Facts About The Omni-Channel Approach - A Trend Or A Must?

We, as advertisers, evolve together with the environment we work in. Therefore we must adapt to the new, more or less subtle trends that are emerging and setting apart the marketers of 2021 from those of 2023.

What do people want?

So what are the next evolutionary steps that we can take to be one-step closer to our audiences? Well first of all we must look at what our audiences crave, what they desire right now. The timeless truths are that consumers will always want better prices, selection and convenience. With the internet, social media and e-commerce having already driven major progress on the first two customer needs, attention is now turning to convenience.

In our current day and time, consumers use the most of the previously mentioned tools. How? Regularly, more than 50% of consumers use more than 4 touch-points before making a purchase. And to look at how connected the online and offline shopping experience is, 20% of consumers declared that they have purchased a product online, while being in the offline store that was selling that product. Therefore, it is of no surprise that according to The Harvard Business Review, more than 87% of consumers want brands to put more effort in making the customer's experience ¨seamless¨.

What can we do differently to satisfy the people’s desire for seamlessness?

And this is where we must persuade companies that are selling any kind of products to engage in an omni-channel approach, rather than the multi-channel approach that is currently the norm. What does omni-channel mean? We can most accurately define it in comparison with the aforementioned multi-channel approach, in order to spot the subtle but distinct differences.

Multi-Channel approach:

●  Aims for more customer engagement

●  Focuses on the quantity and quality of channels and numbers

●  Centred on getting more of the metrics like - followers, likes, comments

●  Initiating many separate communication channels - physical store, website, app, influencers, sms, newsletter, billboards, tv, radio, social media, events etc.

 Omni-Channel approach:

●  Aims for a more seamless customer experience

●  Focuses on the quality of interaction and customer support

●  Centred on ensuring customers can easily jump from one online/offline channel or instance to another

●  Focusing on the most important of the channels, but in a synced-up manner, so that the users have a seamless experience

More often than not, the most usual way to find out how you can improve your customer’s experience in a seamless way is trying to find out their pain-points, what stops them from continuing the interaction and completing a purchase.

Exactly how to implement an omni-channel approach? Easier than you thought.

Starbucks did just that, and they found out that the pain-point in their customer’s journey was queuing in lines in order to get their coffee. The solution? They improved their app and enhanced it with services, such as allowing their customers to

●  personalize their order through their mobile app

●  order in advance and just pick up their order from the cafe

●  collect rewards as stars, which the customer uses to redeem extra rewards

●  + they added QR Codes for the app in online & offline marketing

Therefore, they contributed to a win-win situation in a very integrated, omni-channel manner.

Another aspect of the omni-channel approach is engaging with the customer in a personalized manner. 45% of customers say that they would rather choose to make a purchase from a brand that offers them a personalized experience and 60% would return if such an experience is delivered.

To illustrate our point, it does not have to be an overly-complicated system or personalization. We can give the example of simple scratch-cards, introduced in e-mail marketing, that transform a classic multi-channel e-mail approach, which people are fed-up with, into an opportunity for interaction with the brand.

It introduces the consumer to the process and gives him the feeling that he has ¨won¨ the discount. 

Does it really work? 

Although the omni-channel approach seems like just a tweak towards seamlessness and personalisation, the ultimate question is ¨does it really work?¨

Stats show it does. With a 92% chance to influence the completion of a purchase, 90% better customer retention, and 13% more money spent, the omni-channel approach is here to stay and become one of the driving forces of sales, especially in the world of commerce.

By Adrian Ghite