In the past few years, omnichannel customer experience (CX) has quickly evolved as a core part of CX. Brands that design and deliver an omnichannel customer experience have better opportunities to attain and leverage their CX insights. Those businesses have been recognized for achieving higher customer retention rates compared to companies that do not offer omnichannel options for their customers.
What’s interesting is how the number of channels that an omnichannel customer experience continues to grow as new channels becomes available. Just a few years ago, Facebook was the primary channel for a brand to consider, when advertising. You couldn’t even advertise on Instagram yet. Now, Instagram has become a brand leader in channel focus with TikTok taking over more and more of the market.
Other than social media channels, however, an omnichannel customer experience also includes your website’s UX, lead flow, sales process, and customer experience.
At the core, any aspect of your brand that interacts with a customer or a potential customer is part of your omnichannel customer experience in today’s business environment.
Here’s how the face of omnichannel customer experience has evolved in 2020:
Omnichannel has Risen as the Trending Minimum Threshold for Brands
In 2020, brands are focusing on omnichannel delivery as an integral component of the CX. Recently, there has been a fundamental shift in the way businesses think about omnichannel, as every part of the CX has become crucial.
Today’s customers think more about choice and convenience. In this customer-centric era, competent omnichannel delivery is the minimum bar that brands are hitting to compete effectively. Companies are reinventing the customer journey while investing in omnichannel strategy and CX technology.
The Dynamic Customer Journey is Well-Accepted Now
Customer journeys are dynamic since customer behaviors can rapidly evolve, as their wants and needs change. To make sure and understand the evolving buyers’ behavior, companies are now getting real-time visibility into their customers’ journeys and crafting omnichannel strategies to deliver excellent omnichannel interactions.
Friction between Channels are Eliminated
A compelling omnichannel journey is not only having a channel-based strategy. Instead, it must eliminate the friction between channels in such a way that customers can start a conversation on one channel and end it in another. This is exactly what is happening in 2020.
According to Google, 85% of digital consumers prefer to shop seamlessly across channels, and interestingly enough, a considerable amount of retailers are able to offer a unified shopping experience by allowing a customer to start the sale anywhere and finish it wherever they want. In addition, most businesses are now focused on adding more, new capabilities to enhance the omnichannel shopping experience for customers.
AI-Driven Omnichannel Personalization is the Key
Personalizing customer experiences across every channel and device continues to be one of the biggest trends in years past and for 2020. The growing accessibility of smart technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big-data processing tools, has been a significant reason in driving this trend.
This year, even an ‘average’ product marketer can leverage AI-based solutions and deliver customized on-site product recommendations based on factors like browsing and buying behavior, retargeting shoppers on social media with customized ads and promotions, dividing users into multiple relevant email marketing campaigns, etc.
According to GroundTruth, more than 50% of digital customers anticipate a personalized discount within one day of knowing a brand, while over 70% get frustrated with an impersonal buying experience, and 63% are okay with giving up personal data in exchange for personalized perks and offers.
So, AI-driven omnichannel personalization is one of the most rewarding trends to adapt to today. Brands truly have found this to be the most common approach when delivering an effortless omnichannel customer experience.
In a Nutshell
Is your brand delivering an omnichannel customer experience?
With brands around the world embracing omnichannel solutions, to effectively take care of their existing and reach out to new customers, now is the perfect time to start.
Contact us today to learn about how our customer engagement solutions can help your organization deliver incredible omnichannel customer experiences.
