For Omni-Channel Customers, The Computer is Now a Fitting Room

The rise of multi-channel is certain. The manifestation of a multi-channel strategy on the customer experience is decidedly less so.

It is easy to spout off ambiguous advice regarding the creation of a "consistent experience across channels," but when push comes to shove, the actual execution is far from simple. The delicate balance between a truly consistent multi-channel experience and one that wholly recognizes the intricacies of each customer touch point is a difficult one to walk, and as a result, far too many organizations hesitate to face the challenge head-on. Instead, they simply trumpet the "multi-channel" claim to describe any customer experience that involves a mix of communication at the brick-and-mortar, telephone, email and social levels.

Technically, this is a step in the right direction. Today’s customers are excited by a complete array of options for shopping, purchasing and support, and simply providing those options improves the likelihood of engaging that customer.

The best organizations, however, are not resting on their laurels. They recognize that the aggressive rise of multi-channel will produce a breed of customer not simply content with options but instead demanding of seamless integration between the channels. Interested in communicating with a brand in whatever channel happens to be most convenient and viable at a given time, they will expect each and every feature of the customer experience to be waiting for them in that selected channel.

They will not, for instance, give inefficient support a pass because they happen to have dialed into a contact center. They will not dismiss the importance of personalized discounts and recommendations at checkout because they are in a brick-and-mortar store rather than online.

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And that is why retailers are beginning to implement "omni-channel" strategies; efforts that attempt to recreate the best features of specific channels within all customer contact channels.

Last year, in what would ultimately become one of the most-read pieces in the history of Call Center IQ, we profiled Macy’s effort to build this sort of omni-channel retail experience.

As part of a pilot program at its Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s locations, the retail juggernaut is currently rolling out a host of interactive, self-service technologies at its retail locations to expedite the purchasing process and "mirror the online shopping experience." At the same time, Macy’s is working to enhance its web store with quintessentially-brick-and-mortar components, such as the ability to select jeans that actually fit.

The Macy’s initiatives underscore its belief that today’s customers value a consistent, seamless experience across the variety of shopping channels.

This past week, UK-based retailer Tesco began a similar push to an all-encompassing customer experience.

As noted in the Macy’s article, one of the inherent challenges of the online shopping experience is a limited ability to tangibly engage with the product. While certain, consistent technology products and business services need no "live experience" to convey their value, items like clothing and furniture often require sensory experiences that can only be created in person.

Until now. Macy’s started the trend with a tool that enabled females customers to more-accurately assess whether jeans would fit their figures. Tesco is taking that up a drastic notch with a brand new "virtual fitting room" feature on its Facebook page.

Designed to humanize the online shopping experience, the application enables users to create a custom avatar based on full-body photos or inputting body measurements. They can then use this avatar to "model" a selection from Tesco’s catalogue, gaining an unprecedented glimpse into the "real life fit" of a certain article of clothing.

No, this does not entirely replicate the in-store shopping experience. Different materials and cuts are going to cling to different figures in unexpected ways, and using a static avatar—no matter how scientifically-accurate the representation—cannot wholly reproduce that sort of phenomena. Issues like comfort and colorization are also far harder to gauge from behind a computer screen.

But compared to the status quo, which rarely offers customers more than a low-resolution image of the product and basic, highly-inconsistent sizing measurements, the utility represents a step in the right direction. It truly shows how the online world is beginning to successfully understand and mirror the sensory elements inherent to the brick-and-mortar experience.

And this mirroring is essential to business, regardless of the specific lens through which one is evaluating the strategy. From a customer management perspective, it assures customers feel "at home" regardless of the channel. It also, on a more basic level, adds a valuable experiential element to the impersonal world of e-commerce, resulting in a more three-dimensional customer experience.

For sales and marketing, it creates a far more viable touch point for converting "interest" into results. Online storefronts already tend to offer wider selections and increased convenience over the brick-and-mortar locations, and now that customers can actually "try on" the clothes and make a far more educated, confident decision in their purchasing, digital/online/social lead generation should theoretically become far more effective.

"I need to try before I buy" may never lose power as a sentiment, but now that sentiment can be explored from the comfort of one’s couch. As a result, customers will be happier and businesses will be richer.

The widespread failure to understand social networks serves as a perfect proxy for understanding why so many brands, unlike Tesco, are not achieving optimal success from multi-channel. Just as one is wrong for simply foraying onto every social network known to man without a strategy carefully crafted for its intricacies, far too many organizations are "multi-channel" simply for the bragging right.

Yes, for the sake of your brand, your organization needs to offer support and sales in a variety of in-person, telephone and digital media. Businesses are right to expand their communication touch points and assure they are visible to the naked eyes of customers.

But in crafting that multi-channel experience, it is imperative to consider how to overcome the specific intricacies of each channel in order to provide a consistently-valuable customer experience. Retailers like Tesco and Macy’s are demonstrating one such example: they are determining how to add a sensory experience to e-commerce.

No matter where one falls on the debate between "a consistent experience across channels" and "a unique experience in each channel," he has no choice but to arrive at one conclusion: the service provided in each channel should be designed to maximize customer engagement, optimize the customer experience and provide all the tools needed for customers to effectively—and efficiently—achieve what they want out of the interaction.

Photo credit: Tesco