5 Reasons Why You Need an Omnichannel Customer Strategy Now

Putting down your paintbrush, you let out a sigh of relief. You just put the finishing touches on your new mind & body wellness studio and the big opening day is tomorrow! Now that the physical part of setting up a business is done, you start thinking about attracting clients, getting them to sign up and keeping them happy.

Then the phone rings. "Hey, it's Alex from CINNOX! I saw your advertising flyers in my mailbox and I'm super excited to see your new wellness studio opening! How about we meet over some matcha tea? I just want to share some tips about how your new brand should be engaging today's savvy customers using digital channels."

You're thankful for the call because, not only is it timely, but you read something about "omnichannel marketing" a while ago. Even your friends, who recently opened an urban B&B guesthouse, urged you to explore how you can use an omnichannel strategy to WOW your customers, keep them returning and turn them into fans!

The old way: multichannel marketing

Multichannel marketing is a tried-and-true marketing strategy where you spread your promotional messages across multiple marketing channels. The aim is to be where you think your customers are. For example, you'll promote your new studio opening by launching a website, sending promotional emails, and sharing lots of social posts.

Since each marketing channel has its own strategy and goals, they tend to work in a vacuum independently of the other channels. This can create a disjointed customer experience (CX) where, for example, your website has no mention of a discount coupon attached to your email nor the free trial class QR code in your social posts.

What is omnichannel marketing?

Omnichannel marketing focuses on the consumer instead. It's about creating a seamless customer experience for your brand across all its digital touchpoints: chat, phone, email and social media. Because customers usually interact with a brand on more than one channel, the customer journey is integrated throughout each of them.

A tired executive, for example, clicks on your Facebook post promoting your new studio. It directs her to a landing page where she uses live chat to get more details. Satisfied, she registers for a trial class and receives an email confirmation. After her class, she receives an SMS asking her to share her experience and write a review.

In this case, the entire customer journey was consistent across social media, web, live chat, email and SMS. Each touchpoint worked with the others to move her through the buying journey while also providing a great customer experience. Hopefully, her positive experience will prompt her to recommend you to her friends!

Why you need an omnichannel strategy now

Customers don't see channels in the same way that brands do. While a company sees separate channels, customers only see one brand regardless of which channel they are using. As a result, the distinctions between channels get blurred. Plus, customers expect the same brand experience regardless of the channel they pick!

An omnichannel marketing strategy enables brands to reach their customers wherever they are, at the right moment. Brands can use a CX solution to seamlessly move between channels across the entire customer journey, with each channel providing the same rich multimedia features for a unified customer experience.

Need more convincing why you should adopt an omnichannel marketing strategy? Here are 5 good reasons.

Reason #1: Customers communicate on their terms

More than half of customers engage with three to five channels during each journey they take toward making a purchase or resolving a request. McKinsey & Company

Omnichannel marketing has turned multichannel marketing upside-down. Businesses are no longer free to decide which channels their customers should be on. Instead, consumers are free to mix and match their favourite channels, asking via Facebook Messenger one day and then following up with a phone call the next.

If your brand only offers email support, for example, you may be alienating a lot of people who are more comfortable speaking about their enquiry instead of taking the time to type it out; or who want the immediacy of live chat and phone support instead of waiting for days for an email reply. One size doesn't fit all!

There is no "right" channel, however. Instead, you need to provide multiple channels starting with live chat, web calls, video calls, email and social chat such as Facebook Messenger. Facebook, in particular, has a great reach for businesses since people can send messages anywhere from the web without installing a specific mobile app.

Reason #2: Customers see a brand, not channels

Customers engage with organisations, not channels. Forrester

Businesses used to think about marketing in terms of channels. Teams would be formed and tasked with managing one or more channels. For example, a social media team for Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, LINE and WeChat. And yet another customer service team to handle live chat, phone and email enquiries.

The problem with this strategy is that it creates data silos. Unless your teams are well-organised, customer data stored by one team may not be readily available to others. For example, the social media team would have no idea what was mentioned in a lengthy email discussion that the consumer is now referring to on Facebook.

As mentioned earlier, customers see brands rather than channels. When customers reach out and then jump between their preferred channels while interacting with your brand, the boundaries between them quickly become irrelevant. You must be everywhere at once if you want to provide a seamless consumer experience!

By combining chat, phone and video calls in a web widget, CINNOX offers unified communications. Customers can easily move between channels with a single click. Plus, file sharing and screen sharing enhance the multimedia experience, allowing customers to communicate more effectively and get their point across faster.

Potential clients, for example, want to know what your studio looks like and if it will serve as a brief sanctuary from the outside world. Not a problem! You jump from a web call to a video call while the prospect is still on the line, and then slowly pan your phone's camera around your studio for an impromptu live tour that closes the deal.

Reason #3: Customers desire consistency

Today’s customers expect a consistent and connected experience across shopping touchpoints. Forrester

Another issue with the traditional multichannel marketing approach is the possibility of inconsistent customer experiences across channels. After a nice and friendly live chat interaction on your website, a customer may be faced with chilly and unknowledgeable representatives when following up through email later!

Customers who see a brand expect a consistent customer experience in their encounters with it. Your agents should be all-knowing and have access to customer information, including interactions across all channels and what was said. Together with a holistic view of your customers, enquiry labelling can also help you answer similar enquiries and consistently resolve common issues.

A client named Thomas, for example, prefers to be called Tom and you're glad to see his name being consistently used in live chat, emails and social chat. He last called about pausing his membership as he will be away for summer. Your agent sees the notes and labels created for his enquiry and instantly understands Tom's situation, saving him much time from repeating himself.

Reason #4: Customers value proactivity

A survey of more than 6,000 customers revealed that only 13% reported receiving any type of proactive customer service. Gartner

"They will come if you build it," seems to describe multichannel marketing for websites. Snappy copywriting, lovely responsive designs and other conversion rate optimisation (CRO) strategies are still passive marketing techniques. Visitors may arrive at your website, view your pages, and then leave without your knowledge.

Proactively engaging visitors is a more rewarding strategy that high-converting websites use. CINNOX's smart greeting function enthusiastically greets visitors as they arrive at your website. You're putting out the welcome mat, initiating conversations to better understand their wants and goals, and creating better customer experiences for them.

A prospect, for example, clicks on the web call icon in response to your smart greeting. Your agent knows from the enquiry window that the visitor has been browsing specific classes. In fact, the visitor is complaining about back pain from working at home. Your agent recommends stretching classes and shares the price list. To keep the engagement going, web links are shared with the prospect so that chats and calls can be made to the same agent.

Reason #5: Customers expect personalisation

71% of B2C customers expect companies to be well informed about their personal information during an interaction. Gartner

Multichannel marketing, while efficient and scalable, is impersonal at best. Mass marketing messages reach out to a very large audience but they don't really resonate with anyone in particular. Why promote cardio classes, for example, if people are looking for ways to deal with post-pandemic mental anxiety?

Personalisation means giving a customer an experience that is tailored just for them and makes them feel like a VIP. A visitor from Japan, for example, lands on your website and clicks to chat with an agent. CINNOX's smart language routing feature directs the enquiry to a Japanese-speaking agent, immediately delighting the visitor! Your agent explains that while you don't have a presence in Tokyo yet, she can recommend a partner studio.

What's your omnichannel strategy?

After finishing your chat with Alex, you're convinced more than ever that omnichannel marketing is here to stay. Like your clientele, today's sophisticated consumers expect more personalised and consistent experiences regardless of the communication channel they use. You highly recommend that startups and small businesses that want to jumpstart their CX click to speak with an expert now.