Research shows that omnichannel companies are more resilient to change. They also usually deliver way more value to the customer which puts them high above on the competition ladder. And while a new disruptive Web3 era, driven by emergent technologies, will reshape the way companies think about growth and cross-channel strategies, the fundaments of these strategies remain the same. So whether your organisation is already mature in this space, or still in development, this list will be helpful as tactical guiding blocks:
1: Create a seamless customer journey across channels
In omnichannel, everything starts with the customer’s needs. Think about what the entire customer journey will look like and which channels the customer visits. Seamless coordination between the different channels is crucial. Often your customers visit 2 to 5 channels before they decide to buy your product/service. So the first question to ask yourself here is if you already have any data on how your customers move across different channels? You surely do! Pick it up, take a good look at it and analyse it thoroughly! If not, do your research, interview users or conduct quantitative research on their ideal customer journeys.
2: Initiate the Omni-culture shift
To make omnichannel work well, it’s necessary that the organisation itself is significantly involved from within. Therefore, one of the most critical factors for the success of this strategy is the employees. Everyone throughout the organisation must be aware of the strategic need for change. And awareness is actually just the beginning. Employees’ input is essential every step of the way and they must want and work towards the change so that it could be fueled naturally from the inside. This often starts at the executive level and, in practice, usually works through to a culture change, which requires a well-thought-out change process.
3: Create a unified customer view
The third factor is the importance of creating a single customer view.
“All customer-related data sources need to be brought together in one place, so they fully understand their relationship with you, including the combination of channels and touchpoints they use during their shopping journeys.” (Mason and Knights 2019, p. 195)
If you can link the information from all channels together, you can offer an actual omnichannel experience. So share the data between departments within your organisation and ensure that all information about customers, cross-selling, service, channel visits and order history is easily stored and found in one place.
4: Think about the channel positioning
Within an omnichannel organisation, sales is only one function of a channel. Within this strategy it’s best if you can navigate the channels so that they could serve more than one function. The store, for example, can be positioned as an orientation and service channel just as well as a sales one. Don’t let channels compete with each other for that one order. Instead, create an ultimate customer experience across all channels and position your channels for the right orientation, sales, leads and service synergy.
5: Develop cross-department omnichannel KPIs
To create the above synergy, it’s required that you create good cooperation between channels. An important instrument to achieve this is the preparation of cross-department omnichannel KPIs.
Not until very long ago, stores were known as major sales centres, and store employees were often rewarded for sales performance. But if the store starts performing other functions, together with sales, you don’t want it to compete with other company channels (e.g. online) for the same customer. The profit contribution will decrease, and the store can even become loss-making. That’s why it’s very tricky but also just as important to rethink the used KPIs and adapt them to the new role of each channel.
Van Ossel gives four examples KPIs to use as inspiration or a starting point:
1. The store manager is responsible for the catchment area
(e.g. commission on online sales);
2. The store manager is responsible for registered customers
(e.g. registered My Environment customers);
3. Differentiated compensation for different tasks
(e.g. per parcel collected, service request, etc.);
4. Evaluation of the store as a communication and service channel
(e.g. a number of visitors, measured by the number of “unique mobile phones” entering the stores).
6: Build a consistent brand experience
What is your brand like?. Are the experiences in each channel consistent with your brand image? For a successful omnichannel organisation, all parts of the organisation must express your unique brand assets. For example, if you stand for a premium customer experience on your site, radiate these same premium features in your customer service, your shops, your packaging, etc.
7: Don’t remove the human dimension
In his blog ‘What is omnichannel?’ Nieboer states:
‘Use automation where possible, with a human touch where necessary.’
Employees cannot simply be replaced, and we need them more than ever. Therefore, take a good look at which processes and steps you can improve in your customer journey. Use automation anywhere possible but also keep in mind that there are moments you should offer personal contact.
8: Build a single point of sales system for both on- and offline
It should be clear now — integration of online and offline is crucial to enable an omnichannel customer journey. In that sense, launching a webshop is related to omnichannel just the same as the wheels to your bike. Solid infrastructure planning is a key move for building an omnichannel customer journey. Therefore, it is recommended to create a single point of sales system that can operate as a unified transaction platform for both online and offline channels.
9: Focus on customer loyalty
Once the above factors are taken care of, it’s time to work on customer loyalty. Mason and Knights write about the existence of a ‘digital black hole’. They state:
“Those that recognise the digital imperative are challenging the status quo, with their ability to establish a digital connection with customers wherever and however they choose to shop.”
As starting point, you can take the frequency of customer visits and see them as a measure of loyalty. In my experience, the different gamification theories can help to increase loyalty. They are quite an important driver for behavioural change and consequently, a great tool to start using. .,
Think about how you can sustainably connect the customer to you. To learn from this optimisation cycle, Mason devised the DAIL methodology. This is explained as ‘Data leading to Insight, driving Action to promote Loyalty’. Dive into the data and see how you can transform the insights into action to increase brand loyalty.
10: Make sure you offer an unified price, stock and promotion
The last factor in building an omnichannel customer journey is good pricing and promotion management across all channels. Since prices between channels are so transparent today, it requires a new pricing strategy from many companies. In addition, you should also think about making promotions and stocks transparent and uniform between all channels.
To conclude
These building blocks will help you take the first steps toward an omnichannel organisation. Always check what the data says about your company because every organisation is different. Analyse, experiment and learn, and you’ll progress.
