Omnichannel experience? Multichannel experience? What are the differences and which matters more? We opted the first one and let us tell you why.
It becomes increasingly obvious that Ecommerce is one of the best options to sustain businesses. Prior to jumping onto the bandwagon, we would like to bring your attention to this one factor that many might have overlooked before they transition – it is always important to explore and learn to optimize all the channels available.
Over the years of evolution, we see how people have grown to enjoy the convenience brought by technology and it is clear to us at Commerceplus to never neglect omnichannel customer experience as it caters to different customers with specific needs. You may question if investing in an omnichannel is worth your time, so allow us tell you some of its benefits.
The Importance of Omnichannel Experience in Ecommerce
1. The Best of Both Worlds – Combining Online Store and Offline Shop
In the modern days where the customers can choose to walk in or shop online, they definitely have a stronger bargaining power. For instance, they can order their favorite beverage from Starbucks through GradFood and Foodpanda, or they can simply walk-in and enjoy the retail shop experience.
Merchants can utilize the data collected through the CRM programme and observe the behaviors of their customers. With proper records, salespeople can communicate with the customers better regardless of whether the questions are asked in a physical store or in the virtual world when an enquiry is sent to live chat.
This unique customer experience is made possible by omnichannel marketing solutions because this strategy will allow both agents and customers to use different channels in a simultaneous manner. In contrast to the traditional method, agents and customers are restricted to only one channel for their mode of communication.
2. Proper Optimization to Reach The Fullest Potential of Omnichannel Experience
Customers are given the control to personalize their experience with your brand through omnichannel. They have access to their desired products and services on demand as they please. Trust us when we say most customers do not enjoy staying stuck on the phone with a confused staff or getting automated response through chatbots all the time.
For example, if a customer intends to pick up his online order, he can directly phone the customer service provider or drop a WhatsApp text so that he can confirm his pickup time. When he is presented in the physical store, showing the order number will significantly shorten the time for him to retrieve his order.
Meanwhile, there is a subtle difference between multichannel and omnichannel – a multichannel strategy seeks to provide different means for customers to get in touch with a business without caring to be integrated with one another, resulting in a high possibility of not attending to a customer’s request in a timely manner.
On the other hand, omnichannel strategy places equal focus on all the channels available so that a customer’s request will not go unnoticed and result in a negative customer experience. It is crucial for all the team leaders to remain alert so that each and every channel can be optimized to achieve its fullest potential and offer the best experience possible.
3. Diversification Done Right – Reach Your Audience Through Various Channels
Diversification always guides you to different leads and brings you more opportunities as compared to relying on a sole channel to interact with the customers. When you establish multiple channels with omnichannel strategy, the integration will warrant a smoother communication whether it is through phone call, WhatsApp text, email or even live chat.
When omnichannel strategy is implemented, it becomes essential for support team members as they get to identify the issues on the ticket in real-time by using various channels and subsequently, respond to the customer. This also means that they can resolve the ticket as soon as possible, and the general public can then seek help using any channel available at ease.
4. Achieve Improved Customer Loyalty Through Highly Personalized Experience
As we mentioned above, omnichannel experience happens when customer enjoys the highly personalized customer experience. This is proven to be very helpful with curating customer loyalty while improving customer retention. It is no secret that it is easier to outreach to a customer who had a good impression about your capability in managing based on the previous transaction.
Of course, we know a pleasant experience can definitely be customized through a properly optimized omnichannel strategy, as such experience is rooted from the satisfaction from choosing channels that cater the customer’s specific needs, like how a customer can collect the voucher online using his Fave mobile app while redeeming the voucher in the physical store.
Our Final Thoughts
An omnichannel experience is deemed to fit better in the new dynamic of buyers with high bargaining power nowadays. This is especially true for larger companies with little to no time to interact with every customer on one-to-one level, and everyone would know customer satisfaction remains the top priority in sustaining any business.
The bottom line is that every organization should pay close attention to the synergy in order to create an excellent omnichannel experience, and it will only get better if you are willing to invest more money and energy into this. We recommend every marketing channel in your Ecommerce business should be harmonized to create a wholesome experience for your customers.