Capture consumers’ needs with an omnichannel customer experience strategy

The success of any eCommerce business lies with its customers. An omnichannel customer experience strategy will allow you to put their needs first, resulting in sales, growth and success.

Omnichannel pushes businesses to adapt to new technology while maintaining a pulse on changing consumer behavior. When combined with cross-department collaboration, succeeding with an omnichannel strategy becomes a reality.

But what is omnichannel? What are the benefits? And how do you adopt an omnichannel approach to acquire new customers and keep up with a rapidly evolving marketplace? 

What is omnichannel?

In a literal sense, omnichannel means every channel. It’s about creating a cohesive, complete customer experience across all physical or online channels.

Customers may interact with your brand in a physical store through an Instagram ad, display ad or online store.

86% of customers switch between multiple channels with online shopping.

Making the omnichannel customer experience as seamless as possible translates into success and, ultimately, sales. Increasing customer engagement comes from minimizing friction in the customer journey, instead enriching it with valuable tactics at each touchpoint. 

When done correctly, an omnichannel approach allows customers to begin their brand experience through one channel, then continue interacting through other platforms. Branding, tone of voice, customer support and a consistent identity are essential to making an omnichannel approach work.

Companies with omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain 89% of their customers on average.

The benefits of an omnichannel approach

The opportunities for an effective omnichannel customer experience are vast and far-reaching:

• Attract a wider audience: Utilizing a wide range of channels will target more audiences, increasing brand awareness.
• Gain new customers: Similar to the above, customers will be more likely to shop with your business by enhancing brand awareness.
• Stand out amongst the competition: Aim to be the best of the best. If you have a more seamless omnichannel presence than your competitors, you’re more likely to acquire their customers.
• Enhanced data collection: Operating through numerous channels gives the opportunity to collect a wealth of customer data, so you can analyze and spot customer needs and trends.
• Improve customer lifetime value: You’ll only increase customer retention by putting them at the center of everything you do. 53% of leading European retailers state that improving lifetime customer value is a reason for implementing an omnichannel strategy.

While there are countless reasons to implement an omnichannel strategy, these benefits result in one common theme — more sales. Sales lead to profits, which lead to growth, so investing in an omnichannel customer experience strategy will set you up for future success.

Considerations for your omnichannel customer experience strategy

Map out the customer journey

The first step is to map out and understand the customer journey. From this, you’ll be able to spot opportunities, eliminate weaknesses and develop new capabilities to cater to customer needs at every stage of a seamless journey. 

Departmental cross-collaboration

Successful eCommerce businesses are born from collaborative teams, which is why working with other departments is crucial for a successful omnichannel strategy.

Effective marketing is a vital piece of the omnichannel puzzle. You’ll want to ensure you’re selecting the right marketing tools, channels and messages, providing the right content at the relevant point of the customer journey to secure a purchase.

Provide the support to match

Customers will quickly get frustrated if they can’t access the help they need, ultimately pushing them into the arms of your competitors. To make your customer experience as seamless as possible, invest in effective customer service helplines, chatbots and social channels to solve problems quickly and efficiently. It's worth it — 82% of customers will spend more money on brands that deliver great online service.

Draw insights from data

Data analytics are essential. It allows you to spot trends, opportunities and places where there is room for improvement. Adopting an omnichannel strategy will let you collect data. The more customer data you have, the more informed your eCommerce business decisions will be.

Grow your capabilities

As technological advancements continue, customers' wants and needs continue to change. Social commerce sales alone are set to triple by 2025. Get ahead of the curve by investing in the right platforms, channels and digital technologies to adapt to customer requirements so you don’t get left behind.

Customer centricity is key

Above all else, customer centricity should underpin every part of your omnichannel customer experience strategy. Putting the customer at the heart of all your decisions will make them choose you above anyone else.

 While there’s a lot to learn from the best eCommerce businesses, making an omnichannel customer experience strategy work for you depends on your business goals, capabilities and sector.

To help you enhance your understanding of omnichannel strategies and get your eCommerce teams on board, investing in the right training will be the place to start. Investing in learning and development will upskill your teams, allowing them to adopt new strategies and spot opportunities for business growth.

Invest in omnichannel training today

We’re here to help you on your route to omnichannel success. Our omnichannel training course covers the basics, strategies and best practices for you to take inspiration from and roll out within your eCommerce business. What are you waiting for? Get started today with a best in class ecommerce course from Circus Street.