The importance and fundamentals of cross-channel orchestration
Few marketers have the capability to host impressive experiences between devices and across channels, much to the detriment of their customers. As technology has evolved, so too has the consumer…only to become increasingly demanding and more expectant of holistic cross-channel marketing experiences. Most marketers struggle to meet the demands inflicted on them by customers, who want seamless interactions across desktop and mobile devices, assuming technology to be responsive, intuitive and easy-to-use.
Importance of fundamentals in cross-channel orchestration
However, in reality, many marketers are ill-equipped and not capable of hosting standout cross-channel marketing. Market research company EcoConsultancy revealed that only a mere 5% of marketers are capable of doing this effectively. This then results in great customer dissatisfaction, even disloyalty from some digital savvy consumers, who are frustrated by disconnected, contextually-irrelevant and inconsistent or broken marketing experiences, which are precisely the opposite of what they seek.
In a white paper released by Oracle, 79% of consumers stated that they would ideally want their digital issues to be resolved in just one web interaction. And they don’t want to be told what channel to use. They want information to be easily located and they want autonomy over their experiences. But this is far from what they’re currently facing.
Technology is the sinner and the saint in this situation. Customers are comfortable using various digital platforms for shopping and other activities. A total of 73% of shoppers revealed they regularly experience multiple channels in their online purchase process, many of which check in with their behaviour, demographic and preferences to provide a more personalised shopping experience, as desired. But by the same token, data is not easily shared across these channels and interfaces, creating unreliable experiences that leave consumers feeling disconnected or at worse, disappointed with marketers.
What to do?
Marketers need to acknowledge the problem and realise that there are ways of improving marketing experiences for consumers across channels. Customers want personalised experiences provided to them at a high resolution across messages, web, mobile and apps, so don’t hold back with this technology. This should definitely be the area of highest investment. B2C marketers, in particular, need to understand the importance of offering consumers the full experience, from message to conversion, as this will contribute to their sense of extended personalisation and consistency across channels. They need to listen to each customer’s desire and target them through their preferred channel. Monitoring website behaviours, browsing data, physical location and demographics will help to personalise a customer’s journey but this information needs to be coupled with cross-channel unique IDs, customer favourites, behavioural data and channel preferences for optimum results.
Test, test, test
To ensure the best possible experience for your customer, make sure you prioritise testing and optimization. For most market leaders, customer experience optimization is vital yet they do not readily understand the full customer journey or how to maximise their ROI. Knowing what content should go with what segments in a consumer’s purchase journey is key – so optimizing to discover (and then deliver) what customers want will hugely benefit marketers. Testing needs to be something that marketers can do easily to guarantee that they always do it; as this is the only way they can promise to deliver results. As a marketer, invest in technology that allows you to empower your business by gaining most knowledge of the customer’s journey so that you can create the best-performing experiences between desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
Do this and customers won’t be disappointed. Download the whitepaper here as Oracle explains the benefits of investing in this technology.