A unified commerce (UC) approach is increasingly important for setting up your customer journey. UC supports the consumer who is constantly switching between online and offline channels to make a purchase. From this approach, you set up the customer journey around the customer, regardless of the channel used. You give the consumer the choice of where and how they want to shop. But how do you implement this principle in your customer journey?
Get rid of data silos
You will probably recognize it: blind spots in the customer journey that you have set up. Think for example of the moment when you lose a customer in the journey. The cause of this often lies in the systems in which you store customer data. In most organizations, these are silos.
For example, certain data is stored in an e-commerce solution, but there is also data in a CRM and/or financial system. These systems are often separate from each other, without any connections. This makes it difficult to create a single customer view. Think of the DIY store around the corner. It feels like double work if you, as a customer, have viewed the range online and perhaps created a wish list in your account, but have to enter all your details again in the physical store if the product you are looking for is not in stock.
Being able to follow a customer everywhere is at the heart of UC, so it is essential to eliminate data silos if you want to integrate UC into your customer journey.
How do you handle that?
Step 1: Map all touchpoints
An important starting point are the touchpoints in your current customer journey. It is valuable to map out all the moments in which you are in contact with a customer. Varying from the moment a customer walks into your store, to when they view products online or call customer service. All these moments are parts of your strategy where you can apply UC. For example, you can set up a call to customer service in such a way that people do not hear a standard recording, but one that responds to the question the customer asked the chatbot the night before. All these moments and the associated flow can simply be drawn out on paper.
More importantly, you should track the progression of touchpoints with the customer themselves. For example, by having your marketing department call around and ask customers about their experiences with your brand so far and what they have encountered in the customer journey.
What is already going well? What needs to be different? Where can you perhaps surprise customers? In addition to clarifying blind spots in your customer journey, it also helps you to better understand the customer and their needs. With this information, you can then determine at which moments in the customer journey you can support them even better.
Step 2: Work towards a system change
Once you know which touchpoints your customer journey includes, it’s time to look at the systems that underlie them. Are they API-first? In other words, can they be linked to other systems to exchange data? Most organizations still work with classic systems that don’t allow this. If that applies to you, the solution is simple: replace them.
There are many apps or systems that naturally exchange data easily. Of course, it is a relatively big step to change your entire landscape. But you can start by tackling it per system. The blind spots in your customer journey are often an indication of the systems that you should examine first from a UC perspective.
If you are looking for a replacement for this, you can make a big difference in your customer journey with a relatively small step. In this way, you work step by step towards a landscape in which data is exchanged effortlessly.
Take matters into your own hands
With a customer journey that is designed according to the idea of unified commerce, you not only connect with the way the consumer prefers to shop, but you also stimulate it. The flexibility that the customer experiences in interaction with your company does a lot for your success.
This does require adjustments to your current customer journey. Fortunately, as an organization, you can do a lot yourself. The starting point is always insight. What touchpoints do you have, how do customers experience them and what do your systems that support these touchpoints look like? With insight into this combination of factors, you are well on your way to a customer journey in which unified commerce – or even more importantly: the customer – is central.
Source: www.frankwatching.com
