Can you imagine if your potential customers could have integrated experiences, regardless of the channel in which they interact with your brand or even the moment of purchase in which they are?
This is not only possible, as we have already followed giants such as Disney, Chipotle, Sky Marketing and Oasis, with this type of integrated communication.
This communication is what we call the Omnichannel era in sales, the convergence of all communication channels of a company with its customers and/or potential customers.
We’ve already talked about the importance of planning and integrating your communication when we talk about follow ups.
The ideal is to always generate value for the lead, without repeating any idea used at another time or doing empty follow-ups.
However, before delving into this concept, let’s go through other approaches that also involve more than one communication channel with the customer and highlight the differences between them.
Omnichannel’s success
The use of several contact channels to communicate with your lead has been proving to be increasingly effective to expand the results of conversion and engagement within your process.
As the market demands more and more from companies, and with increasing competitiveness, offering a complete shopping experience is a prerequisite for gaining more customers, more space and recognition.
The use of omnichannel can offer your customer a new shopping experience, which explains much of the success it has.
Adobe research showed that companies with a strong omnichannel engagement strategy have:
- A 10% year-over-year revenue growth;
- 10% increase in Ticket size;
- 25% increase in closing rate.
The Omnichannel Era in Sales
The multichannel approach means that the company uses more than one channel to communicate with its audience.
They have a blog, a website, a YouTube channel, a Facebook page, a LinkedIn page, an Instagram account, among other means of communication.
However, the customer experience and the message conveyed through these channels by the company are not necessarily consistent and aligned.
There is no standard in the way of communicating or even in the design through the different channels. Even further is the possibility of starting an interaction in one channel and ending it in another.
All omnichannel applications are multichannel, but not all multichannel applications are necessarily omnichannel.
The design of your product or even the presentations you make while negotiating with your leads must be aligned with all of your other channels.
Being omnichannel is really about providing that consistency across different experiences. Any practice other than this is considered multichannel.
Omnichannel and its Advantages
I can see you reading this text and thinking about the enormous work it would take to unify the different areas of your company and all your communications.
I confess that it’s really not a simple job, but I’ll show you some information about why this effort is worthwhile. Come on?
Advantage #1: Customer Retention
According to Aberdeen, companies that execute a good omnichannel strategy are able to retain about 89% of customers, against 33% for those that don’t. With the rise in sales park view city Islamabad it is important to keep customer retention as the top most priority.
With this absurd customer retention rate, LTV (lifetime value) achieves extremely high results and the money invested in this approach ends up paying for itself.
Advantage #2: Ensure usability across platforms
Smartphones have dominated internet access and, you can be sure, most of your potential customers access your website directly through their 5-inch screens.
Is your customer able to interact with all your digital channels regardless of the device used (computer, tablet or cell phone)?
If the answer is no, I’m sorry! You are leaving a lot of money on the table.
Currently, according to Google, 67% of users are more likely to buy a product or service when the experience on the site is positive from a mobile device.
In the North American market, according to Nielsen and Pew Research Center, 80% of consumers already opt for a purchase made via smartphones.
When you have a more complex sale, it is likely that not the entire process takes place via mobile.
However, having a responsive and easily accessible website can be a good practice for these leads to arrive even more educated and armed with information at meetings.
Advantage #3: Able to generate the ideal experience for everyone
A relevant point is that omnichannel does not mean being on EVERY possible channel. There are channels that don’t make sense for your ICP, or even aren’t conducive to approaching your solution.
However, the positive point of being in all channels that your ideal customer is the ability to serve them the way they prefer.
- Some prefer to find your product on Facebook and ask questions directly through chat;
- Others prefer to interact with your site’s chatbot while reading your content, asking for the help of a consultant to fully understand the subject or how that content applies in his scenario;
- Others prefer to view their company’s day-to-day life on Instagram;
- Others prefer to participate in their webinars and interact with some participant or subject matter expert;
- Others like LinkedIn, as it is a corporate social network and ideal for B2B communications.
With different possibilities, you can (almost) please Greeks and Trojans.
Advantage #4: Improved results of your sales process
We know that an approach including different channels generates expressive results.
The main difference, in numbers, between these two types of streams is that the conversion of mixed streams can be up to 7x larger than simple streams. The average difference between them is exactly 3.5x.
One channel that has the power to be game-changers for mixed streams is LinkedIn.
In this corporate social network, it is possible to generate a very close relationship and seek new strategic information about the lead.
According to the graph below, from our crack the sales 2021 report, mixed flows convert more, and those that convert the most are those that have:
- Connection;
- Social;
- LinkedIn.
The omnichannel strategy allows your sales team and buyer to interact in different contexts to balance personalization and pragmatism.
It is noteworthy that the network is not valid for all markets.
An increasingly present point in the processes is the use of WhatsApp. It shortens the sales cycle with quick and direct responses, as well as making room for close interaction with the prospect.
There are several channels that can help your sales team achieve better conversions. A classic and very efficient is the phone itself, which leads as the type of touchpoint that converts the most.
Extra tip: SMS is not dead! You can send a text message after a missed call. That way, it’s easier for the customer to identify you and return your call.
Omnichannel and its Challenges
Challenge #1: Speed of Response
As more communication channels are added, there is a need to follow them and provide answers in an agile way.
Many customers expect quick responses and, in some cases, try to communicate at night or on weekends.
If you don’t serve your leads and customers at this speed, or go offline during certain periods when it’s impossible for your company, it’s a good idea to work with automated messages.
You can make it clear what your service period is, confirming that they will receive a return and how it will be done.
Leaving it with no response brings the following thought:
If when I want to invest time and money in the company’s solution, I don’t receive a return, what will it be like in the post-purchase, product delivery or service execution?
Do you understand how negative your company’s image is?
In case your schedule is already full and there is no space to meet anyone at that moment, make minimal interaction with that contact.
Be sure to be consultative and schedule a more favorable time. Thus, he already feels minimally attended to and does not have any return.
Challenge #2: The importance of the human touch in the process
Multiple channels do not remove the need for a human and personalized touch, as well as a well-trained team specialized in your solution and the main pains of your prospects.
Your team must be able to deliver a rich experience at all times that is truly consultative, personalized and rich same as the team of paradise city .
Challenge #3: Need for company integration
The need to integrate the different areas of the company, unify the discourse, approaches, objectives and design, without a shadow of a doubt, is the biggest challenge of an omnichannel application.
When the company does not have a strong culture, or when none of this is already defined, the great difficulty is to be able to align all these points.
For this, strong management and engaged managers, willing to implement this change, are essential. If only one part of the company changes, the different channels start to look like a Frankenstein.
Conclusion: Always focus on the customer
Finally, always keep in mind that the reason for an omnichannel experience is to provide the best possible service for your leads, customers and partners.
Always focus on understanding the customer, having a really constructive chat and being able to generate relevant insights at all times.
If you have any questions, just comment below, or send an email, a LinkedIn, contact via Facebook, Instagram or even WhatsApp. As you wish!
It’s going to be a pleasure to figure out what to do about it and I promise to be omnichannel in communication. 😉