Call Recording Featured Article

Customers today have lost their innocence. The grand claims of years past don’t work anymore – customers have learned they have to be their own advocates the hard way, and now have years of experience in doing so. Their buying criteria also changed. Whereas price was once the largest differentiator of products and services, our busy lifestyles and the crowded marketplace means that trust and the customer experience have taken the top spot in determining purchase behaviors.

At the same time, successful companies have had to pivot the way they market. The “throw it all against the wall and hope something sticks” method does nothing but confuse and turn off customers. The average buyer today is used to communicating socially in a true omnichannel fashion, so they’ve also come to expect to be able to do this with the companies they purchase from. For marketers, making researching and purchasing as easy as possible has become the new marketing rule.

In a recent blog post for CMS Wire, Curt Bloom writes that the overwhelming emphasis today is about getting people to product, while making the process of doing so as effortless, consistent and contextual as possible.

“Customers just don’t respond in the same way to traditional marketing messages anymore,” he wrote. “Being both tech-savvy and information-savvy, it is now far easier for customers to research products and services independently by reading reviews and using comparison sites any time of the night or day. Having this knowledge means customers aren’t easily swayed by bold claims, and even price has become less of a differentiator.”

A quality, consistent experience for interacting with companies – making it easy to do business – is now the largest driver of customer behavior. It’s more important than ever for companies to ensure that their omnichannel experience is more than just lip service. Companies can do this by ensuring they are providing high-quality offerings across all physical and digital touchpoints while maintaining cohesive messaging regardless of the channel. To get there, they need to make sure they are properly combining their online and offline data into a unified stream and have the ability to understand and analyze their customer journeys. They also need to ensure that their workforce is properly optimized to handle the ways customers expect to communicate.

“With shoppers being more knowledgeable than ever, it couldn’t be more important for all your channels to deliver a seamless and consistent brand experience,” wrote Bloom. “For example, if customers start their journeys on their mobile devices, they may want to complete their purchases on their laptops — or in stores. The expectation is that any information customers have provided you with through social media channels, apps or websites will be maintained as they continue their journeys.”

Customers don’t really know – or care – what “omnichannel” means. They do know that it’s irritating for them to have transactions interrupted simply because they choose to switch to a different channel. When they pick up the phone, or send an email or text, or enter a retail store, they simply expect to interact with the brand…not someone who is in control of a single siloed channel of communications. Predictive analytics can help you map your customers’ typical (or even atypical) journeys through your organization and remove any roadblocks they might experience due to the limitations of your current system.

“If you want to deliver the very best customer experience, then you need to understand not just that every customer undertakes a unique customer journey, but that the journey can switch and change between any one of your channels,” wrote Bloom .