Transform Customer Experience

Chapter 6Omnichannel CX

Channel strategy thinking has shifted from a multichannel to an omnichannel focus, and the change in terminology isn’t just a matter of keeping up with the times. An omnichannel approach shifts attention from the individual channels and touchpoints to the relationship between them, which is becoming increasingly integrated. At one level, this simply represents a recognition that customers are engaging with whichever channels offer them the smoothest way of obtaining the products and services they want.

Omnichannel strategies involve a wider range of media than those covered in multichannel approaches. The main focus of multichannel analysis is on interactive media, whereas omnichannel also includes non-interactive one-to-many communications, from conventional print catalogues to targeted digital pop-ups in apps and on search pages. At the same time, both strategies include unglamorous but prolific communication channels such as phone, chat, email and snail mail, as well as direct visits in person.

A mature omnichannel strategy offers customers a seamless, consistent experience across channels and touchpoints, no matter what technology or communication channel they are using. It’s the customer, not the organisation, who chooses the channels through which they interact. Say, for example, a customer is sitting at a computer trying to work out how to find a copy of a bank statement so she can print it out for her accountant. She is in a rush and panicky ...