It is undeniable that 2020 was a year of turning points and technological advances for various sectors, a year of great pressure not only on health infrastructures, but also on other sectors, and retail was no exception. Some of today's omnichannel customers made their first online purchases during the pandemic.
According to Forbes, today there is no "battle" between physical and online, but rather Omnichannel behavior and consumption, which accounts for around 70% of millennials. Brands that have a concerted omnichannel strategy retain around 89% of their customers, according to the same source.
Today, consumers are looking for a frictionless, convenient and satisfying experience. For this reason, it is extremely important that we truly know the customer, in their 360 vision, how they interact and relate to a brand at every touchpoint. This is the only way we can improve customer experience and satisfaction.
The challenges of integrating data from various channels range from data quality and volume, to the ability to select relevant events for later use in predictive models, as well as resolving identities (duplicating customers in various data sources and consolidating them in a single record).
The road to Omnichannel maturity is long and requires a concerted strategy throughout the organization, involving all areas: Sales, Marketing, IT, Operations, Logistics, Human Resources and Finance. All these departments will, at some point, be a point of contact with the customer, either directly or indirectly, so everyone benefits from knowing the customer in their 360° vision.
With this in mind, Mind Source developed Omnichannel Insights 360, a SaaS product that allows you to easily integrate data (via API) from various channels and access a range of insights about your customers. This product was also developed with business users in mind (Marketing, E-commerce, Omnichannel, CRM), as you don't need advanced knowledge of business analytics or machine learning to use this product. Unlike other solutions on the market, Omnichannel Insights 360 doesn't involve a complex or expensive implementation project, as the focus was on developing a seamless, ready-to-use product for large and medium-sized companies.
In the first phase of the product's launch, we provided a set of dashboards with an Omnichannel view of customers, sales, products and events, Customer Journey, as well as an aggregated 360 view of customers.
In the last quarter of 2023, we launched the Customer Segments module, based on the RFM model, with 8 types of segments. The Segments include various graphs and metrics for analysis, both in terms of the use of channels by the different segments, the types of products most searched for or purchased, revenue by segment, churn and the evolution of segments over time. We have also integrated information on customer satisfaction (CSAT Score), which can be analyzed by segment and in terms of time evolution.
At the beginning of 2024, we will launch a new Machine Learning (ML) module: where we offer 3 recommendation models (Next Best Offer) regarding the best product, best channel and best time. At the end of the first quarter, we will also be making available a model for predicting customer churn. All this information will be integrated into the 360 Customer View.
Clients who subscribe to Omnichannel Insights 360 now have all the information they need to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns and their profitability. By getting to know the customer and their current and future needs, we will not only improve the entire customer experience, but also their satisfaction and engagement with the brand.
A practical case of these recommendation models would be, for example, for a clothing retailer to be able to quickly extract information for a campaign with 2 or 3 filters: select the Next Best Offer (NBO) whose products are most likely to be bought are jeans and boots (+80% propensity), on the web channel (+75% propensity) and the best time to receive this campaign is at the weekend in the afternoon (82% propensity). We can then combine other filters such as customer segment, CLV, age or gender.
We can also analyze combined the Customer Journey of customer segments, the patterns in the funnel at each stage of engagement and intervene at the stage of the journey where there is dissatisfaction (CSAT) and which can lead to abandonment.
In 2024, we will continue to invest in emerging technologies such as AR and AI, in connectors for various data sources, with the aim of continuing to bring innovation to this sector and contributing to the future of connected retail. Therefore, we challenge Clients who are evolving towards an integrated Omnichannel strategy to contact us and try a free trial of Omnichannel Insights 360.
Ana Candeias
Product Director na Mind Source
Article originally published in Distribuição Hoje