Top 5 Omnichannel Customer Engagement Strategies

Today, customers are smart, tech savvy and quite choosy. They have an unparalleled number of options for interacting with businesses, ranging from traditional channels to an ever-expanding range of digital modes. They choose or leave any brand as per their experiences. They demand consistent experience in all the communication channels and personalized approach. Reports says, Companies with omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain on an average 89% of their customers. (Forbes) Hence, companies and brands need a long-term engagement strategy that works well for their business and customers. As a result, more businesses are making a shift towards a customer-centric approach. The omnichannel customer engagement helps to provide a personalized and meaningful experience in every interaction.

Let us first understand what is omnichannel customer engagement?

The omni-channel experience is marketing, selling, and serving customers on all channels to create an integrated and cohesive customer experience no matter how or where a customer reaches out. The experience should be the same for customers regardless of the platform or method they choose to use. (hubspot)

The goal of omnichannel consumer engagement is to boost customer engagement by using cross-channel execution strategies to deliver personalized messaging and interactions.

Top 5 omnichannel customer engagement strategies:

• Synchronization channels
• Personalized Experience
• Leverage Data
• Know your customer 
• Make it easy
   

• Synchronized Channels

The smartphone is the first channel when the customer starts to do some basic research related to the products and services. The purchasing decision is taken after gathering the required information. It is not considered a great shopping experience for customers if the products available online are nowhere to be seen in physical stores. The same inventory of products should be available across multiple channels for a successful end-user experience.

• Personalized Experience

Customers are delighted when you provide out-of-box innovative personalized experiences that are well suited for their requirements. For example product suggestions, articles, blogs and video recommendation as per their last visit, search or social media activity.  Personalized emailers / messages and chat support that strongly reflect how you care and understand your customers requirement.

• Leverage data

The success of your omnichannel strategy depends on how effectively you collect and leverage the customer data and drive meaningful analytics through it. Companies can now use a variety of marketing platforms, each of which has its own set of analytics. It is important to closely monitor your key performance indicators and engagement metrics on a daily or weekly basis to evaluate your business growth and progress. Some of the metrics include:

• User visits on your website
• Conversion Rates
• Likes and comments on your social media posts

You can also set some measurable targets in terms of business growth, customer retention, and customer loyalty to achieve your key milestones. However, for better analytics and decisions it is must to invest in smart marketing tools and automations which can provide one platform to see all the relevant information.  

• Know your customer

The success of your omnichannel experience depends upon how well you understand your customer and satisfy, surprise and reward them.  Customers often interact with your brand long before they ever make a purchase. Focusing on customer journey mapping and touchpoints will have a remarkable impact on your omnichannel strategy.

What matters to customers can differ drastically across industries, so it’s important to define. Moments That Matter (MTM). In marketing, MTM are actions tailored specifically to a customer to make them feel seen and valued.

Customers are satisfied, even if they have had a negative experience, when their concerns are heard and addressed. Customer feedback is a valuable component for both the customer experience and the omnichannel strategy.

Customer loyalty programs have been around for a long time, however technological advances and social media have increased their reach and efficacy.  It enhances the customer experience.

• Make it easy

The simplest way to engage your customers is by making the journey seamless and easy.  For eg. If a customer is facing the slightest of a problem during checkout, then your sales will be impacted in a negative way. Here are some of the ways you can follow for a great purchasing experience:

• Flexible payment options to choose from
• No hidden delivery or shipping charges
• Asking for necessary details at the time of checkout

To improve or enhance your customer and app experience you must take intuitive design approach and invest on UI / UX strategy.

To Sum Up Things

The key takeaways from the above-mentioned customer engagement strategies clearly indicate that Omnichannel is a new way forward. It is important to put your customer at the forefront and then form strategies that are well suited to fulfill their requirements. If you are able to engage your customers across multiple channels, there is no looking back when it comes to solid business growth. And to implement this you need smart people and smart tools with a blueprint of your Omnichannel experience strategy.