It is getting more and more common for people to like a product and go after it online while they are using social media of just surfing online. Because of this convenience, people are getting used to using different channels to search and buy products. A study shows that people on average a single user uses at least 6 touchpoints and 50% of those regularly use atleast 4 daily. Last year more than half of the ecommerce sales came from mobile. Moreover, 98% of people switch between devices during the day. The largest number of ecommerce users are young i.e. Gen Z and Millenials. They spend most of their time on mobile using social media and other apps. They like to shop where they are and how they deem desirable.
These facts raised the concern for a more versatile strategy to target and reach the customers in a more accurate and productive manner. This need paved the way for the Omnichannel strategy to provide a more personalized experience to customers. Unfortunately, 55 % have no cross channel strategy in place. This is can be used as an opportunity by futuristic businessmen and implement an aggressive and productive omnichannel strategy to move to the front of the line.
That is why leading ecommerce platforms offer features that support the omnichannel approach. Shopify services include features that allow companies to manage and manipulate multiple channels through a single dashboard.
So, the question that comes to mind is how can you develop an omnichannel strategy that is can offer the real omnichannel experience to customers.
Research the market:
Research is the most important thing whenever you start a venture. It does not matter whether its business or just getting admission to a college. Where ever a military operation takes place it is backed by thorough reckon. You can not expect to jump in any situation half-cocked and expect to come out with an upper hand. It is important to know your environment before making serious decisions like developing an omnichannel strategy.
Before developing an effective omnichannel strategy it is important to know what channel is most favored by customers. When you have the complete knowledge about the market and you know what channel is most visited and what channel ha the most ROI you will be able to devise a more productive omnichannel strategy. You must know what device they use most frequently which channel they used to make most purchases. The use of AI in this matter will provide you a better idea of where you need to focus your resources. You can even use sales funnels to have more accurate speculation.
Seamless Experience:
Omnichannel brings the good of both the online and offline worlds. As an ecommerce vendor, you have to manage and operate both departments and several others to keep the flow of business. But a customer especially an ecommerce customer has no regard for what is happening behind the scenes. They are unaware of what is happening behind the curtain, all they care for is the presentation. That is why providing them a seamless and frictionless experience is very important for the high growth of your business and the success of your omnichannel strategy.
If a customer has a bad experience at any touchpoint during their shopping journey, they will not hesitate to leave you and move on to the next best option available and believe me there are many. The diversity of bad experience does not end here, more than 90% of customers that have a bad experience will not return to the respective brand again, taking the 32% of customer return rate out of the equation. Moreover, if they have a bad experience they will not hinder from telling it to others and thinning the herd of potential customers.
Reach customers on all points:
For an effective omnichannel approach an ecommerce vendor must reach the customer at all touchpoints. For that purpose, an effective omnichannel marketing strategy must be in order. It is not a shocker for any ecommerce entity that social media marketing is inevitable. If a customer is in access to 6 channels you must be able to connect him on all channels efficiently. Omnichannel marketing is vital as it has experienced 18.5% more engagement than the traditional approach. The list of benefits does not end here omnichannel has 250% more purchase frequency than a single channel. So for a productive omnichannel ecommerce business, effective omnichannel marketing is very important because marketing is the air any business breathes with.
