Omni-channel is about offering a seamless customer experience across all channels.

Omni-channel is a multi-channel approach done right! It’s all about a seamless experience to your customers, whether they’re browsing on mobile, researching from desktop, calling to your call center or visiting your store or branch. 

According to a 46,000 participant survey by Harvard Business Review:

• More than 73% of shoppers use multiple channels during their shopping journey
• 20% are store-only shoppers while only 7% are online-only shoppers
• 23% of omni-shoppers tend to repeat a shopping experience within a six month period

Multi-channel Vs Omni-channel? Let’s make it clear

“Multi-channel” refers to organizations and companies using multiple channels to engage with their customers. However, they do not focus on delivering a consistent message across all touch – points. What someone might experience through a mobile application might be a completely different story from what he experienced during his visit to the physical store.

On the other hand, the omni-channel approach is closely linked with the so called “customer journey”; it focuses on a unified customer experience with the ultimate goal of achieving a conversion. Also, companies using omni-channel, align their messaging, goals, objectives, and design across each channel and device.

Today’s consumers are willing to pay more in order to have a personalized experience! Omnichannel isn’t actually about channels, it’s about your customers. It is crucial to identify how they’re trying to engage with you. In order to have a better understanding of the customer journey, companies shall visualize their audience’s multi-device journey to identify weaknesses and gaps. 

• There are 5 main points of contact; social, web, in person, contact center and mobile. This is where consumers drop out or stick with you and complete their transactions. 
• Identify leak points and address them immediately. Leak points occur when customers do not convert because they either confronted a technical difficulty or the environment did not meet their expectations. 
• In order to address your leak points, it is crucial to learn more about customers’ emotions, behavior and needs.