What is the omnichannel customer experience?

Omnichannel customer experience means streamlining all the customer interactions across multiple channels to deliver a consistent customer experience.

What exactly is an omnichannel customer experience? It’s a process in which organizations integrate all the touchpoints in any given customer experience, including emails, texts, social media, and websites on a variety of different devices, including mobile phones, tablets, and laptops, or traditional channels like landline phones, or retail stores. Cohesive messaging and goals are aligned both online and offline. The objective is a final transactional moment that is consistent and predictable. In other words, no surprises.

As a further, simplified comparison, the process is like participating in a relay race at a track meet. Businesses must be prepared and focused, speedy, possess reliable handoff abilities, and be able to sprint to the finish line in full stride to complete the process. Any stumbles or mishandled opportunities can be costly.

Done right, an omnichannel experience can whisk customers into a blissful buying journey. If done wrong, it’s a lost opportunity with a likely customer.

Customers should be able to take their little virtual shopping cart and pick up where they left off on one channel and continue the experience on another. But the omnichannel experience is not only limited to individual customers.

Omnichannel, once the domain of the B2C world, also includes a B2B component. The customer who expects to be able to purchase an audio soundbar and return it in-store could be the same buyer who wants a cohesive experience when procuring products from a supplier.

The omnichannel experience differs from a multichannel digital experience. In the most basic definition, omnichannel is a progression from multichannel. In a multichannel experience, customers have access to various communication options, but they aren’t necessarily connected or synchronized.

However, these channels are not necessarily integrated with each other, the customer data is fragmented and the customer experience might not be consistent. Multichannel marketing considers each touchpoint and channel as independent and separate. On the other hand, consistency, integration, and a holistic view of customer interactions are exactly what omnichannel is about. It tears down the silos between in-store, social media, mobile, email, web, phone, and live chat experiences.

Businesses can set up all the top-notch mobile marketing with engaging social media campaigns, and a well-structured website. But if they don’t work together, it’s not an omnichannel experience.

Based on the data, customers have shown their desire for the omnichannel experience. According to a 2021 Digital Commerce 360 analysis, omnichannel services were key to digital growth in 2020. Because of pandemic protocols, 68.7% of retailers offered curbside or pickup services in early 2021 compared with 54% in early 2020.

Some types of businesses are excelling at omnichannel. Two examples:

• For that special blend of upscale coffee, we might get the work week started by reloading your loyalty card with money via the brand’s website, mobile app, or physical store. Any changes get real-time updates across all channels, all the while gaining reward points for future purchases.
• For the family’s vacation, an entertainment venue’s omnichannel setup can book the entire trip, from finding dining options to acting as a hotel room key. The app also can geo-target attractions, set up fast passes, and view the estimated wait time for each.

It’s also can be an extended shopping process, like a virtual concierge.

Based on the data, customers have shown their desire for the omnichannel experience, and the seamless experience that comes with it. According to a 2021 Digital Commerce 360 analysis, omnichannel services were key to digital growth in 2020. Because of pandemic protocols, 68.7% of retailers offered curbside or pickup services in early 2021 compared with 54% in early 2020.

Signs of omnichannel growth were evident before the pandemic.

According to a 2019 Boston Retail Partners report, 56% of customers surveyed indicated they were likely to shop at a retailer that allowed them to have a shared cart across channels rather than a retailer that didn’t offer this service. Customers and businesses also had expectations: 87% of customers wanted a personalized and consistent experience across all channels and 53% of retailers indicated that personalization of the customer experience is a top priority.

Omnichannel also drove e-commerce to soaring sales numbers. In 2020, consumers spent $861 billion online with U.S. retailers, an increase of 44% from $598 billion in 2019, according to Digital Commerce 360. In total retail sales, online spending represented 21.3% in 2020 compared with 15.8% in 2019.

According to Worldpay research, omnichannel shoppers spend somewhere between 50% and 300% more than traditional shoppers. Businesses with omnichannel customer engagement strategies achieve 91% greater year-on-year customer retention.

The traditional customer lifecycle seems to belong in the past. And it’s replaced by a shopping journey that is stretched over a number of different customer touchpoints.

The result?

From higher customer satisfaction and personalized experiences to increased profits, companies can obtain multiple pros by implementing an omnichannel marketing strategy.

1. Higher customer engagement

   A recent study found that omnichannel campaigns saw an 18.96% engagement rate, while single-channel saw just a 5.4% engagement rate. In today’s competitive landscape, an omnichannel approach is a prerequisite for staying relevant.

2. Increased profits

   Failing to meet omnichannel shopping expectations means missing out on significant sales opportunities. It is estimated that retailers who don’t invest in omnichannel journeys lose anywhere between 10% and 30% of sales while using 3+ channels increases order rate by 494%.

3. Increased customer retention

   Focusing on an omnichannel strategy is just one more step to getting better results in customer relationships. Did you know that, on average, companies that offer a multichannel experience retain 89% of their customers, compared to a 33% customer retention rate for companies with weak omnichannel strategies?

4. Better inventory turnover

   The danger of out-of-stock or stagnant inventory can be reduced with the help of a powerful omnichannel strategy. It allows companies to have a better overview of their stock across channels, fulfill orders from anywhere, and develop smarter replenishment practices.

5. More upsell and cross-sell opportunities

   Leveraging the power of multiple communication channels leads to great customer experiences. Which ultimately leads to unlocking precious upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Today companies can build loyalty with the help of email marketing, push notifications, and even chatbots to recommend additional products and upgrades.

As we mentioned, omnichannel tears down the silos. Departmental silos can be problematic when it comes to both the customer experience and data collection. It could be a territorial issue. Or it could be unintentional, especially when departments use technology to solve an internal issue and create a data silo that isn’t sharable. Each channel might have its own strategy, goals, and metrics that are not associated with the others. The result impacts customers and their experiences are disrupted by inaccurate and non-standardized data.

It is an issue. In CMSWire’s 2021 State of Digital Customer Experience report, 37% of digital customer experience leaders point to data silos and/or fragmented customer data that are hurting their digital customer experience initiatives.

To get everyone on board, brands should encourage and set up effective collaboration between departments and adapt the existing culture to have a more unified customer-centric objective. Businesses can turn to a customer data platform (CDP) to unify their data sources. A CDP can distill the data using machine learning or artificial intelligence and create customer profiles.

Presenting a positive omnichannel experience is much like the long-held tenet of providing a quality customer experience and putting customers first.

Here are a few ways to provide that positive experience:

• Choose the right tools: Building a successful omnichannel customer experience strategy can be extremely challenging if you don’t have the right tools. Functionalities like email marketing, CRM, SMS messaging, automation, and customer support tools will help you foster customer loyalty and reach retention goals faster.
• Develop cross-channel consistency: Create a consistent customer experience across all channels and help them benefit from the best offer wherever they are located. Use real-time offers that match the customer profile across different sales channels. Be clear and honest.
• Keep everything on brand: Developing standards for an exceptional, consistent, brand experience will lead to less confusion and better brand loyalty. This strategy includes interactions, color schemes, and fonts. This also helps customers stay focused.
• Work on increasing average cart size: Current customers are the best prospects for higher sales. Target sales for all customers — anonymous, identified, or loyal — to encourage customer interactions like impulse buying and additional sales.
• Choose the right channels: Here’s a case where less can be more. Ask customers which platforms they prefer to engage with your content, and then focus on those. Use a customer journey map to map out customer behavior and make the most of engagement analytics to determine online and offline channels where users are most active.
• Understand the channels: Customer satisfaction goes hand in hand with changes over time, so your message also needs to evolve. Each channel has its own unique audience. Know your customers intimately and understand their buying habits. Put customers’ needs at the heart of your strategy.
• Develop high-quality content across multiple channels: Content should be relevant to various stages of a buyer’s journey. Take advantage of different channels like repurposing podcasts into blog posts, which can evolve into FAQs, scripts for a YouTube channel, or chopped into micro-content for social media posts.
• Data is your friend: Make sure all your digital channels are producing usable data. Analyzing data can help better understand customer behavior and gain loyal customers.

Starbucks

Starbucks, with its loyalty program “My Starbucks Reward”, is considered one of the top omni-channel experiences out there.

The app that rewards customers based on their purchases has made it possible to check and reload your loyalty card via phone, website, app, and in-store. And any changes to your card or profile are instantly updated across all channels.

Additionally, the global coffee shop chain improves the customer experience by integrating its brick-and-mortar stores, website, and mobile app to allow customers to purchase online or via their mobile device and pick them up in person.

Amazon

Amazon omnichannel is impressive, and the key is customer centricity. By connecting its various channels through different devices, the online retail giant has managed to remove the borderline between physical and digital worlds, create a fully integrated shopping experience and skyrocket customer satisfaction.

Customers can use the mobile app, Amazon Prime account, Amazon Echo, and even brick-and-mortar stores, to buy online, pickup from various locations thanks to self-service capabilities, or order from small businesses while benefiting from Amazon’s efficient supply chain and expanded delivery options.

Sephora

Sephora has completely transformed not only the way we buy beauty products but also the retail experience in general, by creating a brand new user experience and exceeding customer expectations.

Fully adapted to a mobile-first future, the cosmetic store chain focuses on catering to both beauty junkies and newbies, with a digital-first, omnichannel customer experience. Αddressing all levels of experience, Sephora offers a unique in-app, personalized shopping experience by leveraging augmented reality, plenty of educational content on its website and mobile app, as well as its “IQ” series of quizzes that aim to match customers with products that fit their needs.

Sephora’s effective omnichannel experience strategy also includes the Beauty Insider Community, accessible both from its main website and mobile app, as a direct channel to speak with its customers and collect feedback.

Brands face enough challenges. Developing a positive customer experience across multiple digital channels and platforms can put customers at ease with your brand. By fighting through the data silos, unifying data, personalizing experiences, and using real-time decisions when appropriate, a brand can make the customer journey into an omnichannel experience seem ... almost magical.