As revealed in statistics reeled off by the Global Trade website, 73% of customers class customer service as a crucial factor in their purchasing decisions – and 32% would be willing to abandon a brand as a result of a bad experience.
These figures help to explain why your company should adopt an omnichannel communications strategy, where you would weave various communication channels seamlessly into just one platform. What exact benefits could your business gain from this tactic?
You can reach a broader audience
What communication channels particular customers prefer could depend largely on their demographic. For example, many Millennials deem social media an effective customer support tool, with 74% saying that social media responsiveness makes them think more positively of a brand.
However, many members of older generations could be clinging to more traditional means of communication, like the phone. An omnichannel approach can help you cater for everyone.
Your customer service team can respond more quickly
Nobody wants to be left waiting too long for help. Fortunately, they don’t have to be when an omnichannel system is in place – as it would let members of your team quickly switch to whatever communication channel a customer is using to reach out to your brand.
According to one study mentioned by omnichannel customer service tools provider Gamma, 32% of customers on social media anticipate a response within 30 minutes.
Customers could become increasingly loyal to your business
This is due to how you would be able to satisfy them at various stages of the customer journey. You could do this when – for example – a customer initially sends you an inquiry via a live chat facility, emails you feedback afterwards and then reviews your company on one of its social media pages.
It could help you to sell more
In one study looking at omnichannel marketing and reported by TechRadar, marketers integrating three or more channels into their marketing campaigns were rewarded with a 90% higher customer retention rate as well as 250% improved engagement and purchase rates. Omnichannel customers were also found to spend 13% more than others.
It can strengthen the power of your brand
Even if you have spent a lot of time and attention carefully honing your company’s brand, you could have easily underestimated how fragile that brand is. Gen Z and Millennial customers have been found to attach relatively high importance to how a brand treats them.
Fortunately, as an omnichannel strategy would enable you to accelerate your responses to customers, you can give them good reasons to perceive your brand favorably.
It’s good for reputation management
To see how this could work in practice, you should look at social media. Here, anyone could make a negative comment about your company at any time – but, when your workers maintain a strong social media presence, they can more speedily react to such grievances to help repair the damage.
That damage could be not only inconvenience the original poster has experienced due to your company but also reputational damage inflicted upon it.
