Improving Multichannel eCommerce (Online Communication)

Managing a multichannel eCommerce business doesn’t have to be an overwhelming experience. Here are Talkative’s tips on how you can create a multi-platform, seamless customer experience.

Top tips on improving Multichannel eCommerce through online communication

With online shopping becoming a ubiquitous part of consumers’ everyday life, it isn’t surprising that more businesses are moving towards online selling platforms - many businesses are even on multiple platforms, or ‘multi-channel eCommerce’.

However, the success of an eCommerce business depends on more than just crafting and maintaining a high-quality website.

After investigating over 7 million orders in a 5-month period, Stitch Labs has found that multi-channel retailers have increased their revenue more than retailers operating on a single selling platform.

Failing to engage with your customers across multiple online channels can lead to decreased traffic and customer satisfaction rates.

Implementing a solution for real-time communication with your customers will enable you to provide good shopping experience on both desktop and mobile.

Here’s how you can create a multi-platform, seamless customer experience.

Engage with your customers - and be multi-channel about it!

Once you have optimised your website and identified your unique selling point, you need to promote it to your targeted audience to drive traffic. Furthermore, it is important to encourage your new customers to engage with your business across multiple channels;

• Got a mobile app? Optimise your landing pages so that it includes a discount code for those customers making an in-app purchase.
• Offer your product on Amazon with Next-Day Delivery? Let your customer know while they are visiting your website.

A good way to do so is by utilising the different opportunities for online communication, such as live chator direct messages on social media. This way, you can not only offer customized support to every client, but you can redirect them to one of your other selling platforms, depending on their needs and preferences. According to Business Insider, shoppers that engage with retailers on multiple channels make purchases more often.

Statistics support that multichannel eCommerce is crucial for SMB sellers

By establishing a successful interaction with your clients, you’ll be able to better understand their pain points and enhance the reputation of your business.

Embrace Social Media channels- your customers will ‘Like’ you for it!  

67% of the customers in 2017 have sought to resolve their problems on social media. With brands offering customer support on Twitter and Facebook, customers now expect personalised and instantaneous responses to their queries.

Be pro-active and listen to your clients’ feedback- Sprout Social’s research has proven that answering a customer’s question on social increases their likeliness to purchase with 49%. Social media interactions are an efficient way of establishing personal connection with the customers and gathering more information about them that can be implemented in future marketing campaigns.

Full infographic at Social Media Today.

See also: 9 examples of eCommerce brands boosting sales through social media

Empower your customer service agents

Allowing customers to contact you on their preferred channel can increase satisfaction rates, however, it could also negatively impact your contact centre team, by increasing the workload shared by a limited number of agents.

However, this doesn’t always has to be the case- if your contact centre agents are provided with the appropriate tools, then being on top of your clients’ purchases, requests and issues will be significantly easier.

Establishing a unified system for communication, both within the contact centre and with the customers, is key for improving your first contact resolution rates and generating bigger sales.

With web voice calling, you can create multiple agent groups, allowing for the customer to be redirected to a specific agent based on the nature of their enquiry. This way your agents will be able to streamline their operations and provide satisfactory customer service.

Mobile eCommerce is more powerful than ever - take advantage of it!

Despite the new digital channels for communication, phone calls still have a big impact on customers’ satisfaction rates.

The rise of mobile users has led to mobile searches being the #1 source of phone calls, and it is expected that the number of calls to businesses will reach 162 billion by 2019.

A customer who calls is usually further down the sales funnel and, therefore, more likely to make a purchase. Failing to engage with them can cost you a significant amount of revenue. The best practice is to maintain a good ratio between the number of call centre agents and social media customer service agents, for your multi-channel business to be successful.

According to Statista, mobile eCommerce could hit $3.5 trillion by 2021

Often, by trying to establish a presence on all online platforms, businesses fail to communicate a cohesive message and risk alienating their customers. The key is to know which platforms your clients are active on and put your efforts into providing valuable content and advice on there.

In Conclusion: Talk more!

Implementing solutions for real-time communication, such as live web chat or web calling, will allow you to gain invaluable insight into what your customers think and how they behave. Regardless of whether you choose to engage with clients via social media or another communication channel- make sure you aim for personal, customized interactions.

In an environment where the main differentiating factor between businesses is the quality of service they provide, there is nothing better than a satisfied customer. By 2020, customer experience will replace price as the key brand differentiator . That’s why it’s important to create a positive impression of your business across a number of touchpoints, meeting customers’ expectations for a personalised and seamless buying experience.

Psst - Speaking of words, why not check out our Word of Mouth Marketing guide? It features over 20,700 mouthwatering words, infographics and stats!