Who Is The Omni-Channel Consumer?.MAY 5, 2015    BRANDVIEWS / AMERICOMMERCE 2.

The digital experience has changed the way consumers view an online store . Gone are the days that we browse solely from a desktop. We’re jumping from mobile to desktop without a second thought – and as store owners – you need to be prepared for the future.

But it’s not just about preparing for a multi-device world either. Consumers are connecting with brands via many different channels across the web, or in a brick and mortar store, so it’s important that you streamline this experience for your customers.

So who is the omni-channel consumer?

The omni-channel consumer is a person who comes in contact with your brand. It may be that they are viewing your website on a tablet, they’re checking out your Facebook page, or they’re looking at your email.

The omni-channel consumer is everywhere.

When it comes to preparing for your omni-channel consumer, you need to make sure that what you provide is a seamless experience across every device and every platform you have.

Whether it’s on your website, your social platforms, in your brick and mortar store, via desktop or mobile device, the omni-channel consumer expects to receive the same shopping experience no matter where they buy from.

The problem is, many store owners still don’t consider it to be that important and have yet to evolve into the world of omni-channel. In fact, studies show that 87% of consumers feel that brands need to work harder to create a seamless experience…

So how do you prepare for the omni-channel consumer?

Align your brand

First you need to think about your brand and how you are connecting with your audience across every touchpoint.

Are you putting out the same messages on every channel? If a customer decided to purchase a product online, but opts for click-and-collect to pick it up, will their shopping experience be the same in person as it is online?

Brand communication is important, and both your employees and content should reflect the messages that you want to put out there. A recent study found that out of 340 ads, only 23 were identified as having a clearly positioned brand message.

You need to cut out the confusion and make sure that a person will instantly recognize your brand from wherever they may be.

Action points: Define your brand voice, the tone and values that you want to put across to your audience. Make sure that your employees understand what your key messages are, and that it’s communicated across every marketing message.

Evaluate your content

When planning for omni-channel success, you need to consider the content that you publish. Your main goal is clearly conversions, but does your content connect with the right people at the right time?

Your omni-channel consumers will be on a journey to find your product, and someone who is at the start of their journey with you should be consuming different content compared to a consumer who is closer to the sale.

For example, a person who is at the start of their buying journey may recognize they have a problem, but they don’t know what to do about it. Content to use here could be informational blog posts or infographics that are highly shareable and resonate with their problems.

Once that person has moved towards to the next stage which is closer to the sale, you need to start providing them with content that is a lot more focused on educating them on how your product is their solution.

E-books are perfect to utilize here as they are highly educational and people who opt to download them, have a genuine interest in finding out more about your product. You can then capture the data of people who download your e-book, to help you move towards the next goal which is ‘closing the sale’.

At this point, you can send those consumers that downloaded your e-book email marketing messages that promote your products and tempt them towards the sale.

Action points: The key here is to make sure the content that you distribute is targeted to the right consumer at the right time, and conveys your brand voice that we mentioned above.

Plan for mobile devices

Did you know that 8% of a person’s day is spent looking at their mobile screen? There is no denying that mobile is the future and the omni-channel consumer is most certainly using their mobile device to access your brand.

Think about the last time you tried to view an email or a piece of content on your mobile device and it was clearly not optimized for your mobile device? Not only is this frustrating, but it puts you off consuming anything from that brand again.

The last thing you want to do is turn the omni-channel consumer off, so you need to ensure that you are not making these critical mistakes.

Action Points: Choose an Ecommerce solution that makes selling from a mobile device easy. Make sure you design your store with current HTML and CSS standards to further optimize the mobile viewing experience.

Takeaway

As you can see omni-channel is the future so you need to make sure that you are creating a seamless experience for all of your consumers. Take a walk in their shoes, create timely content for the right people, and streamline your brand voice across every touchpoint!

Don’t forget, if you want an Ecommerce platform that offers awesome features including mobile and responsive design then make sure you call us today !

Read more at http://www.business2community.com/brandviews/americommerce/omni-channel-consumer-01220243#0q72mvRlVM65w1Vu.99