“Omni-channel is viewing the experience through the eyes of your customer, orchestrating the customer experience across all channels so that it is seamless, integrated, and consistent.” -Mike Stocker, previously Sr. Director of Business Development @ Marketo

We’re no longer living in a typical 9-5 dominated world. The way we work, communicate and travel is being disrupted. Consumers, employees, and external partners want to explore and discover the content that matters to them; quickly, easily, and on whatever device they may choose. According to Google Research, 98% of Americans switch between devices in the same day.  According to a study by Microsoft, “only 14 percent of marketers are able to personalize across the entire customer journey. In addition, 36% of those marketers struggle to properly align data to personalize on a consistent and meaningful level.”

Offering better connectivity with devices and channels makes your content noticeable and creates better user engagement. This new paradigm in offering better connectivity between devices and content is called the omnichannel experience.

The term “omnichannel experience” is used often within the tech business world and to some is an important aspect to reach today’s audience. For others, it’s another buzzword for multichannel.  However, omnichannel and multichannel should not be confused as the same thing. While both are available to the user on how they want to interact with content, they both are different.

Multichannel

Multichannel is all about the specific channel in the moment, it doesn’t provide integrations with one another. The focus of multichannel is having multiple channels available to the customer but these channels are often disconnected from themselves. It is often managed by distinct business silos, each with its own channel focus and not the overall customer experience. Content needs to be viewed as an independent asset that lives in multiple places in real-time: from web pages, social networks, across any network or device. This is the approach omnichannel addresses. The user has the ability to move between multiple digital touchpoints to provide a seamless experience is in control of their personalized experience.

Omnichannel

Omnichannel puts the user experience at the center so content can be created once and reach out to all the channels. Omnichannel includes connected digital touchpoints such as in store digital signage, offline access, digital assistants like Google Home, Siri, Amazon Alexa and even things like, chatbots, IoT devices, and other applications.

When a user connects with your brand, your content needs to deliver a personalized and contextually relevant experience across all locations and channels, in multiple formats, and languages. There is only one source of content, which means less overhead to manage and maintain.

It couldn’t be more important than now to deliver a consistent and seamless digital experience. Omnichannel strategies make the user's digital experience a top priority. The user’s digital experience can often switch between any device but it shouldn’t have gaps between devices and digital touchpoints. When an organization can’t keep track of their users history and information across all platforms seamlessly,  it can lead to a poor experience.

Users are expecting to transition between any device without having interruptions that can influence them to abandon their journey. According to Zendesk, 87% of customers think brands need to put more effort into providing a seamless experience. The expectation is that any content should be delivered at the right time and right device to fulfill the user's digital experience. When a customer can move across these touchpoints more freely it can better push them towards purchase. In fact, 15 years ago the average consumer typically used two touch-points when buying an item and only 7% used more than four. Today however, consumers use an average of six touch-points with 50% regularly using more than four (Marketing Week). However, omnichannel isn’t exclusive to retail as many might think. Our employees, partners, citizens, and customers from all industries need a seamless digital experience on every digital touchpoint they use.

Conclusion

If omnichannel isn't part of your vocabulary then your users digital experience is not in the centre of your strategies.  Those who fail to develop and execute an omnichannel strategy will fail at delivering relevant, engaging, and consistent content.

As the road to digital transformation evolves one thing will remain; a continued focus on the customer experience. The overwhelming emphasis today is connecting people to the right content at the right time across any device. The process needs to be effortless, consistent, and contextual. This paradigm shift underlines the evolution of digital transformation. How evolved is your organization?

Be the organization that distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack and download our latest Whitepaper offering below to learn more about delivering a seamless experience for your customers, partners and employees across all channels or devices. We would LOVE to connect with you on your thoughts of digital transformation and omnichannel. Give us a shout!

Sources
http://www.relevateauto.com/25-amazing-omnichannel-statistics-every-marketer-should-know/
https://www.mycustomer.com/service/channels/what-does-an-omnichannel-experience-look-like-and-who-is-doing-it