Looking to Build a Unified Omnichannel Experience for Customers? 5 Things to Consider
Today’s businesses cannot ignore the omnichannel engagement strategy to enrich the customer journey across channels and boost sales. Dietmar Rietsch, CEO of Pimcore, describes key factors retailers should consider while creating a powerful omnichannel strategy that delivers a unified brand experience.
Here are 5 essentials that go into building a modern omnichannel strategy to exponentially increase the customer base and revenues.
1. Data Management: For Consistency and Convenience
Having a single source of truth or a “golden record” of product information, i.e., a consolidated, well-defined version of all data entities present in an organisational ecosystem, is at the heart of effective data management. This helps you create richer brand experiences by ensuring that every customer touchpoint offers relevant and consistent information for every product, thereby letting customers seamlessly move from one channel to another in their buying journey.
2. Unified, Connected Systems Power Omnichannel
Siloed systems and disparate workflows are anathemas to any omnichannel strategy. To create a seamless customer experience (CX), you’ll need to deploy APIs to accelerate data transfers and smoothly integrate mission-critical applications needed to improve your technology landscape. This way real-time inventory can be synchronised between physical/online stores with integrated customer data and dynamic workflow engines. It further makes sure optimum omnichannel enablement on customer touchpoints like IoT devices, point-of-sale, kiosks, and the likes.
3. Shared Workflows Help Everyone>
It’s hard to execute omnichannel retail if you don’t have shared workflows between your stakeholders. Shared workflows make it easier for employees and third parties to access product information that’s most relevant to their role. For example, a digital marketer may not need to know the product’s expiry date or it’s temperature threshold for spoilage, but a logistics operator could very well find this information essential. Over the years, several Product Information Management (PIM) solutions have made it easier to accurately distribute relevant information throughout the retail landscape. By storing this information in a master file, and enabling access via API calls, PIM platforms act as a key enabler of any omnichannel strategy and help your stakeholders to effectively contribute to enriching the customer experience.
4. Product Attributes and Rich Media Integration
The importance of having product attributes assigned to each inventory unit within your database simply cannot be understated. Not only do product attributes offer your customers a richer, more relevant view of their prospective purchases, they can also help nudge them along their buying journey. Through videos, images, and accurate product descriptions, it can be made easier for warehousing and in-store staff to acquire better product visibility, which helps them in creating a more compelling retail experience for the buyer.
5. Segmentation and Targeting Are Essential
If you aren’t using your customer data to create personalized and relevant experiences for your customers, you’re not taking full advantage of your analytics. According to a study by MarketingSherpa, more than 20% of customers opt-out of brand communications due to receiving irrelevant content. This demonstrates how important it is to segment your target markets and tailor unique content that is relevant to each section of customers that engages with your brand. For example, millennials may like receiving vibrant and contemporary content on their smartphones, while specific, offer-based emails may appeal to an older audience.
"Businesses should consider investing in a solid product information management (PIM) and master data management (MDM) platform to build a successful omnichannel retail strategy for their customers."
Source: The post originally published on CMS Critic.