2. Omni-Channel Customer Care: Empowered
Customers Demand a Seamless Experience
October 2013
Analyst Insight
Customers are no longer confined to a single channel or device to engage
businesses. Today’s customer journey might start in one channel (e.g., web)
and proceed through numerous other ones (e.g., social media, email, and
phone). Furthermore, these conversations can take place across numerous
modes of interaction (e.g., in-store / person, smartphone, and tablet) where
each modality has its own characteristics (e.g., mobile device operating
systems and screen sizes). Findings from Aberdeen’s March 2013 NextGeneration Customer Experience Management research shows that the ability
to deliver a seamless / consistent experience across multiple channels and
devices (a concept referred to as “omni-channel”) is a top challenge
impacting customer experience management (CEM) programs — in both
B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) organizations.
Aberdeen’s Insights provide the
analyst’s perspective on the
research as drawn from an
aggregated view of research
surveys, interviews, and
data analysis.
This Aberdeen report will outline the business value of deploying an omnichannel CEM (see sidebar for definition) strategy designed to address
changing buyer needs. It will also highlight several best practices that help
top performing organizations differentiate themselves through achieving 89%
customer retention rate while growing their annual company revenue by
9.5% year-over-year.
Definition: Omni-channel
Customer Experience
The Business Value of Omni-Channel Care
Omni-channel customers are not only a reality for B2C organizations such
as retail and hospitality firms, but also a key factor impacting CEM programs
of B2B businesses. Similar to an airline traveler who might use different
devices and channels to interact with travel firms, a B2B industrial
equipment manufacturer seeking information on shipping services providers
can use multiple modalities (e.g., in-person, laptop, or smartphone) to
engage logistics firms over phone, email, or web prior to the purchase of
their services to transport its goods. In other words, omni-channel
customer interactions apply to both B2B and B2C organizations — requiring
these firms to be laser-focused on addressing client expectations of
receiving a consistent experience regardless of the interaction channel or
device. Findings illustrated in Figure 1 below illustrate the year-over-year
performance outcomes omni-channel CEM program users enjoy, compared
to peers with asynchronous customer engagement efforts.
For the purposes of this
research, Aberdeen uses the
terms “omni-channel CEM” and
“omni-channel customer care”
interchangeably to define
strategic customer care
initiatives designed to deliver
seamless customer experiences
across multiple channels (e.g.,
phone, social media, web,
mobile, and email) and devices
(in-store, laptop, and smart
phone). The end goal of these
programs is to ensure that the
context and experience from
each channel and device carries
over to the next touch-points
to ensure consistency of
conversations via multiple
touch-points.
This document is the result of primary research performed by Aberdeen Group. Aberdeen Group's methodologies provide for objective fact-based research and
represent the best analysis available at the time of publication. Unless otherwise noted, the entire contents of this publication are copyrighted by Aberdeen Group, Inc.
and may not be reproduced, distributed, archived, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent by Aberdeen Group, Inc.