The Ultimate Guide to Omnichannel Customer Experience

An e-commerce business strategy is ideally designed around customers and their shopping journeys. With a large-scale digital transformation redefining the way people shop, omnichannel customer experience has become quite the buzzword.

According to a Google study, 42% of in-store shoppers search for product information online while being in a store. 64% of these shoppers use search engines to find this information.

Online retailers are actively jumping in to adopt new strategies and establish their brand image. While they make themselves visible to their target audience through websites and social media, the omnichannel model allows them to synchronize information between online and in-store channels.

The omnichannel approach is also crucial for businesses to understand their buyer personas. It provides them valuable insights into customer journeys and their preferences. 

Research has shown that omnichannel customer experience (CX) strategies help businesses retain 89% of their customers.

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What is Omnichannel Customer Experience?

Omnichannel customer experience is a way of delivering a cohesive brand experience across the board regardless of the channels involved. This means both online and in-store customers can interact with multiple inter-connected touchpoints and get a consistent brand experience.

The majority of e-Commerce shoppers expect smooth transitions between touchpoints and communication channels. Digital businesses that adopt the omnichannel approach can connect multiple channels across their network to streamline sales, marketing, and even customer services.

From the customers’ point of view, getting a unified experience makes them want to stick with your brand whether they try to reach out through an online channel or while visiting a store. Nothing is inconsistent or repetitive as with multi-channel models.

In the modern age where customers do not have time to waste, the slightest inconsistency in online experience can result in a lost lead.

Although it does not sound like a very complex concept, creating an omnichannel experience involves numerous factors.

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Importance of Omnichannel Customer Experience   

As your customers look for quality and convenience, every step of their journey must be interactive and cohesive. Considering the competition between e-commerce brands, you always want to engage customers by offering the kind of experience they like.

This is only possible when you deliver quality services along every step of the customer journey, irrespective of the channel they come from. 

At this point, if you’re looking to scale your retail business in e-Commerce, customer experience should be your top priority. An omnichannel model lays the groundwork for great customer experience throughout all customer devices and touchpoints.

• According to statistics, shoppers who use multiple channels to search for products spend 4% more (on average) in physical stores. 
• Customers using the omnichannel approach spend 10% more than those who use a single channel.
• Omnichannel customers have also proven to be more loyal as compared to single-channel customers. There are 23% more repeat purchases by shoppers within six months of an omnichannel shopping experience.

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Benefits of Omnichannel Customer Experience            

Looking at the numbers, we can say that the omnichannel approach has multiple positive outcomes for your customers and ultimately, your business. Here are some of the benefits of an omnichannel customer experience:

Customer-friendly approach

Today’s online shoppers expect a seamless shopping experience where they can conveniently transition between different channels and avail a number of options. An omnichannel approach integrates all relevant data from offline and online channels and allows your customers to interact with your brand in the ways best suited to them.

Reach a bigger audience

Different customers have different ways of interacting with a brand. Whether your brand has a strong online standing or attracts shoppers in store, the omnichannel customer experience works as a treat for all kinds of customers. 

It offers them the flexibility to access any channel or touchpoint at any time. With a larger number of available touchpoints and channels, you can cater to a larger number of customers.

Get Valuable Insights

As your customers interact with your brand through multiple channels, you get more valuable information about them. This way you can better understand your customers’ shopping journeys and enhance the quality of your services accordingly. 

For instance, if a customer faces difficulty accessing information about a specific product online, your brand can identify and fix the inconsistency causing this problem.

Higher customer retention rate

Statistics show that customers who interact with brands using multiple channels have a 250% higher purchase frequency as compared to single-channel shoppers. 

Omnichannel customer experience is something that makes customers feel in control by allowing them to follow their preferred channels for shopping. 

Improved customer lifetime value

When you empower customers in their shopping journey, they develop trust in your brand. For this reason, omnichannel customer experience accounts for 30% more valuable customers. 

It allows them to interact freely with your brand’s intuitive framework and never feel stuck. A well-designed omnichannel model attracts shoppers for longer periods of time and improves customer lifetime value.

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6 Ways to Improve Omnichannel Customer Experience   

Creating the best omnichannel customer experience is not limited to adopting the latest and greatest business model. There are omnichannel strategies - which, if done right, eliminate the siloes in customer journeys. 

Making omnichannel customer services a primary goal allows businesses to benefit from higher customer satisfaction. 

Here are the strategies to create memorable shopping experiences for customers through the omnichannel model:

Identifying Preferred Touchpoints

Customers generally prefer a great online experience over reasonable price tags. With the goal of creating a frictionless online experience, the ideal strategy is to identify customer touchpoints. 

This way of enhancing the omnichannel customer experience also develops a deeper understanding of how your customers perceive each touchpoint. You also get insights into their buying process and the steps they find difficult to go through.

Not to mention, getting data from multiple channels allows you to identify successful strategies that create ‘wow moments’ for customers and surpass expectations. At the end of the day, your goal is to create memorable shopping experiences that customers will remember.

If all touchpoints are effectively refining the customer journeys, your business will have the insights to develop an effective omnichannel marketing strategy.

Here is what e-Commerce retailers should do to improve the omnichannel customer experience:

• Understand the audience and stay connected through all touchpoints to provide real-time customer support.
• Identify customer preferences and offer personalized interactions wherever possible.

Automate Inventory Management

Having access to real-time information about your inventory enables you to cut down the instances of stock shortages and leftover stock. By automating your inventory management with XStak’s Order & Invetory Management, you can take control of your stock levels and improve your sell-through rate by a significant margin.

With the omnichannel approach being applied to inventory management, your business can monitor inventory in all your stores and franchises through a unified dashboard. 

Making this improvement to the omnichannel customer experience also enables retailers to reduce operational costs and avoid inconsistency in order costs.

XStak’s Order & Invetory Management is a cloud-based inventory and order management solution that synchronizes inventory from both offline and online channels in real time. This means that the moment a customer orders an item, the system automatically updates the inventory from the respective channel.

Not only that, you can leverage XStak’s automated order management solution to accelerate order fullfilment times. The system allows you to book orders with multiple courier services and keeps track of the progress on each order.

Real-time inventory updates means that your customers get the real number of items available when they search for a product they want to buy.

Integrate Content into Digital Platforms

When it comes to engaging customers through online presence, content is king!

Your omnichannel marketing strategy can be enhanced significantly if your website has regularly updated, SEO-optimized content.

With compelling content, you can send your message out loud and clear. Provide your customers with valuable industry insights and product updates to build brand loyalty. Content on digital platforms, when combined with the right graphics and videos, can make your brand stand out from the competition.

That being said, digital marketing campaigns must be designed smartly to ensure relevance and consistency. For instance, customers should be guided about terms and conditions in case of a discount offer as part of a digital marketing campaign.

In every step of the digital marketing campaign, there should be a reference to your brand’s terms and conditions. This helps avoid any discrepancies at the end of the customer journey as customers know the terms and conditions right from the beginning. With this simple practice, you can significantly enhance their omnichannel customer experience.

Streamline Payments 

When you offer services through multiple channels, you get a variety of customers. More customers means more types of payment methods to offer. The omnichannel approach is not complete without offering access to all modern payment methods.

With XStak’s embedded payments solution XPay, retailers can gather offline and online payments from customers without compromising processing times. Your customers can pay with their debit/credit card, through bank transfer, mobile wallet, as well as BNPL (buy now pay later) and offline POS payments.

Addressing the Needs of in-store Customers

How can we forget the customers approaching your brand through analog channels?

Although most customers interact with your brand using digital means, omnichannel customer experience is about ensuring the same frictionless experience for customers exploring your products in brick-and-mortar stores must also get the same frictionless experience.

With XStak’s unified omnichannel commerce solution, you can manage online and in-store sales while offering your customers a variety of options to shop with. They can choose from Quick Commerce, BOPIS, BORIS, Ship-from-Store, and more.

Analyzing Customer Feedback

Once the brand has done its part in designing an intuitive user experience, the ball is in the customer’s court. Depending on the feedback of customers, the omnichannel strategy can turn into a success or a failure. 

Apart from providing real-time customer support, it’s important to know where your digital platform stands in terms of customer satisfaction. To enhance your experience, we encourage you to share your feedback regarding every touchpoint, webpage, social media platform, and even emails you encounter. Your insights are invaluable in helping us understand and refine your journey. Additionally, don't forget to make use of our SPF record checker to ensure your email communications are secure and authenticated.

Based on the feedback, you can implement the best practices to deliver unmatched services. This means a real-time customer feedback and support mechanism that allows smooth interactions and improves brand perception.

Analyzing customer feedback on a regular basis allows eCommerce businesses to reduce the friction in customer journeys. The omnichannel customer experience is all about providing convenience to online shoppers, allowing brands to serve them better. 

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Final Note

Reaching out to customers and ensuring a great shopping experience is imperative for all businesses. Looking at the 6 methods to improve the omnichannel customer experience, it might sound like a painstaking process to implement such a model. 

However, that is not the case with XStak’s omnichannel retail solution by your side. XStak’s omnichannel retail solution uses the best-in-breed MACH architecture to make every element of your business operations scalable. 

Leveraging the full capability of cloud computing, XStak’s headless commerce solution puts you in control of both design and functionality. From automating order management to shipping, pick-up and delivery, all the way to loyalty management, we have got you covered. 

If you’re looking to dominate the eCommerce retail market, you need an all in one turnkey solution that covers everything from order management, inventory, delivery, loyatly management, marketing, and payments under one dashboard. 

With world class business intelligence backing your operations, success is inevitable.

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