
There are several buzzwords that, when used immediately, carry several additional meanings and concepts. Today I’ve decided to take on the wallpaper, if not the most popular, then certainly at the forefront, the Omnichannel concept. What is this strategy, and how to use it in the work of Customer Success and Customer Experience. I invite you to read on!
Experiences of the first steps
Omnichannel is a business strategy that integrates all channels of contact between the company and the customer. Consulting firm Frost & Sullivan defines Omnichannel as:
The seamless, effortless, high-quality customer experience that occurs within and across contact channels.
This strategy assumes that regardless of a customer’s channel, we can provide them with the same experience and the information provided in one channel will flow freely between them. I’ll give you an example to make you understand what I’m talking about. You can imagine that your customer has decided to call you to ask about a product from your offer but has yet to make a purchase. Thanks to the fact that you can identify your customer, you can send him a message, e.g. an email and push in the mobile app with a dedicated offer for the product he asked about during the phone call.
To implement an Omnichannel strategy in your organisation, think about a few things:
What does the Customer Journey process look like, and what channels of contact are available to the customer
Do we have an integrated database with all the information about our customers
Does the technology we use allow for integrations between different contact channels
Is my team able to capture requests from other channels and communicate through them seamlessly
Of course, more is needed to implement this strategy and remember only you should constantly measure the effectiveness of your process and make changes. You can use the following metrics to measure it: Customer Satisfaction Rate (CSAT), Customer Retention Rate or Cost per Acquisition. If you are looking for other metrics examples, please take a look at my last article.
You may also come across the term Multichannel. The difference between it and Omnichannel is that you have multiple communication channels with the former. Still, they don’t have to be integrated, while with Omnichannel, the integration and flow of information are fundamental to the existence of the strategy.
How to apply this to Customer Experience
While the strategy can be used across multiple departments for internal or external customer interactions, building customer experience fits perfectly with the assumptions I described above.
Our goal will be to create a process for delivering a consistent and personalised customer experience across all channels and touchpoints with our team or the company more broadly. A successful Omnichannel strategy within CX should aim to engage customers wherever they are and deliver consistent experiences tailored to their needs and preferences.
I have some advice for you on how to start implementing such a strategy in your companies.
Understand your customers
Understand who your customers are and what they expect. How they interact with you and what you are communicating to them now. As usual, most CX activities will create or analyse a Customer Journey Map (from the Customer Journey).
Ensure consistent communication
Make sure that in each channel, the communication with the customer is carried out in the same way. Take care of the tone and manner of speech. Analyse how your automated messages look in the email channel, for example, and whether they are consistent with how your team communicates directly. You want to avoid some of your messages being in a formal tone and some in a casual tone. Using Grammarly can be helpful when speaking in English, where you can define tones of speech for the whole thing to maintain consistency.
Ensure experience with different types of devices
According to Google’s report, 98% of users in America use different devices in a single day. Make sure, for example, that your website works well on mobile devices and personal computers.
The Final Word
According to a Salesforce report, 75% of customers expect a consistent experience across multiple channels, and 73% are willing to switch brands if they don’t get it. Implementing an Omnichannel strategy should not be an option but one of the critical action items for any Customer Success team.
Here are some book suggestions and additional articles for those who want to dive deeper into the topic:
“Omnichannel Retail: How to Build Winning Stores in a Digital World”, Tim Mason. The book describes how to build an effective Omnichannel strategy.
“4 Steps to Create an Effective Omnichannel Strategy”, Salsify. An article describing how to create an organisation’s Omnichannel strategy.
“Omnichannel Marketing Is Critical In A Digital World-Here’s How It’s About To Get Better”, Forbes. The article discusses the importance of Omnichannel marketing in today’s digital world and how it’s about to get better
There are several buzzwords that, when used immediately, carry several additional meanings and concepts. Today I’ve decided to take on the wallpaper, if not the most popular, then certainly at the forefront, the Omnichannel concept. What is this strategy, and how to use it in the work of Customer Success and Customer Experience. I invite you to read on!
Are you using this strategy in your teams, or is it something you are just planning to implement? What do you think about and do you have any advice for someone that is just starting? Let me know in the comments!
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