Omnichannel experiences make it easy for your customers to do business with you on their terms. Seamless omnichannel experience isn’t anything new – everyone knows it’s good for the business. But how do you put processes in place for it all to come together?
In today’s article, we will go through exactly what it is, and what it is not (Spoiler: Multichannel), as well as a detailed Step-by-step guide to help you design better omnichannel experiences for your customers. If you follow our guide you will be able to increase your profits and customer lifetime value.
What is an Omnichannel Experience and why is it so important?
An omnichannel experience is a holistic approach to customer interaction that ensures a seamless and integrated journey across various channels. These channels can include online platforms, physical stores, mobile apps, and even social media. The key here is consistency – providing customers with a unified and cohesive experience, regardless of their choice of channel.
As customers become more tech-savvy, their expectations for a smooth and consistent experience across channels have skyrocketed. However, by designing these sorts of experiences you’re not only going to meet their expectations but also improve brand loyalty.
On top of this, businesses that prioritise omnichannel can differentiate themselves from competition. If implemented correctly, offering your customers an omnichannel experience can be a competitive advantage that can make your brand the preferred choice. This in turn will feed your business with a wealth of data that can give you valuable insights into customer behaviours, preferences, and pain points, enabling you to make informed decisions and optimisations for your customer journey.
Omnichannel vs Multichannel
Before we dive into the step-by-step you must understand the difference between Omnichannel and Multichannel.
In a multichannel strategy, businesses interact with customers across various platforms, but these channels often operate in silos. The customer experience may differ significantly between channels.
On the back end, teams working in different channels may not have access to the same information the customer has provided the company. Every channel is separated and dealing with this type of business may become very tiresome for the customers.
Omnichannel, on the other hand, involves an interconnected and harmonious approach. It breaks down silos, allowing customers to move effortlessly between channels without feeling any disconnect. The focus is on creating a unified experience rather than managing separate channels.
Step By Step
Define your Audience
Before you can design your omnichannel strategy, you need to know who you’re designing it for. You need to understand who your audience is, where they are located, how they spend time online, what content resonates with them etc.
You should utilise techniques like market research, social listening, customer surveys and data analytics to get a real picture of your audience’s demographics, preferences, behaviour and buying patterns.
The goal of this is that you have enough data that you can create specific buyer personas, which will help you make informed decisions during the next stages of this process.
Understand Your Current Channel Presence
Now you need to understand exactly what channels you are using in your business and how they operate. What information are you sharing with your customers through each channel and are all channels using the same tone of voice?
All channels that your business is using should be in line with your overall business goals. The goal is for all your channels to maintain a consistent brand image and messaging. This includes visual elements, tone of voice, and even the way customer service agents interact. Consistency reinforces brand identity and builds trust.
As well as this, after analysing your audience you can understand if you are using the right channels at all. Perhaps you have a very large young audience base and no active social media channel. This should be an indication of what channels you need to add or remove from your strategy.
Synchronise your channels
When you fully understand your customers and the channel presence, you can then focus on connecting them. This is where technology will come into play. All channels should be connected to one platform in the back end where all the customer information will be stored. On the flip side, all your customers should be able to make a purchase or connect with you through whichever channel they choose.
Work with engineers to put processes in place to make the interaction with your business as easy as possible. Whether the customer wants to buy your book from your Instagram page or connect with your support staff through your website – you need to make these options available.
The software that will help you manage the above will include:
- CRM software – it will help you map out and track customer journeys, as well as all the interactions that your customers will have with your business.
- Email Marketing Software – it will help you contact your customers with personalised content and messaging.
- Social Media Management Software – It will help you keep up with your social media listening, and allow you to manage this specific channel better.
Using this software will not only help you as a CX Manager to keep track of all the data and stats but will also empower your team to deliver a better customer experience every time a customer gets in touch with your business.
However, you need to understand that training is key. You should equip your team with the skills and knowledge to navigate the omnichannel landscape. This includes understanding the technology but also adapting communication styles to suit different channels and fully understanding what delivering excellent customer experience looks like.
At The CX Academy, we specialise in training teams of all sizes, to deliver CX Excellence for every customer, at every touch point in the customer journey.
Learn more here: CX Team Training
On top of this, innovations such as smart mirrors, Bluetooth beacons, and in-store kiosks can differentiate your business from your competitors. They make the decision of whether your customers should do business with you extremely easily because everything is right there in front of them. This is why brands with omnichannel retail strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers from channel to channel.
Monitor & Optimise
The last step of this loop is to monitor and optimise your strategy. Connecting all channels to create one fluid and harmonious experience is a very big task. You probably won’t set it all up in one go and you will have to adjust every channel as you gather more data and learn more about your customers.
Your customers will also be changing, along with their preferences and needs, and you should be able to change too. Adapt your customer journey to what will make it as frictionless as possible to achieve their goals with your business.
As you navigate the ever-changing dynamics of customer experience, embracing omnichannel strategies is a necessity. By understanding the differences between omnichannel and multichannel and following our step-by-step guide, you can create seamless and memorable experiences for your customers. Remember, the key lies in consistency, integration, and a genuine commitment to meeting customer expectations across every interaction.
If you would like to learn more about designing a customer experience strategy, enrol in our Professional Diploma in CX today.
