What To Do to Become Great at Omnichannel Customer Interaction

Companies are going above and beyond to try to attract their consumers. Think about it. A well-timed holiday bargain from a firm you respect adds a smile to your face and pushes you to hit ‘Buy’. Recall those prizes you swapped for a great price slash? Or the package of things you received from your most favorite firm at your doorstep?

Omnichannel customer engagement has always been about firms developing strong, long-term connections with customers by connecting with them through targeted activities on a range of channels, both online and offline. These durable brand relationships consequently promote consumer loyalty, boost repeat purchases and advocacy while driving down customer churn.

Shifting from multichannel to omnichannel interaction

Since the internet is becoming a popular ‘gathering spot’ for anyone, customers have started communicating with firms more digitally all along the buying lifecycle. From solution search to brand discovery, purchase, and after-sales service, clients explore solutions on multiple digital platforms.

A McKinsey study reveals that more than 50 percent of customers connect with three to five channels per journey they take to purchase or settle a request. Companies build their presence across many channels to engage with customers, including online communities, instructional or user-generated content, customized loyalty and reward programs, multi-channel customer service, etc.

While it’s praiseworthy that firms keep in line with consumer expectations and embrace new channels throughout the customer journey, managing interactions across numerous touchpoints has brought in certain hurdles to a successful customer experience.

Customer contacts are segregated in multiple channels, and the information collected from these conservations becomes locked in separate platforms and tools. For example, the social media support personnel may be entirely oblivious of a problem that a customer brings up for the third time after contacting the sales and payment departments earlier.

Customers don’t feel heard, are unhappy, and find it hard to contact organizations due to

the broken and disconnected customer experience. By 2025, 70 percent of companies will have failed to unite contact channels, causing a disjointed and separated customer experience that lacks context.

The issue for customer-centric firms is in tapping into what customers yell out at every touchpoint, merging these insights to create a holistic picture of the customer, and reacting to their needs seamlessly through an omnichannel customer engagement solution.

Let’s quickly look at some firms that have consciously adopted an omnichannel customer engagement strategy and then go into specific ways to boost your customer engagement plan.

3 Examples of organizations that do omnichannel consumer involvement correctly

Though fashion and retail firms have a certain upper hand in creatively interacting with their customers, industries like banking and healthcare may also carve out various client engagement activities, as seen in these cases. The key is in determining what customers may find beneficial and interesting in these engagement activities.

1 Nordstrom – Retail

Leading American fashion store – Nordstorm knows best how to tackle changes in fashion and purchasing patterns. No, they don’t stop with merely selling apparel, footwear, and baggage. They sell an experience.

Understanding the emotional drive of consumers to seem and feel good in the apparel and accessories they purchase, Nordstrom delivers a range of style assistance for shoppers across many channels. Stylists give speedy fashion suggestions, size, and color selections both in-store and virtually via 30-minute video consultation.

And, if you’re not a video chat type, they also have the Trunk for you. Share your style preferences and receive a trunk of suitable items at your house. You may test the costumes and purchase the ones you desire while returning the rest. Nordstorm encourages omnichannel client involvement with their various style assistance possibilities. Hey, when someone goes above and beyond to make me feel amazing in what I wear, I’m one engaged customer for sure.

2 Citibank 

Banking\sLoyalty and rewards programs that generate repeat purchases provide an outstanding client retention strategy. Banks give exceptional discounts and appealing cashback for customers who use their cards or account for completing a transaction.

Citibank doubled down on their multichannel customer interaction strategy by reacting to an upsurge they saw in mobile engagements, especially towards their ThankYou Rewards webpage. They then concentrated on helping users redeem rewards ‘anywhere, anytime.’ Partnerships with payment merchants like PayPal and in-app prompts to redeem points when a customer purchases, making their rewards program viable.

3 Doctor Anywhere – Healthcare/Technology

Convenience and reliability comprise the foundation of healthcare customer interaction. A newly founded Asian organization was created to fulfill different expectations of customers – Doctor Anywhere4, with an omnichannel approach. Though telemedicine and virtual doctor sessions gained popularity during the pandemic, the staff at Doctor Anywhere rapidly realized the importance of in-clinic visits. Customers may organize virtual consultations, home care services, or actual visits to a clinic using their smart mobile app.

Doctor Anywhere offers many online and offline ways for patient care. They also deliver drugs to patients and maintain a secure database of patient information which clients may use for health and wellness programs or long-term treatment of lifestyle issues.