Omnichannel commerce is no longer the exception — it’s the expectation.
An excellent omnichannel strategy has multiple channels working in concert to deliver an ideal customer experience — but friction can occur without proper implementation.
Here are three ways to optimize your omnichannel commerce strategy, target potential pitfalls, and streamline the consumer experience.
Why Does Omnichannel Matter?
According to Retail Dive, customers now expect an omnichannel experience, and brands that embrace a mature omnichannel strategy report a 47% higher net promoter score (NPS).
Customers are opting for digital information channels even while in-store. For example, Salsify’s “Consumer Research 2022” report found that 36% of U.S. customers use their phones to look up products while they’re shopping in-store.
Omnichannel is also critical for brand awareness. While quality websites and effective email marketing campaigns are essential, companies can’t afford to ignore consumer touch points.
3 Ways To Optimize Omnichannel Commerce
Here are three ways relevant, high-quality data can support omnichannel optimization.
1) Understand Customer Needs
Where are your customers most likely to interact with your brand? What are their customer service expectations?
If you’re lacking the data to answer these questions, you won’t be able to provide a complete customer experience. Your engagement will quickly evaporate, leading to abandoned carts and stalled sales.
Good data can help you discover potential omnichannel roadblocks and steer you on the right path.
For example, you may find that brick-and-mortar stores and familiar brand websites are no longer delivering the same volume of sales conversions.
Instead, data may show that customers prefer direct communication from your brand to kickstart the sales experience.
Now you can use this data to tailor your strategy accordingly.
2) Make Informed Investment Decisions
As noted by research firm McKinsey, the rapid uptake of digital channels has led some businesses to make the move before they’re ready.
But this premature adoption of omnichannel experiences comes with a cost.
Businesses with subpar digital capabilities may experience a “boomerang” effect.
Initial costs per transaction drop then rise as consumers experience issues with digital touch points and must return multiple times to complete even simple tasks.
This results in higher costs and lower customer satisfaction.
Better data means better investment decisions. By discovering what’s working and what isn’t, you can make informed omnichannel spending choices to increase customer satisfaction.
3) Support Agile Strategy Development
Your omnichannel commerce strategy shouldn’t be static. Consider the rise of social media platform TikTok, for example.
This video-sharing app was an omnichannel outlier just a few years ago, but now it has about 80 million monthly active users in the U.S., according to Wallaroo Media.
As a result, partnerships with influencers on this platform can provide another channel for effective customer connection.
To thrive in this constantly changing market, your brand must consistently collect and leverage customer data to determine where, how, and when customers are making purchases.
The rise of buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) offers an actionable example. Pre-pandemic, this purchase framework was rare; today it’s commonplace.
Data tells the tale of how buying habits are changing — empowering you to develop an informed omnichannel commerce strategy.
Changing the Channel
Customers now expect omnichannel — but the channels they prefer aren’t static.
By leveraging consumer purchase and preference data, your brand can better understand the changing needs of customers, pinpoint key investments, and support ongoing strategy development to stay ahead of evolving expectations.
Explore our full, interactive report for more valuable insights into how you can tailor your omnichannel strategy to meet consumers’ evolving preferences.
