Switching between various devices on a daily basis is a norm for 98% of the US shoppers, so businesses that strive to fully satisfy the customers’ expectations utilize the power of omnichannel customer experience strategy. This is especially relevant for eCommerce as online shoppers often use various channels to interact with brands.
Delivering this kind of customer experience yields tangible benefits. Companies that utilize it achieve 91% greater YOY customer retention rates in comparison with companies that ignore it.
Omnichannel Customer Experience Definition
The omnichannel customer experience is a complex system that seamlessly connects individual customer touchpoints as emails, social media or chatbots. Such approach enables customers to pick up where they left off on a certain channel and then go on the interaction on another.
Many businesses invest money in product promotion on various channels and according to Kinsta these are the most popular selling channels used by the U.S. brands:
- brick-and-mortar shop - 56%
- website - 34%
- pop-up shops, events, and markets - 26%
- Facebook -25%
- Amazon- 16%
- Other (eBay, Alibaba, Etsy, etc.) - 22%
Omnichannel strategy means that all of these mediums are coherent and related with each other.
Omnichannel and Multichannel: Which One is Better?
Let’s analyze whether it is better than a multichannel approach.
Multichannel and omnichannel communications both relate to reaching and assisting the customers via different online and offline channels. Nevertheless, the main difference is the customer’s ability to receive the same quality of service across all platforms.
The multichannel store can provide customer experience management via the website, social media, specific platforms, and physical stores. If these channels are completely separated, a customer support services team won’t be able access the whole history of communication with a client across all channels.
The omnichannel approach is about creating a complex system of interconnected channels that allows gathering all the data on a particular customer, tracking his behavior and offering a more personalized online shopping experience.
As a result, the customer leaves your store after the advanced help with the product questions via any of the channels, with being offered the best purchase deal. Once they come back, your managers will already recognize the client and be more aware of their preferences and needs.
Benefits of Omnichannel Customer Experience
Implementing an omnichannel customer experience strategy would benefits your business in a variety of ways including the following ones:
Increasing Customer Loyalty
With getting a high-quality service before and after the purchase, over 90% of one-time buyers turn into loyal clients according to ClickZ. By analyzing the collected customer data, you may display offers that are relevant to them, thus showing that you do understand their needs.
Boosting Sales
Insider reports, that the chance the customer will choose your brand increases when you use more entry points, so omnichannel approach can have a positive impact on the amount of sales made.
Providing Better Customer Service Experience
Omnichannel customer experience goes hand in hand with providing omnichannel customer support service. Utilizing multiple channels for tracking, sometimes the customer support managers can miss the chat from another desk, so there is a high risk of losing a potential client. With implementing an omnichannel approach you would have all customer’s data in one place, so you could provide better assistance.
Omnichannel customer experience is about providing a coherent communication across all the channels and taking the quality of services provided to the next level. Start working on implementing an omnichannel approach today and you’ll soon enjoy the great results of your efforts.
