A complete guide to delivering a great omni-channel customer experience

Transcription

1 White Paper A complete guide to delivering a great omni-channel customer experience Intele.com

2 About this White Paper Omni-channel is a term commonly used by online and traditional retailers today to describe:... a multi-channel approach to sales that seeks to provide the customer with a seamless shopping experience whether the customer is shopping online from a desktop or mobile device, by telephone, or in a bricks and mortar store*. An omni-channel shopping experience may start with research prior to a purchase and go on to include person-to-person and self-service interactions, both in-store and online. In technology terms, the experience may involve everything from web browsing, collaboration and online payments through to communications via phone, SMS, , web chat, video, mobile apps, social media and other channels. In this White Paper, we ask: What does a truly integrated multi-channel shopping experience look like?, and How can organisations deliver more personalised and agile omni-channel experiences? * Source: Tech Target

3 The integrated shopping experience The concept of omni is significant when it comes to describing shoppers experiences. For an omni-channel experience is a lot more than just a multi-channel experience. With a multi-channel experience, a shopper will use more than one channel to make a purchase and interact with suppliers. With an omni-channel experience, the person will not only use multiple channels but also receive an integrated experience. A true omni-channel experience is one that appears to a shopper as a single integrated journey, regardless of the communications channels they use, whether they shop in a physical store or online, or whether they deal with human or automated resources. It s an approach that puts customer needs at the heart of the shopping experience, acknowledging that customers today increasingly demand the ability to interact whenever, however and via whatever device and communications channel they use. So what does this look like in the real world? Let s compare how people book holidays online today compared with traditional methods. Ten years ago, families would often book holidays through a trusted local travel agent. They would visit the agent s shop, check out special offers in the window, and go in to get some specialist advice. If they were too busy to visit the shop, they may do the whole thing by phone instead. Today, people are much more likely to self-serve online. They will check out best prices for flights, car hire, insurance and accommodation as well as research places of historical interest, the best places to go for diving and other specialist sports, festivals and theme parks. Plus, they will read recommendations on everything from the best hotels to stay in, to the best months to travel. When it comes to booking, many people go for the cheapest online price. Others, however, will contact an online travel advisor and ask for recommendations and prices before making their selections. There are plenty of good reasons why people choose to pay a premium to use trusted travel specialists rather than self-serve online: 1. Online agencies can manage complex and bespoke customer requirements 2. Their specialists are experienced at not just booking flights and accommodation, but at creating holiday experiences 3. Once they have received a brief, they can provide a range of options based on their knowledge of who customers are, where they have travelled in the past, what they enjoy, and an understanding of holiday budgets, interests and preferences 4. Travel specialists often deliver multi-channel communications options, enabling people to transact and communicate using a range of devices and channels (incl. phone, web chat, SMS and ) 5. Because they don t have to pay for the cost of maintaining a physical high street presence, they can maintain low pricing. The ability of an online travel specialist to support multi-channel communications can be an important factor in whether customers retain trust in their brands and remain loyal. However, their ability to deliver a personalised and high quality service is often much more important.

4 Personalisation on the high street When you re a high street or major online retailer dealing with thousands of customers, it s not possible to deliver the same level of personalised one-to-one service as our example of a specialist online travel adviser. However, that s not stopped many leading high street brands embracing the same concepts of omni-channel working, personalisation and discounting - by combining the best attributes of digital and in-store shopping. Take the following examples from both sides of the Atlantic: In 2015, US retailer Target launched the Target Wonderland in New York City, a 16,000- square-foot exhibit that created a festive season experience for shoppers. Shoppers could play with products, scan the bar codes of those that they wanted, and purchase them at the end of their Wonderland experience. Visitors even interacted with online-only items, took selfies with Bullseye, the Target dog, and Skyped with Santa. The Tesco Clubcard scheme is one of the best examples of online personalisation and discounting in the world today. By analysing shoppers in-store and online purchases as well as their web behaviours, Tesco is able to build a picture of what its Clubcard members want, how they shop, their tastes and their habits. The company then uses this insight to model customer behaviours and present recommendations, targeted offers and discounts. The scheme currently has over 15 million members. A number of UK retailers introduced personalisation schemes in These includes UK-based Waitrose whose Pick Your Own Offers initiative enables loyalty card holders to select 10 items for which they get a 20% discount when purchasing online or in-store. Boots, a pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and Ireland, also launched My Value, an initiative that gives customers a 20% discount on five brands that they self-select from a choice of a possible 40. Key to the success of these initiatives has been cutting-edge technology that enhances shoppers experiences - and the retail technology revolution is far from over. Before long, the high street will be awash with a whole host of innovative new technology, including: Augmented reality displays (examples: Interactive window displays (examples: Near Field Communications (examples: with the aim of creating more interactive and personal shopping experiences. Major retailers - including Kohl s, Toys R Us, Nordstrom, Apple, Macy s, Argos and John Lewis - have all recently introduced Buy Online Pick Up In Store (BOPIS) schemes, enabling shoppers to pick up products within hours of buying online.

5 Omni-channel and business agility So far, we have focused on what a truly integrated omni-channel shopping experience looks like from the consumer s perspective. But what does the supplier need to do to ensure it can consistently deliver superb omni-channel customer experiences? To adopt customer-focused technology is one obvious requirement. Another is to be agile and flexible. To ensure business success, they must do so in a way that enhances customer experiences and leads to higher conversion rates. To be able to do so, companies must have agility and flexibility built into their business processes. As consumers look to navigate between various devices, channels and live/automated resources, the onus is now on companies to support their shopping journeys seamlessly.

6 8 Omni-channel service tips Intelecom offers the following 8 tips to help companies deliver more effective omni-channel service. 1TIP Understand your customers 2TIP Understand which channels are right for you The starting place must always be to understand what your customers are trying to achieve. Not just what channels of communications they prefer but also why they are on your website, or ing your service operation in the first place. If they are looking to buy a product or service, why do they need it? If they are texting to say they want to close an account, why are they doing so? It s important to understand not only their immediate requirements but also their longer terms aims. Armed with this knowledge, your business can make more informed recommendations and even proactively manage key elements of the customer relationship. Don t assume that you need to cover every channel. While there are many thousands of products and services that people previously bought from the high street that they now buy online, nobody is going to buy a house or a car without seeing it first. Likewise, however extensive your online knowledge base, an automated service isn t going to be able to answer every complex technical query. So ensure you use the right channels for your products and services, as well as for customers. If you deliver omni-channel service across voice, , web chat, SMS, mobile, and social media, for example, ensure you deliver consistent service quality across these channels. And if you are considering new communications options - such as smart watches, machine-to-machine and other types of wearable technology for example - ensure they are relevant to customers and add to their overall experiences of your brand.

7 3TIP Ensure business processes are agile 4TIP Constantly analyse customer journeys and channel performance To be flexible to changing customer requirements, including their communications choices, your business processes need to be agile. Business agility draws on the theories pioneered in agile project management, in which project managers and their teams assess priorities and, throughout the project lifecycle, make adjustments in an iterative manner rather than simply at the end of the project. Such a systemic approach to change management is hugely important when it comes to recognising changing requirements and being able to accommodate them in a timescale that is acceptable to customers. Technology also has a major role to play. The inherent flexibility and scalability of omni-channel Cloud platforms such as Intelecom will ensure customer changes can be implemented instantly, while supporting a broad range of media channels and flexible working practices such as location-independent working. For retailers dealing with thousands of product lines and customers, keeping track of crosschannel journeys can be a daunting task. While great progress has been made in tracking web journeys and analysing/ predicting customer behaviours in real-time using web analytics tools, most bricks-and-mortar retailers struggle to gain the same insight when their customers use other purchasing and communications channels or, indeed, a variety of channels. Significant progress is nevertheless being made. Retail-based initiatives such as Tesco Clubcard now provide excellent insight into store as well as online journeys; while new customer contact centre capabilities, such as the use of speech and data analytics to analyse the content of calls and text communications, are revolutionising the field of customer insight. The challenge is now to unify this information in order to provide a single view of the customer across all products, activities and channels. Armed with this information, retailers will be in a much better position to compare the performance of different channels, assess purchasing patterns (e.g. what products are selling better than others), transaction tendencies (i.e. why there is a spike in items being returned) and a lot more besides. According to a recent report by Oracle, 73 per cent of 124 surveyed retailers are now using analytics to evaluate their omni-channel strategies.

8 5TIP Provide Live Agent Support (Even to Digital shoppers) 6TIP Deliver a personalised service While consumers are increasingly taking advantage of self-service to make purchases and seek service support, automation alone is rarely going to deliver the optimal outcome for every customer, in every situation, regardless of the channel used. Take etailing. According to The Baymard Institute, 68.6% of online shoppers abandoned their online baskets in January representing a huge financial loss to online retailers.** While there are numerous reasons why online baskets are being abandoned, what s clear is that online shoppers value live support. In a recent econsultancy report, 83% of online shoppers said that they require assistance to complete their transactions, with 61% stating that want to talk with customer service and 60% preferring to use . Interactive Voice Response (IVR) operators also frequently provide fast and easy access to a live operator in the event of callers getting confused, frustrated or not being able to find the answers they want. The option is usually simply... or press 0 to be connected to a live operator. As discussed throughout this White Paper, personalisation is key to the future of successful customer engagement. Being able to interact with customers via their preferred channels maybe a key component of any successful omni-channel strategy - however it s the ability to deliver a personalised, high value and low cost service that is often the crucial factor in willing their trust and loyalty. So when customers state a preference for s and texts, or not to receive product deliveries in the morning, ensure that you honour those requests. Use the information at your disposal to create brand and shopper experiences that reflect the preferences that customers have informed you about, or that you have gleaned from their account histories and web preferences. Also use the information to proactively manage relationships by creating bespoke service experiences - such as free products and upgrades, invitations to relevant events and special discounts. ** Statistic is based on the average of 33 separate studies, with the percentages given by these studies ranging from 55.0% to 80.3%.

9 7TIP Gather Feedback and Take Action 8TIP Innovate and look to the future A great way to show customers that you value their business is to act on their feedback. Use every opportunity - and every channel - to solicit their views on everything from the quality of the service you provide, to how they wish to receive information. Online and SMS-based questionnaires, online polls, post call IVR surveys, outbound telemarketing... are all excellent ways of collecting feedback in an efficient and timely manner. Gather this customer feedback on a regular basis and use it constantly to review channel, customer communication, marketing, sales, service and other corporate strategies. When it comes to transforming customer relationships, technology alone isn t a game changer. It is the intelligent use of technology, especially when integrated and fully supported through agile business processes is the real game changer. Within a decade, being able to interact with an organisation via any channel - voice, , video calling, SMS/text, , social media - won t be exceptional, it will be the rule. Customers will expect this capability at every step of their journey - from the first time they land on your web site, to the day they cease to be a customer. What customers will appreciate in this competitive environment is innovation. A customer solution that stands out from the crowd. That recognise peoples preferences. Delivers a unique set of benefits. That utilises innovative technology. Mobile technology is an obvious example. Mobile is hugely significant today with one US retailer reporting that three-quarters of its guests now start their shopping on a mobile device. Indeed many larger retailers are already creating bespoke smartphone apps to enhance their shoppers experiences - including one click access to live operators that can help with queries via voice or web chat. Plus, there are other examples - such as the use of augmented reality and interactive window displays - that are set to create richer, more immersive in-store shopping experiences. And don t forget BOPIS and other similar initiatives that are set to close the gap between traditional in-store and online shopping. It is the brands that are able to implement innovative omni-channel technology solutions while, at the same time, delivering services that are personal, deliver value-for-money and address customer requirements that will be the real winners.

10 Concluding thoughts We hope this practical guide has provided a framework if you are just starting out or offered a few new ideas if you are a more experienced practitioner. Either way, we wish you well in delivering memorable and valued customer service experiences.

11 About Intelecom Intelecom is a leading provider of contact management solutions. With over 17 years experience, Intelecom was one of the first to develop a cloud-based contact centre. Highly flexible and scalable, Intelecom can be adapted to accommodate from one to several thousand concurrent agents using any device, in any location and integrates with multiple applications seamlessly. Intelecom is one of the few contact centre solutions that is completely multi-channel. Intelecom agents can respond to Phone, , Chat, Social Media and SMS enquiries all within the one application. For more information please visit Intelecom UK Ltd 2-6 Boundary Row London SE1 8HP United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)