Have you ever heard of omnichannel?
The term means unifying the virtual and physical world in one single place. In general terms, it represents the exchange of information between all service channels of a company: website, application, and physical stores, for example.
Although it sounds avant-garde, omnichannel can still be considered a way to innovate in the market, but at the same time, it meets the consumer demand for ease, uniformity and integration.
What is an omnichannel strategy and how does it work?
In an omnichannel strategy, the idea is to offer a complete and simple shopping experience, including the steps before and after the acquisition of a product.
Let's take a classic and easy-to-understand example: imagine visiting a clothing store and not finding that T-shirt you liked so much in the size you wear. With a service that combines offline with online, the solution would be simple: directly from the shop, the storekeeper could sell the correct product through e-commerce and send it directly to your address. And at the time of finalizing the purchase, a single payment would be made and would already contemplate the parts purchased in the store and the items purchased online.
The final result combines the generation of leads, cross and upsell strategies, and customer satisfaction since they did not have to enter the brand's website to make a second purchase separately. In addition, there is also an impulse purchase opportunity: the customer sees a product in the store and, even if its size is not available, they can purchase at that moment, without leaving it for later, when the probability of forgetting is high.
Another example, this time in the B2B sector, is when you hire a software as a service (SaaS) company and there are several ways to get information to use the platform. In other words, the contracted company is concerned with offering a personalized experience, regardless of the channel or device used by the customer.
You can see integration in your buyer's journey touchpoints, whether by written message, email or voice.
Why invest in omnichannel?
In addition to making the customer's life easier, as pointed out above, investing in an omnichannel strategy has another great advantage: the possibility of integrating platforms and channels during customer service.
Although it seems difficult to implement, some tools can help. rocket.Chat, for example, creates fluid communication paths with consumers. In other words, this means that a lead or prospect who has talked to a brand via Instagram, for example, receives the same type of service as another person who has gotten in touch through a contact form.
Or, if the customer has talked once through social networks and again through your website chat, all this history is available in one place for the support team. This is because, with the use of Rocket.chat, all brand contact platforms are brought together in one tool.
Differences between multichannel and omnichannel
Although similar, do not confuse omnichannel with multichannel. The difference between the terms lies in the integration and information sharing through different strategies.
In the case of multichannel, the company can count on different channels of service (physical, website, application, social networks), but each of them work individually. In this way, a purchase made via a website, for example, cannot be withdrawn at the physical store. Or, in the worst case, the brand seller cannot access the consumer's purchase history from the website.
In the B2B world, this can be translated into customer service that, despite being available on multiple channels, the treatment is not uniform or unified. One of the obstacles of this type of strategy is that it forces the client to repeat events.
For example, within a week, the customer has a product-related problem and contacts the company via email. Although the problem was solved quickly, the following week, it occurs again, which causes the individual to call the company and have to tell a member of the support team (virtual assistant or human) all his/hers history. Such an event usually generates frustration and decreases satisfaction rates, due to the loss of time and resources.
On the other hand, in an omnichannel company, all customer information is available in all contact channels, which facilitates personalization and the continuation of service, making the customer experience more complete and optimized.
Advantages of being an Omnichannel
1. Increase in sales
One of the benefits of implementing an omnichannel strategy is to decrease buyouts. After all, as in the example mentioned before, the customer may not find what he/she's looking for at the physical store but can receive the product at home without even having to search for the website. Therefore, in addition to lead generation, it is still possible to increase the sales average ticket.
Therefore, with an integrated and simple service, it is not complex to predict consumer loyalty. And who is faithful to the brand, also indicates it to friends and family. As a result, the omnichannel strategy favors the growth of the company.
Finally, putting all these factors together, the company gains a strong brand image and stands out from the competition.
2. Sales strategies for targeted audiences
By tracking the entire customer journey, regardless of platform, having an omnichannel strategy enables greater segmentation power.
After all, through it, the company can understand the profile of the customer, the degree of his involvement with the brand, and undoubtedly knows the buyer's behavior.
With all this information at hand, communication becomes super personalized and considerably increases the chances of generating leads and converting a prospect into a customer.
3. Personalized service
Finally, access to all this information mentioned in the previous topic allows not only segmented communication but also more effective and personalized service. In this case, the team member (from e-commerce or physical store) can offer products more assertively.
4. Agility in response:
An omnichannel service optimizes the work of the customer service team. With the information compiled and adapted, it is easier to understand the root of an incident and solve it effectively.
5. SoLoMo:
The acronym means " Social, Location and Mobile”. It's about being where the customer is, so they don't have to look for a channel where their supplier is available.
Conclusion: invest in omnichannel strategies!
It was clear that investing in omnichannel is important for lead generation, brand awareness and business growth. Despite being a complex implementation strategy, if done smoothly and with attention to small details, the results are great for acquiring new customers and building fidelity among old ones.
grupoGBI offers development tools that can make your company omnichannel. To take the first step towards implementing this strategy, contact us. We can assess the current landscape of your organization and create an effective action plan.
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