Omnichannel

Strong integration key to seamless, hybrid customer journey

Photo by istock.com

March 29, 2022

Consumers today expect a well-integrated mix of digital and in-person touchpoints and expect seamless retail experiences regardless of what channel is being used to interact with a brand.

On the retail side that means retailers, seeking to adapt to consumer expectations, must eliminate department silos and connect disparate systems to build a seamless end-to-end hybrid customer journey.

That's a prime finding of a Uberall study conducted by Forrester Consulting.

The study revealed 70% of businesses believe they are delivering suboptimal hybrid customer journeys, according to a press release on the findings.

"This new study from Forrester reveals just how difficult it is for organizations to break down departmental silos and connect disparate systems to create a seamless end-to-end hybrid customer journey. Businesses that can get it right with a unified approach will reap the rewards," Florian Hübner, Uberall CEO and founder, said in the release.

Okaïdi, the largest retail product brand under the ÏDKIDS Group's global umbrella, is one example of a business innovating in the area of hybrid customer experiences, according to the release.

"Consumer behavior shifted with the pandemic. For our team at Okaïdi we had to change our business model overnight, offering things like click-and-collect and online appointment booking," Mathilde Watine, omnichannel transformation leader at ÏDKIDS, said in the release. "These personalized hybrid customer experiences now set us apart in a highly competitive children's apparel market. As an organization, we will continue to look for ways to offer our customers fully connected experiences across digital and physical channels for the best possible experience."

Additional findings include:

• 25% of activities related to the beginning and end of the customer journey are outsourced and 75% are managed in-house. Adding fuel to the problem, activities managed in-house are fragmented across different teams from digital marketing to customer service.
• Most companies use a collection of standalone solutions. This can hinder progress, with important customer experience data locked away in silos. The top three standalone solutions include social listening tools (76%), intelligent communications solutions (i.e., chatbots) (70%), and ratings and review management solutions (70%).
• 73% of decision-makers believe digital capabilities in physical locations (i.e., QR codes, self checkout and contactless payment) are more important now than before the pandemic. However, 45% of those surveyed said digital capabilities in physical locations is one of the most challenging objectives to implement.

"As people return to in-person activities, the digital conveniences they have become accustomed to will not just disappear," Tijs van Santen, chief customer officer, Uberall, said in the study. "Companies that look to smartly engage with customers across the digital and real world — making it easy and enjoyable for customers to do business with them — will gain consumer trust and loyalty."

The study found 70% of decision-makers believe their organization's ability to provide seamless customer journeys across all digital and physical touchpoints is "average," "fair" or even "poor." In addition, 72% were "interested" or "very interested" in a platform that addresses multiple marketing and customer experience needs.

Nearly two-thirds of businesses (65%) rate their organization's ability to track and understand customer behavior across end-to-end customer journeys as "average," "fair" or "poor." The study also found that when assessing the ideal technology solution to support marketing and customer experience at physical stores, the ability to connect data and analytics from customer interactions and feedback throughout the customer journey was most critical.