5 ways to improve your omnichannel customer experience

Did you know that it takes just 1-2 negative experiences for more than ¾ of consumers to stop purchasing from a business? That’s what we found when we asked 5,000 consumers about their customer service preferences and experiences. We also found that three of the most highly rated factors when it comes to customer service are speed of response, convenience and support being available 24/7. But how can you meet these expectations? The secret is to create an omnichannel customer experience. Here are five ways you can improve omnichannel customer experience and entice your customers to engage with you.

Multichannel vs omnichannel

Today’s consumers typically engage with brands across a variety of channels/devices throughout their buying journey. They may start their journey on their mobile device, before moving over to a laptop and then back to their mobile again. 

That’s why it’s a good idea to be available on a range of platforms and offer a multichannel experience. The difference between a multichannel and an omnichannel experience is your ability to offer a range of touchpoints and ensure that they’re connected so your customers receive a seamless, consistent experience and service, regardless of the channel. 

Recommended reading: Omnichannel marketing: A complete guide for marketers

How to improve the omnichannel customer experience

The benefits of creating an omnichannel customer experience are clear – from a better experience to an increase in traffic and sales. Here are our top ways to help improve your omnichannel customer experience.

1. Understand your target audience

Get to know your customers – existing, prospective and everyone else in between. How do they like to engage with you? Where do they prefer to spend their time? What are their purchasing preferences?

Use this knowledge to then map out the customer journey from start to finish – from identifying the stages of cart abandonment to highlighting the various touch points along the way. This can help you have more natural interactions with customers.

2. Create and maintain brand consistency

A challenge that typically comes with offering multiple comms channels is ensuring the customer experience remains consistent. No matter what channel your customers receive comms on, each interaction should align with your brand. It shouldn’t feel like they’re engaging with a different organisation every time.

Here are some tips to ensure a seamless experience:

• Centralise your comms channels and CRM systems (and their associated data). This will make it easier for your support team to access the customer data required to personalise conversations and eliminate the need for the customer to repeat themselves.
• Intuitively offer assistance at all touch points. For example, you might discover that you tend to lose customers between the ‘review basket’ and ‘complete purchase’ stages. Why not offer live chat or install a chatbot so customers can easily reach out to you for help? That can help them resolve any basket/purchase issues on the spot, reducing cart abandonment.
• If you have physical and digital stores, ensure your in-store branding extends to your digital storefront. And vice versa! The same goes for the quality of your customer service.

3. Provide end-to-end customer support

In our customer service survey, the factor that customers rated most highly when they needed to contact a business was speed of response. However, just 18% of businesses worldwide still offer only one contact channel, which risks lower engagement, long response times and ultimately, negative customer experiences.

Be present on the communication channels your customers use. Not only will this allow your customers to receive support via their favourite channels, but it will also mean that your customer service team can handle multiple conversations easily.

4. Deliver the right content at the right time

Whether they’ve just discovered your brand or they’ve purchased a product/service, it’s important to communicate with customers at every stage of their journey. Relevant content not only captures their attention, but keeps your brand at the forefront of their minds. This increases the likelihood of them coming back for more!

Reach customers on their favourite channel if possible. You can segment customers based on what you know about them and send content that’s tailored to their preferences and the channel. 

Tip: Make sure you scale your content to fit different screens and devices.

5. Ask customers for feedback

Customer feedback is what will help you improve the quality of your overall customer experience. But getting that feedback is no easy feat – something you may know well! Emails can easily end up in a spam folder and phone calls might be screened. 

But did you know that mobile messaging channels like SMS and WhatsApp boast open rates of up to 98% and 99% respectively? Plus, we found that 40% of global consumers stated they were more likely to complete a survey if contacted via SMS or WhatsApp. 

This is because they are typically:

• More convenient – globally, we pick up our phones an average of 58 times a day. So, a survey sent via a mobile messaging channel is more likely to be seen and require less effort to access and complete.
• More engaging – thanks to features like URLs, images, interactive buttons (WhatsApp only) and more.

Winning the brand and loyalty battle doesn’t need to be such a challenge

It’s no secret that the customer experience has drastically changed. With so many different ways for businesses to communicate with customers – from email to SMS, WhatsApp to social media – it can be challenging to know how to get it right. 

But it’s not just about the number of channels you offer; it’s also about how you join them all up to deliver a unified, consistent experience.

Want to learn more about how to win the brand and loyalty battle?

Our eBook reveals the results of our latest customer service trends survey, what they mean for businesses and how you can provide the best customer experience, regardless of the current economic climate.