According to a research by Polytechnic in Milan, while multichannel customers grow by 3.8 million compared to 2017, very few companies use omnichannel customer experience strategies. Let’s see what they are and why they are so important.
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From the Omnichannel Customer Experience Observatory, promoted by the School of Management at Polytechnic in Milan, a research based on 100 interviews with medium and large Italian companies belonging to the main industries, some significant results come out. The main objectives that drive a strategy of omnichannel customer experience for Italian companies are still today mainly short-term based and oriented to the improvement of customer acquisition and increase in sales, as well as to the improvement of the engagement. Only 1/3 companies personalize the contents.
The omnichannel customer experience strategies are linked to changes in behavior in the purchasing process to get information through which improving the customer relationship process at the different multiple digital contact points. These strategies require the involvement of several company functions, but in only one to five companies there is a high degree of involvement among all.
This is a fundamental aspect if we look at the very strong convergence between communication and sales: the gap between showrooming (the customer searches for information at the point of sale and then buys online) and info-commerce (the customer searches for information online and then buys at the point sale) is gradually reduced. This means that the use of online and offline contact points for purchasing information is becoming increasingly common. That is why companies must be able to design and convey their strategies by taking account the rational and emotional part of the customers in order to design the best consumer journey, ie the online and offline journey that a customer makes today in the purchase process. This journey should always be more personalized, ensuring an integrated brand experience in all the touch points. But the data show that Italian companies that have made efforts with this regard are only 5% of the total. This happens both due to a different perception of benefits and to a misalignment in the objectives of each company function. The solution is a fully integrated, flat organizational design where the right hand knows what the left hand is doing (the that does not happen as often as it would seem!). In addition, almost all companies collect and store only customer details and contact information, without collecting data related to interests, habits and other valuable information to decrypt the purchasing behavior and personalize communications.
Technologically speaking, only very few companies use advanced Analytics tools.
Italian companies very often complain of negative contingencies, heavy bureaucracy, unfair tax system. All right issues, but if they start to invest in the unique opportunities of the new technologies to trigger more sophisticated marketing processes through which to pamper and make the customer feeling central, they could count on more loyal customers, who buy more and who bring new customers.
To the aim, you do not need much money, you just need a great cultural opening!
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