What is an omnichannel customer journey?

An omnichannel customer journey is a purchasing process in which the customer uses various points of contact, combining several communication channels. The aim is to offer your customer an unmistakable experience and service . During this omnichannel journey, the consumer passes through various stages before reaching the final phase, which is the purchase.

The different stages of the omnichannel customer journey

Customers may discover a product through a billboard campaign on their daily commute, view a sponsored publication on social networks announcing upcoming promotional offers for that product, or visit the online store. This is known as the consumer awareness stage.

In the secondary phase of the omnichannel customer journey, the consumer will find out more about the brand, using his or her smartphone to visit the website, consult online reviews and ask questions on social media to obtain more information about the product sheet. 

Subsequently, once the customer has determined his or her needs, he or she will interact with the brand to complete the act of purchase. This is the final phase of the omnichannel customer journey. As a result, if the customer is satisfied with his or her purchase, he or she may go on to recommend the company to a friend, or become loyal to the brand. This is the marketing viral phenomenon. 

Better understand the benefits of the omnichannel customer journey

This omnichannel customer journey approach has been designed to meet the expectations of consumers who are constantly connected, and whose purchasing habits are evolving rapidly. Faced with the multiplication and diversification of potential contact points of contact between a retailer and a consumer, companies need to adapt to their needs in order to optimize all existing contact channels. The commercial relationship has become more complex, and consumers are no longer bound by the traditional purchasing path. The omni-consumer obtains information quickly, anywhere and especially at any time, and expects to receive an immediate response.

Dependent on the use of their smartphone, they will tend to mobilize several successive channels to enter contact with a company: via its website, the physical point of sale, by e-mail or even through social networks. However, they expect the company to offer them a unified, fluid and coherent experience, thanks to an offer and a sense of service customer care and quality, regardless of the channel used. The different channels are therefore not competitors, but complementary, and require a rethink of the company's strategy in the face of today's challenges: hence the need to articulate and make all available channels work in synergy, in a fluid way to grant an optimal service , and build customer loyalty.

An omnichannel strategy can only be deployed if the company undergoes a profound transformation, and processes are reorganized to ensure that customer needs are always at the heart of all activities and decisions. Omnichannelity is an appropriate response to new customer habits, based on close interaction and constant exchange. All the interactions in the omnichannel customer journey are now an integral part of the entity's value proposition, and constitute a differentiating aspect from the competition, to the benefit of the customer experience.

Differences between single-channel, cross-channel, omnichannel

Single-channel refers to a sales path consisting of a single sales channel: for a retailer, this might be the sale of goods at a physical point of sale.

Cross-channel, on the other hand, offers a more complete experience, characterized by a wide range of possibilities and greater flexibility. It is based on the mobilization of several channels (e-mail, social networks, telephone, etc.), which act in a complementary way at any point in the customer journey. This synergy brings fluidity and consistency to the experience, ensuring that the consumer receives the same response from all the services linked to the various channels. This mode of operation adapts to the needs and desires of the consumer, who can buy a product from a brand's online store and then turn to the physical point of sale to pick up his or her order.

The omnichannel customer journey is an evolution of cross-channel. This new "user-centric" concept places the consumer and his or her experience at the heart of the company's concerns. The aim remains to offer a unique and memorable experience, where the customer is taken on a journey characterized by great fluidity and by the personalization of the relationship at each point of contact. This approach requires retailers to create real synergy and coherence between all available channels, as today's customer is likely to mobilize them simultaneously. By deploying an omnichannel strategy, companies can aim to deliver the best possible experience to their customers, in order to build lasting loyalty.

How to brand your omnichannel strategy?

Discover the key steps in marketing, for developing an omnichannel strategy that delivers a customized, high-quality customer experience, and thus seizing a unique opportunity to build loyalty and improve results. 

Step 1: Know your customers

In the era of the omnichannel customer journey, it's essential to know your target audience inside and out - their needs, feelings and opinions. It's important to cultivate your relationship with them by getting as close as possible to them through simple actions. Thanks to more or less sophisticated tools, it's possible to question them directly via surveys or polls, to analyze their published opinions, to identify trends via exchanged e-mails, or even to examine a user's behavior on a site or application to understand their browsing path and therefore their intentions. Which queries brought them to your site, which pages attract their attention or, on the contrary, drive them away? Any means is a good way of gathering data, and analyzing it to obtain relevant information in line with your objectives. Segmenting consumers allows us to better understand their needs, expectations and consumption habits. This information is invaluable when it comes to offering them a simple, personalized and intuitive omnichannel customer journey, as well as sending them the right message. This is the best way to implement an adapted and optimized strategy based on the most important element: the customer. The aim is to deliver the most seamless, personalized customer experience possible across all channels.

Step 2: Have a good CRM

Omnichannel marketing puts the customer at the heart of its strategy, making it essential for companies to equip themselves with the best tools to better understand and respond to the customer. Customer knowledge is the key element in the deployment of an omnichannel strategy, which requireshigh-performance CRM software for its teams. The role of CRM software is to collect, store, centralize, analyze and make use of customer data as they interact with the company throughout the omnichannel customer journey. Every employee can easily consult a customer's interaction history and information at the click of a button, todeliver a fast, consistentlyhigh-quality customer experience , as well as insightful information about the customer's situation from one channel to the next. This software is designed to improve customer relations and stay one step ahead of the competition in the face of ever more demanding consumers.

Step 3: Be consistent at every stage of the customer journey

The multiplication of contact points during the omnichannel customer journey between a company and a consumer requires a great deal of effort in order to offer a coherent and aligned customer experience. To achieve this, companies need to reinvent their internal organization, thanks in particular to CRM, but also in terms of processes, in order to offer a unified and ultra-personalized service continuum, both online and offline. Each channel in which a prospect or customer engages must offer the same level of response and satisfaction to maintain consistency, better meet expectations and build customer loyalty. A multitude of details come into play to present a coherent path to a consumer: compliance with a graphic charter applied to all media, harmonized prices and delivery conditions or the use of a distinctive editorial tone are prerequisites for promising a unique experience, quality and a consistent level of service .

Step 4: Personalize the customer experience

Omnichannelity is based on a tailor-made customer journey that's adapted to the target; the aspect of personalization is therefore a decisive and differentiating factor in the customer journey to convert and build loyalty. In order to offer a unique experience that surpasses the competition, omnichannelity is the key to making a difference. Personalization means that the company adapts to customers' real needs , and positions itself as a helper to meet them, with a more empathetic and human approach. In short, a real sense of service. There are a multitude of ways to personalize a customer's experience according to their typology, the channels used and their intentions: sending personalized e-mail sequences and newsletters according to the segmentation of the persona - in the event of an abandoned shopping basket, for example; a site display adapted to the browser, highlighting suggestions according to the products already purchased or consulted; sending alerts for special events (private sales, sales, birthdays, etc.). The aim is to offer customers a truly seamless and enjoyable experience, to significantly increase sales and build long-term loyalty. Customer satisfaction remains essential for companies, as customers will take greater account of the brands to which they aspire. 

Personalization has a proven impact on sales, but it's not the only benefit. It enables us to maintain a very special bond with a consumer during the omnichannel customer journey, and thus generate greater loyalty. As the experience is perceived as more qualitative, human and individualized by the customer, they are reassured in their choice and purchase, and are ready to renew their trust.

Digital signage, the ultimate omnichannel experience

To cope with the success of e-commerce and the flight of visitors, the retail sector needs to bring customers back into stores, and above all attract new ones by becoming omnibusinesses. This has given rise to the concept of " phygital ", which blends the digital sphere with the physical world. Retailers want to reinvent the customer experience , and are deploying a wealth of strategy to make consumers want to visit physical outlets again: web-to-store and web-in-store have been developed to meet the expectations of consumers who are more connected than ever, and to turn the situation to their advantage.

These concepts have seen the emergence of practices designed to make e-commerce sites and physical stores complementary, such as the possibility of picking up or returning products ordered online directly in the store. Omnichannelity has also accelerated the use ofin-store and point-of-sale digital signage to optimize the customer experience. 

What is digital signage?

Digital signage refers to a means of communication that helps deliver multimedia content to screens. Accordingly, the term "dynamic" combines two aspects: on the one hand, the presentation of animated messages, and on the other, the user's ability to maneuver his or her digital communication.

The challenge of omnichannel marketing is to multiply the contact points of contact between the company and consumers, to create a relationship and exchanges with them across the different channels used. Traditional channels must be exploited in the same way as new digital tools, in order to reach and build a solid relationship with the target. For brands, the physical point of sale remains the most obvious and accessible potential purchasing space, as it embodies their physical presence and identity. 

Why choose Cenareo ?

By broadcasting the latest advertising campaigns to reinforce the brand's image, by enabling consultation of an interactive catalog, by displaying offers, by creating digital signage. The digitization of sales areas, in particular with digital signage, has the advantage of generating highly-qualified in-store traffic, and boosting sales thanks to a unique, personalized customer experience. Cenareo and its dedicated digital signage management system make it easy to share content in real time on its fleet of screens, to offer an innovative experience that bridges the gap between the physical point of sale and the digital world. Digital signage is not only a powerful communication channel, but also a formidable means of creating interaction with customers in-store.

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Cenareo supports you in the deployment of your omnichannel strategy, to attract new customers, offer them a unique experience and build loyalty. Our digital signage management system makes it easy to automate high-impact content, to better respond to new, increasingly innovative and user-centric trends in the shopping experience.