In today’s connected world, where brands strive to be present across channels and devices, an omnichannel approach allows them to be more cohesive. This article describes what omnichannel customer experienceOpens a new window means, omnichannel buyer journeys across industries and; examples of brands that have nailed their omnichannel customer experience strategy.Opens a new window

Table of Contents

• What is Omnichannel Customer Experience?
• Why is Omnichannel Customer Experience Important?
• How to Create Omnichannel Customer Experience Journeys?
• Examples of Omnichannel Customer Experience

What is Omnichannel Customer Experience?

Omnichannel customer experienceOpens a new window is the outcome of a customer-centric approach through which a company aims to provide a seamless, unified and contextual customer experience, irrespective of the device, channel or platform used for customer interaction.

Devices could range from desktops to mobile devices, smart home devices and touchscreen self-help kiosks. Channels today encompass online, in-store and telephonic. Even within that, it could be everything from a website self-help to a chatbot, a virtual assistant on a messenger app or a customer serviceOpens a new window agent. Platforms refer to social media platforms and other walled gardens.

Customers constantly switch mediums while searching for products to buy, as well as leverage multiple available options when it comes to post-purchase service, as per their convenience and circumstances.

Customer journeys through a lifetime are now more dynamic than ever, with people swinging between traditional and digital channels. Hence it is critical for businesses to map customer journeys and not just be present across multiple channels, but build a cohesive experience of the brand across these diverse touchpoints.

For example, the journey of someone looking to buy a smartphone will most likely involve the following steps:

• Customer searches online for a smartphone with specific features, compares with other brands, reads reviews online and shortlists one
• Visits the brand’s website to read more details about the smartphone and its specifications
• Visits store to get the look and feel and try out the features
• Interacts with in-store agents for more details on key features and available in-store offers
• Leaves the store and decides to buy online
• May visit the store or call the service centre again in a few months or a year, in case of an issue with the hardware or the software
• Meanwhile, the customer may buy other accessories for the phone from the brand, online or in-store
• Engaged customers may interact with the brand online and leave their own reviews and suggestions
• After a year or two, exchanges the phone for an upgraded model of the same, in an online exchange offer of the brand

This shows, the customer interacts with the brand both online and offline, prior, during, and post the purchase. In this, a brand with an omnichannel approach will ensure that while switching channels from digital to physical, the customer receives a unified brand experience.

Customers now switch between devices, channels or platform touchpoints for reasons such as:

• ease of access and convenience in the moment
• availability of discounts or to redeem an offer
• availability of the right size or model
• purpose of interaction- research, decision-making, service assistance or complaints, reviews and repurchase etc.

Today, the line between physical and digital are becoming increasingly blurred, especially from a CX perspective. For example, a customer may be using your mobile app, and uses the help section to get your number and make a call to your service team – or more likely, they will expect to dial directly by clicking on a ‘call now’ button on the website or app. Here, the experience originated in digital, but the service experience was over a phone call. This is more reason for a unified omnichannel CX strategy, versus looking at customer interaction in silos and segments.

When customers switch between devices, channels or platforms, they expect a streamlined experience that addresses the purpose of the interaction effectively. By this we mean that the brand recognizes them, serves them and helps them move forward purposefully in their customer journey.

A 2014 Forrester study, titled ‘Consumer Desires Vs. Retailer Capabilities: Minding the Omni-Channel Commerce Gap,’ had revealed:

• 56 %of consumers have used their mobile device to research products at home
• 38 % have used their mobile device to check inventory availability while on their way to a store
• 34 % have used their mobile device to research products while in a store
• 45% of shoppers in-store expect sales associates to be knowledgeable about online-only products
• 71% of shoppers agree that it is important or very important to be able to view inventory information for in-store products
• 50% of shoppers expect that they will be able to make a purchase online and pick up in-store

As is clear from the data, even in just the buying journey, a customer sees the brand as one company and expects a unified experience across various channels. An omni channel approach ensures data about a customer flows seamlessly across systems or channels, allowing the service representatives or systems to support customers more efficiently through their buying journey and beyond.

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Why is Omnichannel Customer Experience Important?

There are various reasons why omnichannel customer experience is important, but the biggest of all is – customer convenience and satisfaction! In addition, here’s some interesting data from various researches to further boost the fact that ensuring an omnichannel customer experience is crucial to business.

• A 2012 Google report titled, ‘The New Multi-screen World: Understanding Cross-Platform Consumer Behavior’ has revealed 98 percent of Americans switch between devices every single day; and of course the trend has only grown over these years
• One 2013 Accenture study titled, ‘Accenture 2013 Global Consumer Pulse Survey’ shows that 89 percent of customers get irritated, having to repeat their issues to multiple customer service representatives – a symptom of a lack of omnichannel approach when even your employees are not unified in knowledge of customer issues
• One 2014 Google research says 71 percent of shoppers who use smartphones for research while shopping in-store, say that it’s become an important part of the experience
• A survey by Aspect Software, an American call center tech company, found that businesses that adopt omni-channel strategies, achieve 91 percent more year-on-year customer retention rates compared to businesses that don’t
• Another Google research claims that omnichannel shoppers have a 30 percent higher lifetime value than those who shop using only one channel

Even though you may now be convinced that omnichannel customer experience is critical to business survival, here is one more fact.

A PwC and Kantar report titled ‘Retailing 2020: Winning in a Polarized World’ predicts that the demand for an omnichannel customer experience will be amplified by the need for nearly perfect execution of it, by 2020. It says, ‘The successful 2020 retailer will also build a true omnichannel operation that allows customers to interface through any channel of their preference on a 24/7 basis, anywhere at any time.’

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How to Create Omnichannel Customer Experience Journeys?

Creating omnichannel customer experience journeys certainly require a customer-centric framework, with the right technology support, however there’s more to it. Here are a few steps to help you create an omnichannel environment.

1. Map and define customer journeys including buyer journeys: understand significant segments of customers and map their journeys to best cover what touchpoints they prefer for what reasons during each stage of their journey

2. Prioritize customer touchpoints that are most significant in the context of your business: not every device, channel or platform may be important in the context of your business. Even if they all were, it would be impossible to do justice to them all at once. To start, prioritize the most important ones and join the dots between them, slowly including all others into the seamless experience

3. Build the right technology stack to deliver a seamless experience across channels: it is not possible to design for, or deliver seamless experiences across diverse touchpoints without the right technology to enable it. From your website recognizing returning visitors to call centre agents being able to view the entire history of a particular customer, from a customer being able to switch between your mobile app and a chat with a bot smoothly, marketers need to build technology stacks that let data flow easily, in real-time, to serve customers in-the-moment, on their preferred touchpoint.

4. Constantly work to identify and bridge gaps or fragmented experiences: customer experience is a constant work in progress and as customers and their habits, preferences and habits evolve, so should be the experience brands deliver. The customer service experienceOpens a new window too must acknowledge this. For example, a decade ago, the concept of providing customer service over social media didn’t exist. And today, it is one of the major platforms to provide immediate assistance to customers while also scoring brownie points in full view of the entire customer community. Also, keep an eye out for any data gaps between various channels, as that may force customers to refer different sources or channels for one purpose, making them lose time, causing inconvenience and ultimately spoiling their overall experience.

5. Empower people to balance automation, intelligence and human understanding: the irony of this age is that the more customers expect brands to ‘know them’ with intelligent technology, the more they expect authentic and empathetic human experiences. Designing both into the overall customer service experience design helps maintain this balance – which can well become a real differentiator for the brand. Knowing when a conversation needs to move from a bot to a human, for example, knowing when to appease an angry customer with an apology versus an offer, and so on. is how this balance manifests itself.

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Examples of Omnichannel Customer Experience

Here are stories of a few brands that have cracked the omnichannel customer experience code.

Amazon

Amazon being a ‘digital-only’ company has stood true to its mission which states ‘Earth’s most customer-centric company’. How?

Overcoming one of the biggest challenges for any company trying to perfect its omnichannel strategy, Amazon has nailed data unification through its accounts, which get a further boost through Amazon Prime subscriptions.

It’s omnichannel strategy allows shoppers to seamlessly switch from website to app without letting them lose track of any of their activities. Moreover, a single Amazon Prime account lets a customer access its e-commerce platform, the video content streaming services or integrate its smart devices such as Alexa and Kindle as well.

For instance, with your Amazon Prime subscription, you can voice-command Alexa on one of your Alexa enabled smart in-home devices, to place an order for an e-book on Amazon.com, that you will be able to access and read on your Kindle later. Even Kindle, can be accessed on a phone through an app apart from the actual device. Similarly, anyone with an Amazon Prime subscription can access videos or Amazon Music services through apps installed on their phone or television.

Everything from the inventories to user accounts are unified such that even if a shopper switches devices while making a purchase or viewing content, there will be no difference in their experience allowing them to pick up from where they left last.

Macy’s

Macy’s, the oldest existing American department store chain, founded in 1858, has re-invented itself to stay in business. To keep pace with the current business dynamics, it has invested heavily in adopting a truly digital and omnichannel approach since 2015.

From having a centralized inventory, letting people shop online and pick-up or pay in-store or shop in-store and pay online and get it home-delivered, Macy’s omnichannel plan allows customers to buy anything from anywhere and at anytime. It launched an app last year, that lets its customers shop in-store but check out using the app, without having to wait in the cashier’s queue for billing.

Alleviating one of the biggest pain-points in shopping at departmental stores – the billing queue – this feature ‘Scan, Pay, Go’ lets customers scan the barcodes of items they want to purchase, post which they only need to get the security sensors removed from designated kiosks.

Furthermore, for its beauty and make-up department, Macy’s allows an AR-enabled experience both via its mobile application and in select stores by letting shoppers digitally try on makeup from a range of brands.

A Forrester Retail Omnichannel Capabilities Assessment between April and July of 2018, also found that two US retailers Best Buy and Macy’s, scored better across categories than most European retailers in terms of their omnichannel customer engagement strategies.

Sephora

The beauty and personal care giant is known for providing its customers an omnichannel experience by stitching together its customers online buying journeys with their in-store experience. Its Beauty Insider Rewards program helps foster stronger relationships between the consumers and the brand across boundaries of online and in-store.

The rewards program allows Sephora Beauty Insiders to get access to the Beauty Bag, which is seamlessly connected with the in-store communication channel.

Knowing that their stores have an overwhelming variety for walk-in customers to choose from, Sephora’s Beauty Bag lets people connect to their app, while in-store, try the products virtually and even look at similar options on the app itself and add what they like into their wishlist, which can be quickly purchased at any time, over the counter.

This way Sephora helps its customers narrow down their options while making the buying decisions convenient and well informed. Through its app, the customers can see their favorites, their past purchases, reward points, or can shop or scan items in store to see other options available online. Customers can also use the in-store tablets to access their Beauty Bag accounts, watch tutorial videos or attend a complimentary makeover session while in-store.

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