Omnichannel is a term that is often used without context or understanding.
So we decided to clear the air around this nebulous mass so that you can decide if an omnichannel strategy is something that you are (a) interested in, and (b) actually see benefiting your bottom line.
Ultimately, we think it’s something you should definitely pay attention to.
So, What is Omnichannel?
Omnichannel is, at its core, providing a seamless experience, no matter how your customer chooses to interact with you.
Thinking back to traditional advertising, companies would have their radio, TV, and print campaigns, along with flyers and promos. They'd be united by a colour palette and a slogan, maybe some copy similarities, but that’s it.
Sometimes, especially in large organizations, two channels would be promoting different things, or pushing different products, or running entirely unique campaigns.
And this process, while not ideal, worked well enough, because of the passive nature of these traditional channels.
But with increased engagement and the shift from passive to active consumption, the onus has been on companies to offer one customer experience (CX), no matter what.
Which is pretty intuitive – push one message across all your channels, treat your customers the same all the time, and they'll get a great experience and you'll begin building a relationship.
Omnichannel takes the idea of united CX a few steps further
First, a store or company has to have a clear idea of what channels they want to be present on. These channels can include apps, in-store tablets and devices, email, websites, mobile websites, social media, YouTube, phone help, traditional channels, and many, many more.
Next, a company's CX has to be the same across all of these channels – look-and-feel, content, and pushing the same products and promotions.
But an omnichannel strategy goes even further.
Omnichannel is about creating one brand experience and bridging the gap between the digital and the brick-and-mortar.
Think about this: Customers no longer experience products or brands in just one way.
Reviews, internet searches, tweets, phone help – it’s all part of the customer’s experience.
A recent stat showed that 57.7% of customers who had to call with a problem first tried to resolve the problem online. That's three channels of interaction right there – the original purchase, whether through an ecommerce site or a store, the website, and now the phone.
If the experience is disjointed across even two of those channels, your overall CX suffers and your overall customer satisfaction suffers. That interaction probably had more channel touch points as well – most consumers do research or visit a company site before buying a product.
Online vs. In-Store
The next part of omnichannel is bridging the online/in-store divide.
Omnichannel is making sure that the customer feels that they know what a store is like from their website, and vice versa.
28% of consumers will look up a product in a store while they're deciding to buy it. Without an omnichannel strategy in place, the experience will be glaringly different, and could potentially cost a company a sale and (the much more valuable) customer loyalty.
How to Leverage Omnichannel
One example of an applied omnichannel strategy is to use geo-locators (or “beacons”).
Stores can now track where a customer is in a store, using that info for highly targeted communication, like sending a customer a notification when they’re looking at jeans about your company’s denim.
The experience is seamless and tailored, and neatly removes other potential channels of engagement, driving the customer towards the one you want.
There are many ways you can work to create a better cross-channel experience. But if you don't have the time or resources to load beacons in all your stores, or you're more B2B than B2C, there are still a few things you can do to create one experience.
- Make sure that all your digital channels are synchronized
- Begin assuming that your customers are visiting several, if not all of your digital channels prior to them reaching out to you
- Make sure that your help lines, whether it's a phone number or Twitter or website help, are all on board with your other marketing efforts (they often get left behind)
Full omnichannel strategy is a hard needle to thread. But even small efforts can improve your customer's experience, which in turn builds loyalty, brand value, and customer retention.
And as usual, as the end of the day, your bottom line looks better when you give the people what they want.
