Improving the OmniChannel Experience


There have been a number of news stories in recent weeks about omnichannel marketing, and “getting it right” when it comes to mobile. Brick and mortar stores understand the importance of mobile sites, digital marketing and purchase abilities, and making it all seamless. But, that can be more difficult than people think.


Take, for example, American Eagle’s challenges that they recently shared at Etail West 2014 during “The Keys to Omnichannel Success at American Eagle Outfitters” segment.


A couple of their challenges are not unique to their business, and are good examples of considerations to make and test when rolling out omnichannel opportunities for customers:


1. Make sure online and mobile match: one challenge the retailer shared was ensuring that when customers clicked on email links from their mobile devices, that they had a landing place to reach. They found that customers were reaching a page that said, “Sorry, you can’t do this on mobile, but keep checking back.”


2. Honoring loyalty without frustration: another experience they shared revolved around customers who needed to sign in to continue on their online journey. They found that customers would stop where they were to sign in, and the site would reroute them to the home page, rather than the last page they were on before signing in, creating frustration and what experts refer to as “friction” in the customer journey.


On a similar note, also at ETail West 2014, 1-800 Flowers shared their experience with digital footprints – a way to track data across devices. One of their goals sheds light on another challenged faced with the omnichannel experience: pushing mobile browsers to purchases. According to the article, they are finding that consumers spend time browsing on their mobile device, but not making a purchase. The company is trying to find ways to encourage browsing on mobile, but somehow providing a seamless experience when they move to their desktop or tablet, presumably at the point where they have more time to sit down to make that purchase. Similarly, they are looking for ways to easily encourage those browsers on mobile to turn into buyers from the mobile experience.


While omnichannel experiences aren’t new, there are still stumbling blocks and challenges for companies. However, starting small, testing along the way, and gathering feedback from customers will help make the process as smooth as possible.





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