Omnichannel Marketing for Seamless Customer Experience

There are over 4.6 billion internet users across the globe. On average, an individual uses 3-4 digital devices, sometimes simultaneously. Consumers spend 4-5 hours on mobile apps in a single day – these numbers equivocally state that digital has become a way of life. In today’s world, digital has become one of the primary and the most critical mediums to connect, communicate and engage with the customer. With the growing number of devices customers use, from PCs to laptops to smartphones and tablets, the customer journey has also become complex.

It is no longer enough for businesses to be present in each medium; they must implement omnichannel marketing strategies to create seamless customer experiences. Often, Omnichannel gets confused with multichannel, so before we deep dive into omnichannel marketing tactics for superior customer experience, let’s look at the fundamental difference between the two.

Simply put – multichannel means business presence in multiple digital mediums, and omnichannel is going a step forward and offering customers connected experiences across these channels. Let’s understand this with the help of an example.

A customer logs into an e-commerce app to buy a product on their smartphone. The typical customer journey will be to search for the product, add it to the cart, and pay for it. But before he/she can complete the purchase, the smartphone goes low on charge and switches off. The customer immediately logs into the e-commerce portal from their laptop. Now, in the case of multichannel – the customer will have to restart from browsing the product to adding it to the cart. But, in the case of omnichannel experience – the moment the customer logs in, they will start the journey right from where they left. Omnichannel will ensure a seamless customer experience, irrespective of the number or variety of devices the customer uses to complete the transaction.

Multichannel VS Omnichannel

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Omnichannel Marketing – Delivering Seamless Customer Experiences at Every Touchpoint

Businesses can no longer afford to deprioritize customer experience; rather, it has become critical to gain a competitive advantage. Omnichannel marketing has become a mandatory element to ensure a seamless customer experience, here’s how –

Integrated Customer Experience

Marketing leaders are increasingly investing in an integrated marketing strategy to connect with the customer engagingly at every point of contact – be it online or offline. This is a critical foundation of building an omnichannel marketing strategy. A study suggests that businesses using an omnichannel marketing strategy see a 91% YoY customer retention rate. Omnichannel marketing ensures customers get a seamless and consistent experience across all channels, devices, and platforms.

Personalization That Drives Customer Loyalty

Have you ever been surprised by the personalized offers that you received on your birthday/anniversary after visiting a retail store? Such tactics have become a norm across domains, and why not – such gestures go a long way in creating an emotional connection with the customer and gaining customer loyalty.  This is a perfect example of how omnichannel marketing extends beyond digital platforms to offline channels to deliver a seamless customer experience.

Customer Segmentation to Drive ROI

In today’s world, customers seek customization with every communication. An Omnichannel marketing strategy allows marketers to use data to understand customer behavior, demographics, psychographics and segment them according to their needs or pain points. This categorization becomes critical to ensure that marketing spending yields results in the form of getting high-quality leads, completed sales, website/app visits, etc.

From Cold Calls to Conversions

Omnichannel marketing can go a long way in ensuring a higher number of conversions. Why? Because when businesses deliver seamless, personalized, and engaging customer experiences at every touchpoint – it can boost the chances of conversions. It also helps businesses offer services or products that are more likely to gain customer interest and therefore have a higher chance of getting purchased.

Customer Retention

In today’s world, where customers are spoiled for choices, customer retention has become a major challenge for businesses. An omnichannel strategy can help retain customers longer. How? One of the critical components of omnichannel marketing is using data from every channel to gain insights into customer behavior at every touchpoint. This allows businesses to gauge customer dissatisfaction and bridge the gaps proactively. A study reveals that businesses that deploy a cross channel or omnichannel strategy see a 13% YoY improvement in customer retention rates.

Optimizing – End-to-End Customer Journey

Presence on multiple digital channels has become a bare minimum requirement for businesses across domains. But often, businesses are tempted to optimize only a part of the customer journey or just optimize experiences on a channel that has higher visibility. This can be counterproductive. For instance, if a fabulous (offline) fashion store has an unimpressive online presence, it would lower its chance of getting newer customers, as the first step of brand visibility nowadays is through the digital medium.

Similarly, a business with a great online presence with a below-standard physical or offline presence will lead to customers dropping off at the moment of truth. Therefore, optimizing the end-to-end customer journey is critical, and an omnichannel marketing strategy helps in ensuring that.

In Conclusion

As customer experience becomes the center of business strategies, Omnichannel marketing is no longer an option. The saying ‘Customer is the King (and Queen)’ has never been truer as it is today. With advancements in technology and devices, shifting to an omnichannel marketing strategy has become imperative for businesses of every scale. With the increasing number of digital channels, the end-to-end experience that a business offers is critical to acquiring and retaining customers. It is also an important factor that will give a competitive advantage to the businesses. It is about time businesses shake off the siloed marketing approach towards individual touchpoints and connect with strategic partners to adopt omnichannel marketing for a seamless and personalized customer experience across platforms.

To know how Airtel iQ, an omni-channel cloud communication and customer experience management platform, is transforming the customer engagement, click here