A Beginners Guide to Understanding Omni-channel Engagement
What is omni-channel engagement? When did it start? Why does it matter?
This week we take an introductory look into the somewhat new, but very relevant strategy of omni-channel communications to give you a well-rounded understanding of this topic.
What is Omni-Channel Engagement?
When it comes to defining omni-channel engagement, there are a number of valuable definitions out there. I have selected a few that I feel when analyzed will allow for a balanced definition of the theory.
According to Target Tech:
“Omni-channel is a multichannel approach to sales that seeks to provide the customer with a seamless shopping experience whether the customer is shopping online from a desktop, mobile device, by telephone, or in a bricks and mortar store” (Source: Target Tech, 2014).
This is a great starting point for our journey to understanding omni-channel engagement. Essentially, omni-channel gives customers the ability to access your products and services from whatever channel they choose.
Marketing Sherpa takes this definition one step further by incorporating how we actually engage with customers through the omni-channel.
Marketing Sherpa defines omni-channel as:
“Listening to and capturing data and behaviour from a customer across all channels and then responding back through the channels that best moves the individual customer on the next stage of the journey” (Source: Marketing Sherpa, 2015).
The ability to capture and analyze the information that customers are putting out through these channels is extremely important, as it will provide you with more knowledge about your customers.
Lastly, Forbes described omni-channel engagement as a:
“Reflection of the choice that consumers have in how they engaged a brand, and therefore is best represented as how brands enable their clients and consumers to use these channels to engage with them”. (Forbes, 2014)
Customers view the brands they are attracted to and purchase from as an extension of themselves. Engaging with buyers on the platforms that they prefer not only enhances their opinion about the brand, but also enhances the way that they view the brand in relation to themselves.
The most important concept of omni-channel that I would like to incorporate into these definitions is the idea that it should be seamless. While achieving engagement through all platforms is nice, it is critical to ensure that every interaction adds value to the buyer, is contextual in relation to past interactions, and contributes to guiding them along a decision journey.
(Image Source: Tapp, C, 2014)
The Start of Something New
Pinpointing exactly when omni-channel engagement began to emerge is a topic that is very well debated in the marketing community. While some believe the iPhone can be attributed to the need for omni-channel engagement, research suggests that the actual emergence of this marketing trend is more recent, dating back to about 5 years ago.
Wholly unfamiliar in 2010, omni-channel engagement has turned into one of the trendiest buzzwords in marketing (Source: Nectorom, 2015). Initially used to describe a shopping experience that extended beyond multi-channel retailing, omni-channel engagement is a necessity for retailers that want to create a seamless supply experience for their customers (Source: Nectorom, 2015). Customers expect the companies that they do business with to be available and accessible to them through any channel.
Until 2013, the idea of omni-channel engagement remained a ‘nice-to-know’ concept to most marketers. Omni-channel truly became a marketing buzzword in 2013, when the Huffington Post attributed the rise of this trend to the increase in smartphone usage (Source: Nectorom, 2015). While smartphones do influence omni-channel engagement through their ability to connect users through multiple channels on one device, they weren’t the only technology credited to this trend.
Considering all of the technological trends to emerge in the past 5 years (from tablets to smart TV’s), society has experienced a natural shift towards an omni-channel world. So what does this mean for us today?
In order to stay competitive and relevant, every business (not just retail) needs to understand that consistent and seamless engagement with buyers across all platforms is essential (Source: Nectorom, 2015).
The buyer no longer differentiates between different actors within the business. They see any interaction with the business as just that, one interaction. If the interaction starts via social media, progresses over the phone, and ends via email, the buyer expects a seamless approach that is contextually relevant to past interactions.
Already familiar with this challenge? You may enoy reading this past post about Executing Effective Sales and Tactical Priorities for 2015 where we explain the broader impacts of 2015 throughout the world of B2B selling. Click here for more.
Integrating Omni-channel into Your Existing B2B Sales & Marketing
Remember that omni-channel strategies involve a seamless interaction across several channels. If your leads are being generated by marketing and passed off to the sales team, it’s essential that the conversation with the seller accounts for the interactions that the buyer had previously. If not, you risk damaging the integrity of the experience.
Now I’m not suggesting that you’re going to lose the sale because of this. If that was the case, we’d see a significant number of lost sales in every industry. What I am saying is that the customer will weigh their experiences with your company with those of the competition. Not every industry is at the same place when it comes to omni-channel excellence, but the buyer experience will quickly shift as soon as one player in your industry begins applying a more cohesive experience to their sales process. This is achieved through nothing more than an effective sales enablement platform, and a commitment to adjust tactics through data-driven analytics.
Sales enablement and omni-channel engagement are cut from the same cloth. With sales enablement software you have the tools to ensure that your sales reps progress in a decision journey that is in line with past interactions. More importantly however, you have the data needed to optimize the discussion over time.
The subject of omni-channel engagement is as comprehensive as it is new, and warrants further analysis. I’ll be following up this post with another on the subject later on, and I’ll link that post here in the future. Check back for more.
Interested in learning more about sales enablement? May I suggest reading our previous post, what is Sales Enablement? A sales enablement definition for 2015”, found here.
[RELATED CONTENT] If you found this topic to be of interest, may I also suggest you check out our white paper, Multi- Channel Engagement Improves Sales Effectiveness”
If you're already familar with omni-channel strategy and/or want to enhance your salesforce with the capability to deliver an omni-channel experience, feel free to request a demo and let us show you how easy omni-channel can be with the right tools.
