Power of Omnichannel Customer Journeys

Customers have a wide variety of channels within their reach, to interact with the brands of their choice as most brands offer multiple channels and devices like apps, websites, social media, email, SMS etc. right from discovery, purchase, customer support and more. However, customers do prefer to switch between different channels and lose all history, context or continuity. Users wish for a seamless, consistent and bespoke experience across all touchpoints, regardless of where they are in their customer journey and brands that value their customer base, are constantly striving to connect with their audience in a meaningful fashion to boost loyalty. Implementing an omnichannel customer journey is an approach that has gained significant traction. This innovative strategy ensures that customers have a smooth experience across different touch points, resulting in user satisfaction and loyalty. 

Omnichannel customer journeys go way beyond elementary multi-channel interactions. They encompass the end-to-end experience that a customer has with a brand, across multiple channels and devices, from the first point of contact to the post-purchase stage and further. An omnichannel customer journey is not just a random collection of isolated interactions, but a coherent and integrated map that connects  all the dots and delivers value at every step to both the users and the brand.

Omnichannel customer journeys are not just a feature that is nice-to-have, but a must-have for brands that want to scale, stay competitive and relevant in the digital age. According to data published by Softtek, companies with omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain 89% of their customers, when compared to the customer retention rate of 33% for companies that do not cater to the omnichannel consumer.

Omnichannel customer journeys can prove to be pivotal for brands to achieve key goals like:

• Providing a frictionless and convenient user experience across all channels that meets or even supersedes expectations to increase customer loyalty and satisfaction.
• Leveraging data-driven insights from omnichannel journeys to make informed decisions and optimize omnichannel strategies for optimum impact.
• Offering personalized and relevant offers and rich recommendations to boost user retention and lifetime value hence building long-term relationships.
• Boosting customer acquisition and conversion by reaching out to attract prospective users through a variety of channels and mitigating churn and abandonment rates.
• Improving customer advocacy and loyalty by creating positive and distinctive experiences that encourage customers to share and recommend the brand.
• Streamlining processes and getting rid of redundancies and silos to optimize operational efficiency and manage costs. 

How to Build an Omnichannel Customer Journey

Building an omnichannel customer journey is not a one-time project, but a continuous process that focuses on the customer and employs a data-driven approach. Listed below are steps that can help brands craft an effective omnichannel customer journey.

• • Know your customers: The first step is to know and understand your customers, what they want, their behavior, preferences and pain points. Tools such as segmentation, surveys, feedback, and analytics, can collect and analyze customer data and these insights can be leveraged to gain a better understanding of the users. Customer personas can be created to visualize user journeys.

• • Define your goals and metrics: The next step is to set clear and quantifiable goals and metrics for the omnichannel customer journey. Align these goals with business objectives and customer needs, and define key performance indicators (KPIs) and success criteria for each stage and channel of the customer journey. A baseline and benchmarks must be established to track and evaluate progress and performance of campaigns.

• • Design an effective omnichannel strategy: The third step is to design an omnichannel strategy and plan the customer interactions and touchpoints. Brands need to identify the channels and devices that customers prefer to use, and map their movement and switching patterns between channels. Customize rich content,  relevant messages, offers, and actions that brands want to deliver and trigger on each channel and device, and ensure that they are consistent and coherent across the customer journey.

• • Implement omnichannel solution: Next in line is the implementation of omnichannel solution and execution of customer interactions and touchpoints. Right tools and technologies that enable marketers to integrate and orchestrate channels and devices, and automate and personalize customer communications and campaigns must be deployed. Brands must test, optimize and choose omnichannel solutions to ensure reliability and scalability.
• • Monitor and improve your omnichannel experience: The final step is to learn and adapt to customer feedback and behavior by closely monitoring the omnichannel experience and improving it. Marketers should measure and analyze omnichannel performance and results, to identify the gaps and scope for improvement. Brands must experiment and innovate with new channels and devices, new content and offers, to add more value to every user’s omnichannel customer journey.

Craft Omnichannel Customer Journeys with CleverTap

CleverTap is a customer engagement and retention platform that provides the functionality to integrate app analytics and marketing all in one place. CleverTap, enables marketers to analyze user behavior, create targeted campaigns, and personalize customer experience to boost conversions and drive user growth across channels.

CleverTap can help brands create omnichannel customer journeys in several ways, such as:

• • Customer Data and Analytics: Collect and unify customer data from multiple sources and channels that provide in-depth customer insights and actionable intelligence. Features, such as events, trends, funnels, cohorts, pivots, flows, and formulas, can be used to track and understand how customers use a certain product and interact with the brand.

• • Experimentation and Optimization: Experiment and optimize customer engagement strategy with real-time testing and customer lifecycle optimization. Features, such as A/B testing, control groups, frequency capping, and real impact, can be used to compare and measure the effectiveness of different campaigns and optimize customer retention and revenue.

• • Personalization: Tailor customer interactions based on demographics, past behavior, real-time actions, and recommend next best experiences. Use features, like user profiling, segments, psychographic attributes, and product recommendations, to create personalized and relevant customer experiences.

• • Campaign Orchestration: Automate customer engagement across multiple channels and devices, customized and optimized for individual customer preferences and interests. Use features, like campaigns, journeys, triggers, and live user segments, to deliver consistent and coherent customer communications and campaigns.
    
  • Clever.AI: Make smarter and faster decisions with insightful, empathetic, and prescriptive intelligence. Use features, such as predictive analytics, sentiment analysis, and smart insights, to anticipate customer needs, understand customer emotions, and discover customer opportunities.

Read more about The Power of Omnichannel: Why Your Business Needs to Embrace It Now

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