Shoppers may not know what “omnichannel” means, but they certainly expect it from the brands they love.
An omnichannel experience is a “multi-channel approach to marketing, selling, and service customers in a way that creates a cohesive customer experience,” says Hubspot.
Put simply, omnichannel strategies ensure customers have an engaging and seamless shopping experience no matter how they interact with your brand. This includes shopping on eCommerce sites on desktop and mobile, by telephone, or in-store. Omnichannel goes deeper than the multi-channel strategy retailers and marketers have come to know, which emphasizes presence across platforms but doesn’t involve significant integration.
To customers, an omnichannel experience might mean they can find and shop a brand on social media, complete the experience on the merchant’s desktop site, and receive personalized email communications with tailored promotions. Shoppers also often use different channels at the same time--80% of customers use their mobile phones while shopping in-store, making it critical that experiences are cohesive. And more customers, especially younger shoppers, are purchasing from social media with more than 70% of Gen Zers and Millennials making a purchase on Instagram.
Think of Apple: Customers can customize and purchase a product on desktop, receive a mobile wallet card for quick in-store pickup, sign for the item via mobile POS, automatically receive an email receipt, and then be sent a customized product set-up email when the product is first turned on. They can then connect to a customer service rep for set-up help via desktop, mobile app, or text--and transition that conversation across platforms.
Here are Afterpay’s top three tips to implement an effective omnichannel strategy to attract and engage customers in 2021.
- Define your channelsEvery omnichannel strategy is multi-channel, but not all multi-channel strategies are omnichannel. That means your omnichannel efforts must be synchronized, and that starts by defining the channels that will be part of your strategy. For most retailers, this includes the eCommerce site, social media channels, blogs, email marketing efforts, and for brick-and-mortar retailers, the in-store experience. Additional channels might include SMS, in-store kiosks, custom mobile apps, direct mail, and more.
- Identify your internal stakeholdersThe omnichannel experience is not just about products and services. Successful strategies incorporate product, inventory, marketing, sales, customer service, and creative teams. Given that, representatives from these departments should be part of building an omnichannel experience. For example, if your eCommerce platform notes that a certain product is in stock at the customer’s local brick-and-mortar location, it should be available at that location. Customer service conversations should be linked to a customer’s account and able to be referenced across platforms.
- Develop the right back-end infrastructureChanges made on one platform should update automatically across all omnichannel platforms. For example, if a shopper updates their credit card information on a retailer’s desktop site and then attempts to check out via app or by scanning their mobile wallet in store, the new payment information should be ready to go. This requires a robust back-end infrastructure that ensures various platforms and technologies “talk to each other,” and can be made easier by working with the right providers. Afterpay, for example, provides a seamless experience across retailer channels from desktop and mobile checkout to in-store payment.
With more retailers implementing creative omnichannel strategies, customers will expect a cohesive, engaging, and personalized experience no matter how they interact with your brand.
To integrate Afterpay into your omnichannel strategy, reach out to our team by clicking here.
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