WHAT IS OMNICHANNEL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE?

Customer experience is so important for businesses and yet many business owners don’t acknowledge how their customers feel when they’re shopping with them.

Customer expectations seem to increase all the time, which is why your business should be doing everything it can to keep shoppers happy and purchasing items. Consumers now expect to be able to tweet you at any hour of the day and get a reply, or phone you after business hours to speak to someone regarding an issue. If your business is able to meet customers’ expectations, they will be contented and satisfied. Satisfied customers are more likely to tell their friends and family about you, which could result in an increase in sales.

An omnichannel approach is one that uses multiple channels together in order to provide a seamless customer experience. The customer should be able to switch between shopping online and in-store, on desktop or mobile devices, and the experience should be the same. Not only does this mean that your technology should be up to scratch, but it also means that you’ll need to know and understand your brand identity and apply it to all of your channels and stores.

So what is the difference between omnichannel and multi-channel? You might have multiple channels of purchasing and lines of communication available to your customers, such as an amazing website, brand app, engaging social media and wonderful brick-and-mortar premises. But if all of these channels don’t work together, this is not an omnichannel customer experience. Instead, it’s just multi-channel.

All of your channels should be connected and work together to ensure that your customers are happy and are likely to shop with you again.

Below, we’ve listed some of the kinds of channels that your business should use together in order to create an omnichannel experience:

• A website
• Brick-and-mortar premises, such as a shop
• Magazines/newspapers
• TV commercials
• Sound
• Video
• Digital signage
• Newsletters
• A blog
• Social media accounts

All of these things can, and should, be linked together to create that seamless experience your customers expect and want.

For instance, you may have a shop that acts as a physical premises for you to sell products or services. To create the best impression, brands need to create an engaging customer experience. You could do this within your shop using various channels, including audio and visual communication which includes a branded audio channel with on-brand music . This can give your brand a voice that will become solidified in the minds of your customers. This voice can then be rolled out across other channels, providing the same experience no matter how your customers choose to shop.

A further example involves the use of digital signage. This kind of channel allows brands to play engaging videos in store, but also on their social media channels and through email campaigns. This will allow the brand to maximise engagement and create a solid brand identity that customers can recognise.

According to research completed by Invesp, a huge 9 out of 10 consumers have stopped shopping at an online store after experiencing poor customer service, and customers are two times more likely to share a negative experience than a positive one. They also discovered that, after a service-related issue, a customer is four times more likely to shop with a competitor.

This is why excellent customer experience is so important. A bad customer experience could cost you business and your competitors may even be benefiting from it. Investing in customer experience is now the main focus of 68 per cent of marketers.

The easiest way you can achieve great customer experience is by knowing your customers. If you understand them and their needs, they’re more likely to be satisfied by their customer experience. For example, you may be able to use a particular type of music in store that reflects your customers and it could have an impact on how long they stay in the shop or how much they spend. Did you know that brands that engage their customers successfully can experience over 200 per cent higher customer loyalty?

You also need to understand what matters to your customers. Do they care about the quality of the products, the excellent customer service, the company’s reliability and transparency, their focus on sustainability or something else entirely? They may care about all of the above, in which case what is the most important aspect to them? By knowing what matters to them, you can make their experience better.