Omnichannel shoppers: What they are and how to convert them

Omnichannel shoppers: What they are and how to convert them

As digital devices increasingly play a role in the business word, online vendors are having to adapt their marketing and promotional strategies to a new type of customer – the omni shopper. Today’s confident omnishopper is better informed, savvier and has done their online research.

They want a seamless buying experience that will come closer to the traditional ‘in-store’ experience. It is essential that ecommerce retail stores design their strategies to woo and win over this growing body of customers.

What are omnichannel shoppers?

Omnishoppers can be described as customers that use a broad range of technology in making their buying decisions. Ranging from smartphones through desktops, all the way to the humble telephone, omnishoppers demand a problem-free and connected shopping experience.

They use offline and online channels in their buying journey – right from when they start looking for an item until they actually buy it. They use a multichannel approach to find the item they want. Omnichannel commerce focuses on making the entire customer experience rewarding and problem free.

Top tips to convert omnichannel shoppers

It is one thing to attract visitors to your ecommerce site. It is another thing to convert those visitors to shoppers that buy your product. A large number of ecommerce outlets have a high ‘bounce’ rate (what Google calls a very brief session on your site) because they don’t manage to give shoppers that great shopping experience that transcends just good quality and attractive prices.

Here are some top tips for a shopping experience that’ll dazzle today’s tech-savvy omnichannel customers!

Boost your conversion rate with live chat

One of live chat’s chief appeals is its convenience. It’s one of the easiest ways to quickly inform a customer about your product or service, particularly when they are in the process of buying something. Forrester data indicates that website visitors that use live chat are almost three times more likely to convert than those who don’t!   Customers like having their queries handled by a live person during the buying process. However, it is important that response time is kept low to avoid customer frustration and site abandonment.

Apart from using live chat as support or for dealing with customers’ questions, you can also proactively reach out to users by using live chat as a pop-up or ad. Users are more likely to buy after having been welcomed and then helped in this way. Live chat also speeds up shopping cart checkouts by helping customers in real time rather than having them fill out forms.

Using an advanced live chat platform also enables you to give repeat customers a personalised shopping experience by offering them customised support based on their buying history.

AI-based searches create a more personalised experience for shoppers

Ecommerce users often abandon sites if they get irrelevant product results. AI-based technologies, like natural language, will help you deal with this problem by narrowing down and contextualising an online shopper’s search results.

For example, machine learning-based AI software can tag, organise, and even visually search content by labelling features obtained from a video or photograph.  Just think of Pinterest’s Chrome extension update that makes it possible for users to choose any image online using a Save Button. By using image recognition software, Pinterest can then find similar items anywhere online.

Similar features on ecommerce platforms help users find what they are looking for on your site in just a few easy clicks. This could be a nifty pair of tennis shoes worn by a famous tennis star, or a striking hat seen at a celebrity wedding.

Customers get a unified view by integrating data across touchpoints

Customers deal with your company across multiple touchpoints. These interactions unfortunately often involve dealing with various employees at different times, which often results in frustrated customers. In the long run, it also often leads to missed opportunities.

For example, should a customer phone after having sent an email to complain about a product, they assume that the customer service agent that they talk to will know about their complaint. This, unfortunately, rarely happens because of the siloed information structure that exists in organisations.

However, if your live chat data is integrated with your CRM software, all a customer’s data will be available to any agent that they deal with. This will this help you analyse past interactions with customers. It will also enable your agents to personalise future conversations with customers across different touchpoints – thus creating a true omnichannel interaction.

A/B testing of landing pages is crucial

Landing page A/B testing is essential to understand what drives conversions. You can only ever know if your current landing page is the best it can be if you compare its performance against another version of that page. The position of the page, the text or copy, the position of the images, even the colour of the call-to-action button, are all areas that need to be tested.

In Conclusion

The turbulent conditions we all experienced in 2020 boosted the already-expanding ecommerce industry. The growing impact of sophisticated technology not only raised customer expectations, but created a new breed of permanently connected shoppers that may engage with several touchpoints to finalise a purchase.

As an ecommerce marketer, you must acknowledge this change in user behaviour. You need to give your omnishoppers the unified shopping experience they want by dismantling the silos in your organisation.

The strategies we set out above will assist you in constructing an omnichannel shopping experience that will not only boost conversions, but done right will also cement the loyalty of your online customers!