Using Call Tracking In Creating Seamless Omnichannel Experiences For Customers

Since the pandemic started early in 2020, Google says that online searches for “in-stock” increased by 70%, and “where to buy” grew by 200%. This means that people have relied greatly on the internet to find store and product information. This also means that more and more consumers have shifted their preferences of communication towards digital methods.

Does this mean that businesses shouldn’t mind offline sources of communication?

Of course, not.

As there is a growing number of consumers who prefer digital modes of communication, nowadays, marketers need to update their search engine optimization (SEO) and overall digital marketing strategy to provide seamless and unified messaging across different channels. In other words, you need to create a smooth and pleasant online to offline customer journey.

The omnichannel customer experience

While a majority of consumers use the internet to search for shop and product information, there are still a lot of people who engage with brands using other channels.

For example, a user might search for “pizza near me” online and follow up with a phone call to confirm a reservation. Then, the user will visit the business branch nearest them to test the product.

After more than a year of online shopping, cashless payment, and food and grocery delivery, people have become accustomed to this kind of retail, and there’s no sign that these new habits are going to be broken anytime soon. However, people are missing personal interactions and being able to go out of their homes at the same time. This is why Amazon and Google are making their way toward brick-and-mortar shops, like Google’s first-ever physical retail store, which will launch in New York this summer.

Digital retailers are seeing the huge potential of physical stores, which is why it can be expected that there will be an increase in in-store experience in the coming days. This is also why businesses should seriously consider connecting both online and offline customer experiences to stay relevant and rank higher in search engine results. The internet has become the starting point for a majority of retails sales, blurring the lines between online and offline shopping.

The goal for all brands should be to create an omnichannel ecosystem that is harmonized to ensure that consumers gain a consistent and personalized experience wherever they are in the customer journey or whatever channel they are using. This also means maximizing marketing efforts, like optimizing store location data, sharing in-store inventory online, and responding to reviews at the store level are all necessary to succeed in the new retail era.

This is what omnichannel customer experience is all about. It is made up of different customer touchpoints over different channels that harmoniously connect with one another, allowing customers to continue their experience from one channel to another.

It is to be expected that there will be more integration of online and offline customer touchpoints across a wide range of industries. This makes omnichannel customer experience the future of commerce.

Where does call tracking fit in?

Omnichannel is all about cross-channel communications to integrate and enhance user experience across different methods.  If done right, the omnichannel strategy should ensure there is no disconnect between different touchpoints a user has with your brand, which must include how they feel when interacting with your customer service team, their expectations, and the kind of visuals or brand they’re exposed to across different communication channels.

To simply put it, a great omnichannel customer experience means customers get the same impression and experience from your brand no matter how or where they reach out to you, whether online or offline. Businesses with a well-planned omnichannel communication strategy will see higher conversion and retention rates, as well as better customer satisfaction because their customers feel comfortable to contact them in any manner they prefer and expect to get the same level of experience.

While a lot of people use the internet as a primary channel of communicating with the brands they use, phone calls are still extremely important. Consumers often call businesses to further understand a product or service. This is why businesses need to optimize this communication channel, too.

Call tracking is a vital step towards analyzing customer phone calls so you can reduce costs and generate more revenues. This is by helping you optimize your marketing budgets by utilizing cloud-based call intelligence platforms by measuring customer sentiments and understanding the emotions in every call. Through the valuable insights that call tracking systems offer, you’ll be able to improve customer engagement and optimize customer journeys.

Call tracking will also help your business see the true volume of calls so you can hire more contact center staff accordingly. Furthermore, you’ll better understand why customers call at any given time – whether inquire about a product, set an appointment, or confirm a reservation. Call tracking can also give you valuable information on the most popular queries, ensuring that your staff is better equipped at managing phone calls.

In a broader picture, this type of call intelligence can help you get the bigger picture of what’s really happening with your overall operation. The data you gather from the call tracking platform will highlight pain points throughout the customer journey. For example, technical problems in your app or broken links in your website that disrupt the customer journey can lead a lot of your customers to call you to get more information. As a result, you’ll get firsthand information on existing and potential barriers to sales.

Call tracking has evolved into a data-driven technology that helps businesses make sound and logic-based marketing investment decisions. From a marketing perspective, you’ll be able to improve automation and personalization, which will both the effectiveness and efficiency of your campaigns. This is why call tracking has become a crucial part of marketing and lead generation so much so that it will continue to be more innovative and thus, necessary.

What’s next?

The next step you need to take is to get your hands on a reliable and intuitive call measurement platform to gather both online and offline sources. There are several agencies that offer such platforms out there. The next crucial thing you need to do is to choose the system that fits perfectly well with your needs and your business.