Tough times like COVID-19 have changed the general norms of business today. The new normal for the customers is to interact and shop with brands online. Having multiple channels to interact with customers is what the brands are striving for these days. 73% of the customers switch between an average of 4 channels during their purchase journey before they freeze their pick.

Simply put, this has amplified the demand for an omnichannel customer experience, a key trick that you must deploy in your business too. If you’re wondering how to do so, you have reached the right page. This blog will sail through what is meant by omnichannel customer experience, its top benefits, and best practices too.

What is Omnichannel Customer Experience?

Omnichannel Customer Experience means providing your customers with a unified experience across all or multiple channels that they use to interact with your brand. Just like the word suggests, omnichannel starts with being present and accessible to the customers so that they engage with you seamlessly. In the context of customer experience, omnichannel entices a convenient engagement across both online and offline modes for your customers. Look at this iScoop report that speaks about its massive impact.

This can surface all the touchpoints in a customer’s lifecycle that include: phone calls, live chats, social media channels, follow-up emails, and in-person assistance in the brick and mortar store too. Now, that we know what is omnichannel customer experience on a basic note, let us dive into some of its top benefits for better understanding.

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Top Benefits of Omnichannel Customer Experience

• More Choices for the Customers to interact with: It is no surprise that the majority of your customer base today are millennials. And these time-strapped millennials would not want to wait under any costs. They want to be able to engage with your brand as and when they want to and not wait for the right channel to come their way. The ubiquity of various channels has made it possible to expand the scope of customer engagement and facilitate smooth communication between different channels.
• Enhanced Quality of Customer Data attained: A perfect omnichannel strategy follows customer footprints along the various touchpoints and unearths precious customer data. This data of relevance and quality will help in bringing out multi-channel insights to hone your data-driven decisions. Ad with these decisions, it will be easier for you to map your strategies to your KPIs.
• Augments Customer Satisfaction: Brands that have a strong omnichannel strategy enjoy 89% more customer retention and satisfaction than the brands that don’t. The pivotal objective of a good omnichannel customer experience is to iron out the unnecessary friction that customers might face when interacting with a brand. This ultimately makes the customer get what they want and thereby rev up your customer satisfaction index. By minimizing the dependency and time across the multiple touchpoints, you pave the way for a holistic ecosystem for your customers to seamlessly exist and engage with you.

• Reinforces Brand Accountability and Customer Trust: While you straighten your omnichannel presence, you give your organic brand reach a notch-up. Note that, word of mouth never gets outdated in marketing. The conversations, comments, and mentions that you get on social media only add to your brand accountability and allows your prospects and customers to trust you more. Offering a stellar experience on the social front will help you reach out more to the customers and gain their trust.

Best Practices for Omnichannel Customer Experience

• Know your Target Customer Base: The toughest part about creating an omnichannel customer experience is that you must deliver the exact requisites to the customer in the exact manner they want it served. That is when it is quintessential to study your customers and know their wants. If you do not understand their needs, how would you be able to cater a seamless experience across various touchpoints?
• Map your Customer Journey: Once you have identified and analyzed your target customers, the next thing on your list should be mapping their journey they take to purchase your products or services. Now, there could be many stances where a customer might face some pain points. For instance, you might see that you are losing out on potential customers between the ‘Add to Cart’ stage and ‘Buy Now’ stage. Perhaps, this is where they are facing some issues that you may not know. Deploying a live chat option here will serve the purpose. Similarly, you will have to spot such opportunities and map their journey out.
• Create your Omnichannel Universe: Now that you have defined your customer journey, work on ideas to make the journey more coherent. Your customer’s data from the various channel should be synchronized and integrated. By fine-tuning this inter-channel process, you are more likely to get more revenue. Also, take no backseats on your social media presence. This ensures that your omnichannel universe extends beyond the brand’s platforms and includes social channels too.

• Render Omnichannel Support Services: When implementing an omnichannel customer experience, it is vital to run a support service alongside. Ensure that your contact agents offer support via a multitude of options such as live chat, webchat, video call, and co-browse are integrated for the conversions. Integrating all possible contact channels in your omnichannel contact center is the best way to support a seamless customer experience. ‍

Parting Thoughts

An omnichannel customer experience aims to helps brands offer their customers a personalized approach through a smooth and seamless customer journey that triggers repeat purchases and loyalty. Imbibe the aforementioned steps and you stand a chance to achieve a true omnichannel experience. With an improved customer experience score, you will see a rise in growth and opportunities.

WRITTEN BYJoseph Henson

Highly accomplished, motivated, and adaptable sales and operations professional with a track record of successful leadership. Known for an empathetic and consultative approach that consistently exceeds growth and revenue goals.

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