Why Focus on Omnichannel Customer Experience?
Customer experience is no longer confined to brick-and-mortar stores. They are now everywhere. You cannot deliver an exceptional customer experience if you focus exclusively on a single channel. Over the last decade, retailers have generally failed to keep up with changing consumer demands, as they are still operating in silos. More and more consumers are shifting to different channels for completing both eCommerce and in-store purchases. In fact, if retail businesses could get it right, they will also be able to engage these customers leading to increased customer loyalty, retention, satisfaction, profits and a lot of worthy brand recognition.
Why is omnichannel customer experience important for retail business?
Adopting an omnichannel customer experience is beneficial for both the business and customers. Let's see why.
Cater to a broader audience: An omnichannel customer experience helps you cater both offline (visiting a physical store) and online customers (surfing online store)
Collects better data: The collected data can be used to gain deep understanding of the customer behaviour, reaction and responses to different channels. The valuable insights reveal where customers encounter issues, allowing you to improve business offerings.
Improved customer retention & revenue: Companies with extremely strong omnichannel customer engagement see a 9.5% YoY increase in annual revenue, compared to 3.4% for weak omnichannel companies. Customer retention rates are 90% higher for omnichannel vs. single channel.
A Must Read: 5 highly effective customer retention strategies for omnichannel retailing
More choices for customers: Omnichannel provides customers with never-before-seen possibilities as they get a single business platform with connected channels. Reach any channel and you get consistent shopping experience everywhere. That means no friction, no knowledge gaps, no service gaps, no data discrepancies, and no online versus in-store inconsistencies.
Tips to create an outstanding omnichannel customer experience
1. Understand the audience
The most important thing about creating an omnichannel customer experience is that you need to know what the customer wants, when they want it and how they want it. You need to analyze precise customer data about the retail business like customer age, interests, preferable shopping channel & more.
Older generations such as Generation X prefer to purchase in brick-and-mortar locations as they are used to finding personal touch in their shopping. Younger generations, such as Gen Z and millennials wish their shopping experience to be smooth and seamless & prefer to communicate with the retail company via online channels, social media and branded websites.
2. Map customer journey
The journey from new customer to a loyal customer is more than simply purchasing a product. It is a long process and customer journey mapping is all about looking at the steps that customers go through to purchase and then to become loyal customers.
Customer journey helps you understand their thought process, behaviour, stages and problems. It also helps you identify gaps in the customer experience.
Omnichannel businesses can map customer journey by:
- Creating profiles: Start by urging customers to build a personalized profile with relevant details like problems they face,building personas, interests, habits, shopping behaviour etc
Read Now: Understanding customer personas in omnitech retail
- Listing & linking touchpoints: Add different touchpoints and link them internally, so that customers get the same seamless response everywhere
- Identifying & plugging gaps: Identify the gaps in different touchpoints (content, convenience & response gaps) and work on filling them
Example of an omnichannel customer journey through different touchpoints in retail business:
Touchpoint 1: Customer installs Fynd app
Touchpoint 2: Customers browse for different products in the Fynd app
Touchpoint 3: Customer receives a retargeting email in his email inbox
Touchpoint 4: Customer placed order in the app
Touchpoint 5: Customer receives order updates via push notification
Touchpoint 6: Customer receives the order
3. Scale your content to fit different screen sizes
All of your content should be consistent in communicating the brand's identity, services, and mission. Content can be developed across numerous channels such as apps, websites, interactive games, videos, ebooks, social media, and email marketing to fit the brand message.
Additionally, it should be adapted for various screen sizes and compatible with all digital devices such as smartphones, tablets, and iPads.
If retailers do not take these steps, it may disrupt the online journey of customers and may dissuade them from making a purchase or using your website in the future.
Read Now: Why is social media a crucial part of Omnichannel customer experience?
4. Implement omnichannel support services
The main idea behind omnichannel support services is to provide businesses with the technological and human capabilities that they need to continue to operate seamlessly regardless of the channel selected by a customer.
Customers should be able to communicate directly with agents via the channel on which they are now engaged to provide an omnichannel customer experience. For example, live web chat is a frequently used contact channel for businesses and customers, as it provides quick conversation on any page of a website.
A system like Talkative integrates an agent's contact choices, such as live chat, web call, video call, and cobrowse, onto a single interface. The tool also helps escalate from chat to voice, or even video, turning a text-based interaction to a more personal voice-based conversation.
5. Offer seamless experience throughout customer journey
Many businesses assure a seamless experience during the beginning stages of the customer journey (when the customer has purchased a product), but what about the later stages (when customer faces return issues with the product)?
In the case of a customer, shopping for trousers from an online retail store. The retail business already has the customer's size, which allows them to purchase the trousers online. When the order is delivered, the buyer discovers they are too large and requires a lower size. They go to a physical retail store to return the product.
When the customer arrives at the store, they are informed that the trouser cannot be replaced because they were not purchased in-store. The consumer is left frustrated and is required to repackage the product and pay for return postage. They get a refund and choose not to purchase the shoes in a different size, as the customer experience was horrible.
Conclusion
It has been found that customers are not satisfied with their current customer service experiences provided by retail companies. The reason for this is poor experiences from retail platforms and a lack of communication between different channels. This could be resolved by integrating retail business touchpoints, closing gaps and delivering a seamless omnichannel customer experience that makes customers happy, reduces customer churn, grows revenue and builds brand loyalty.
Fynd's omnichannel retail solutions are trusted by over 600 brands globally. Come & Join us! Be a part of the thriving growth story. Book a demo or Contact us today to learn more about the Fynd omnichannel platform. We will help you integrate and manage multiple sales channels seamlessly.
