings together all of your communication channels so you can view them on the same dashboard. 

These communication channels might just be email, or they could also be messaging apps and live chat. A solution like Glassix unifies all of these channels for you. It's possible to assign conversations to agents, route messages to particular agents, and prioritize based on importance. 

Let’s say you’re an e-commerce company selling shoes. Your customers might Direct Message you on Instagram, contact you through your live chat on your website, and then send off an email. All they’re thinking about is getting their problem solved, but it’s easy for information to get lost this way. Frustrated customers often send more than one message, but a unified inbox brings these all together and shows you who is contacting you and when. 

A unified inbox eliminates frustration by truly unifying your customer support channels. Support agents only need to check one app to get up to speed with all their incoming messages. A unified inbox is not visible to customers, only to agents, so all customers see is their preferred support channel. 

Why do you need a unified inbox?

If your business operates on more than one channel, you definitely need a unified inbox to connect them all and lead the way to a cohesive omnichannel experience. If your agents are checking multiple tabs for customer support, investing in a unified inbox can save them untold amounts of time. 

Customers could fire off a message on WhatsApp and then switch to email, and the original WhatsApp message may be lost if you don’t have a unified inbox. The unified inbox keeps tabs on which messages are being sent so you can view them all in the same dashboard, with a full view of customer history and conversations.

Think of a scenario where an agent is engaged in a live chat, but the wifi drops out. The unified inbox allows the agent to seamlessly transition to email to keep the conversation going. The live chat messages are still available in your inbox, so none of the original communication gets lost. 

A unified inbox treats all your customer support channels in the same way, so customers can choose how to contact you. It provides a seamless customer and agent experience no matter what channel is used. 71% of customers expect consistency across online channels, but only 29% receive this. A unified inbox can help. 

How does a unified inbox help customer support?

Streamlines communication

A unified inbox makes it easier for customers to communicate with you as they aren’t restricted to one channel. Streamlined communication between agents and customers becomes possible, and customers move easily from one channel to the next. Your organization is no longer channel-dependent, and your customers have a better experience. 

Avoids dropped messages

If the unified inbox is keeping track of customer messages this makes it less likely that messages will get dropped. If an agent is paying attention to live chat but the customer moves to WhatsApp, the agent will still get the message and can work to resolve the issue. Your agent will still have access to the chat history on the same screen. 

Saves time and effort

Instead of switching to different platforms, agents can view all their messages in one single unified dashboard. This saves a lot of time and effort as agents can see at a glance which conversations need their attention. All this time and effort saved can be reinvested back into the customer experience with more time for customer conversations.  

Improves collaboration 

Unified inboxes come with features like agent assignment and prioritization, making collaboration much easier. Agents can see who is working on a particular customer conversation and avoid stepping on each other’s toes or collaborating on a particular ticket. Unified inboxes help agents work together instead of against each other. 

How to set up a unified inbox

• Have all of your customer support channel login details to hand as you embark on this process. 
• Before you can access a unified inbox, you’ll need to sign up for an account with a unified inbox provider such as Glassix.
• Choose an Account Manager to be in charge of your unified inbox who can administer all of your accounts.  
• Connect all of your messaging accounts with Glassix, such as Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp Business, and SMS, with which you want to track replies. 
• Add team members to your unified inbox who will be in charge of managing the customer support tickets. 
• Start helping customers with the unified inbox straight away. 

How Glassix can help with a unified inbox

Glassix is a unified inbox software created for customer support teams. Here are the main features of Glassix: 

• Conversation routing – messages intuitively find their way to the most qualified agent based on specific needs
• Comprehensive customer insights – customer details and past interactions are included in the chat
• Cross-channel continuity – fluidly move between communication channels for uninterrupted conversations
• Rich media sharing – customize the media types you support based on business scenarios
• Mobile agent app – handle conversations on the move with the Glassix mobile app
• Integrations – integrate your favorite apps directly with your inbox
• Chatbot builder – build workflows to integrate conversational AI with your unified inbox

Conclusion

Conversations between customers and agents today take place across multiple different channels. Keep these channels seamlessly connected with a unified inbox to improve both the agent and customer experience. Bring your channels together within the same dashboard to ensure no customer conversation gets missed. 

Glassix is a powerful unified inbox with a chatbot builder to make all your customer conversations easier. It doesn’t matter what channel your customers contact you on because Glassix can switch between all of them, keeping your conversation history to hand and ensuring no customer message gets lost. 

Work together with your customers instead of against them with Glassix. Communicate with customers where they are and view customer details within Glassix, offering a personalized experience regardless of agent or channel.