More than ever, customers want an exceptional customer experience, including easy-to-use omni-channel tools that provide them with more choices for communication. Companies that are listening to their customer needs are reaping the benefits. However, many businesses still need to get on board. In this article, we take a look at how a lack of an omni-channel strategy, or a poorly executed strategy, can be costing your company a lot of money.
The Need for Strategy and Optimization
According to a report by Verint entitled, “Verint Experience Index: Digital Satisfaction, NPS†, and Omni-channel Insights”, many companies are not optimizing their channels nor the steps of their customer journeys. As an example, the report notes that 47% of customers who were surveyed said that they were unable to find information that they were looking for digitally, or they encountered technical problems.
Boosting Customer Satisfaction and Revenue
Weaknesses in the customer journey can add up to tremendous revenue losses for a company. The Verint Index states the following about the surveyed customers: “By converting just one-quarter of the 47% to digital self-service, retailers could potentially save $1,057,500 (per one million calls). They’d also likely improve satisfaction scores by giving customers what they wanted in the first place—better digital experiences.”
Key Areas to Optimize
The main factors that affect a visitor’s digital experience satisfaction are navigation, look and feel, site information, and site performance. A business that optimizes the customer experience in all of these key areas can significantly boost customer satisfaction, and in turn, recommendations by customers. According to the article, “Customers who report having a great experience have a 74% higher likelihood-to-recommend-the-brand score and an 85% higher likelihood-to-recommend-the-site score.”
The Channels in the Customer Journey
During a customer journey, a customer may use several channels to reach a goal. The main channels are desktop, laptop, mobile site, mobile app, store, call, chat, and email. An organization can collect data to discover which of these channels its various types of customers prefer to use and at what stage of a customer journey they prefer to use each type of channel.
According to the report by Verint, “66% of customers use more than one channel and multiple touchpoints during the purchase journey.” The use of mobile devices has also become very common for shopping: “46% used their mobile device as part of their shopping experience.”
The Importance of a Seamless Omni-Channel Experience
To help optimize the customer journey and omni-channel experience, we must analyze information such as what channels customers prefer to use during research and purchase. According to the report, “Digital channels lead collectively among panel respondents for both researching and purchasing—although there is a big shift toward stores when customers move from research to purchase.”
Improving customer satisfaction with a seamless omni-channel experience is critical to driving purchases, especially in a competitive market. Even just a seemingly small improvement can lead to a big impact on a company and its customers. The Verint Index notes that a “one-point improvement in CX yielded more than $149 million in revenue for one national retailer.”
At CH Consulting group we can help you to build a seamless omni-channel experience for your customers to boost customer satisfaction and revenue for your company.
CH Consulting Group provides unparalleled expertise in the Contact Center and Customer Experience (CX) verticals. We have a nationwide team of industry veterans that can assist you to achieve exponential growth, manage change, and generate profit. For a comprehensive CX assessment and strategic plan customized for your unique business needs or an omni-channel implementation strategy, connect with us here today.
