The Multi-Channel Consumer World is Here
Posted by Stephen Mutch on June 13th, 20072006 online purchases topped $100 billion according to the Department of Commerce, which is $25 billion more than 2005. They have estimated another $25 billion to be added in 2007. So what exactly does that mean for you aside from the increase in ecommerce purchasing trends? It means that your customers are communicating with and purchasing from you via multiple channels. They are calling on the phone, visiting your tasting room and visiting your website. Unfortunately, most companies have not incorporated a strategy for this increasingly popular multi-channel consumer into their customer experience and customer data handling. This consistently results in an inconsistent customer experience. As your customer navigates your website or visits your tasting room or communicates with your staff via the phone, an inconsistent experience at any touch point can sour the entire relationship, eventually resulting in lost business.
On the flip side, providing a consistently positive multi-channel experience has benefits that go well beyond a pleased customer.
“Customers who shop across multiple transaction channels provide higher revenues, have a higher customer value, and have a higher likelihood of being more active than other customers,” says V. Kumar in 2005’s “Correlates of Multi-channel Shopping Behavior” in the Journal of Interactive Retailing.
The benefits of a positive experience sell itself. We can easily attribute higher sales, customer loyalty, repeat purchases and most importantly the willingness to recommend your brand. Improving the customer experience is no longer an option, it is now critical to the sustainability of your organization.
Plan and execute on a strategy that will bring the multi channel experience and make every customer interaction count.
