5 Must-Have Omnichannel Solutions for a Seamless Customer Journey in China

The omnichannel solutions a brand needs to sell in China are an easy-to-use online store, integration between online and offline sales, 24/7 customer service with an AI chatbot, an integrated CRM and analytics back end, and social shopping features such as a WeChat Mini Program. Together, they let customers switch channels without starting over.

Key takeaways

• Omnichannel connects all your sales and support channels, so customers can move from one to another without starting over; multichannel runs them separately.
• A strategy starts with studying your customers and choosing the channels they actually use, such as WeChat in China.
• A CRM sits at the core: without it, you cannot track customer interactions across channels.
• The five must-have solutions are an easy online store, online and offline integration, 24/7 service with an AI chatbot, an integrated CRM and analytics back end, and social shopping features.
• In China, a WeChat Mini Program brings social shopping into your omnichannel journey.

Customers buy through many channels, offline as well as online, so brands have to adapt their communication to each channel without compromising the consistency of their messages and services.

Building an omnichannel journey is the best way to keep control of your brand and ensure the best customer experience all along the way: from the day customers get to know you, to the day they start purchasing from you, and later, when they contact your after-sales service.

The main challenge is to coordinate all your departments and select the right solutions and techniques to build an interactive customer journey. In China, it also means connecting your online store, WeChat Mini Program and marketplaces to your ERP, CRM and logistics systems, which is the role of e-commerce integrations in China.

What Does Omnichannel Mean?

Omnichannel is a sales approach that creates a seamless shopping experience, whether the client shops online from a laptop or a mobile device, by phone, or in a physical store. The omnichannel approach also integrates and facilitates communication with clients at each stage of the customer journey, to make the shopping experience even more personal and satisfying.

Omnichannel vs Multichannel

Omnichannel differs significantly from multichannel, even though the two approaches are often confused. Multichannel commerce is typical of a company that, for instance, runs an online shop next to a physical store, with the two channels working separately and independently.

Omnichannel, on the other hand, makes all the sales channels and customer support communications work together, with the aim of closing the sale and guaranteeing maximum customer satisfaction.

For instance, when shopping at a store that uses the omnichannel approach, customers can check the company’s inventory on their computer, finalize the purchase later on their smartphone, and then pick up the goods at the physical store. It does not matter whether they talk to a customer care representative in the store, in a live chat session, by email or on the phone: every representative has instant access to their previous preferences and purchases, and can offer the best assistance.

How to Build an Omnichannel Strategy

Even though the benefits of the omnichannel approach are clear, implementing it may not be straightforward. To get the best results, your company needs a solid omnichannel strategy that focuses on a few key points:

• Study your customers
• Choose the right channels
• Communicate effectively
• Ensure communication between departments
• Make good use of technology
• Invest in your web platforms

Study Your Customers

A good understanding of your customers is the starting point of your omnichannel strategy, and it makes the difference between success and failure. Collect critical information about their backgrounds, goals, needs, challenges, digital habits and anything else that gives you insight into the omnichannel experience that will truly resonate with them.

Choose the Right Channels

There are so many ways to reach your customers that you need to choose the ones that bring more leads and conversions. For instance, it makes no sense to invest in Instagram if your users mainly interact through Facebook or WeChat. If you have studied your customers accurately, you will know where to focus your efforts.

Communicate Effectively

Your goal is to provide the right information at the right time, which means treating new and existing customers differently. For instance, a new customer will be interested in offers and discounts, but not so much in your company’s achievements: save that information for existing customers, to increase their loyalty.

Ensure Communication Between Departments

An omnichannel approach only works if the front end and back end of your business interact effectively and stay agile. Make sure that each team clearly understands its role in the organization, and that teams communicate effectively with each other to make your customers’ experience as smooth as possible.

Make Good Use of Technology

Technology plays a crucial role in implementing an omnichannel approach. For instance, an excellent Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool must be at the core of your omnichannel strategy. Without a CRM tool, you cannot track and record your customers’ interactions with your brand, and therefore you cannot implement an omnichannel strategy.

Besides the CRM tool, plenty of other technology can serve your purposes and make the process as efficient as possible. Create a technology stack that combines tools suited to your company’s preferences and goals: marketing automation platforms, email service providers, CMS, conferencing tools and analytics solutions, for instance.

Invest in Your Web Platforms

Your website, app and social accounts are like your business card. The UI and UX you provide play a critical role in converting your visitors into customers. Making your website look more professional and reliable will attract more customers and, most likely, bring a higher ROI.

Top 5 Must-Have Omnichannel Solutions for the Perfect Customer Journey

Below are the five essential solutions to implement to create an omnichannel experience:

• An appealing and easy-to-use online store (UX/UI)
• Integration of your offline store with your online presence, such as online coupons redeemed offline
• 24/7 live online service with an AI chatbot
• An integrated CRM and analytics back end
• Social shopping features

An Appealing and Easy-to-Use Online Store (UX/UI)

Your online store should be well organized and easy enough to navigate to create a seamless user experience. Seamlessness does not only refer to how you organize your content and the steps to close a sale on the website.

Your customers must be able to move from one channel to another without any roadblocks. For instance, if a customer is buying a product on a computer and suddenly has to leave, they should be able to switch to their mobile device and resume the process exactly where they left off. Or if they want to switch from a live chat session to an operator on the phone, they should be able to do so without providing all their details again.

Study your typical customer’s shopping journey, identify the roadblocks they might meet, and provide a solution. Your job is to anticipate every possible next step and ease the transition, especially when it requires a change of channel. Think of a customer who buys a product online but decides to pick it up at the store: the next step is to automatically provide detailed instructions about the pickup location, available parking, the procedure to follow and anything else that makes the customer’s life easier.

Streamline your customer journey with every solution that makes the experience easier. It should be effortless for customers to resume any activity where they left off, and if they hit a hiccup along the way, a solution or an alternative must be available.

Online and Offline Integration: Online Coupons Redeemed in Store

Considering online and offline retail as two different realities is now outdated. People switch from online to offline without thinking about it, so make sure your customers can move between channels easily and without confusion.

A practical way to combine the two channels is to offer online coupons that customers can redeem at the physical store or, the other way around, to use the store to promote special deals available only online.

Nike, for instance, has fully embraced this integration concept. In its physical stores, shop attendants carry portable point of sale (POS) devices and promote online-exclusive items. During payment, customers can even decide whether to collect the items immediately or have them delivered to their home.

24/7 Omnichannel Customer Support with an AI Chatbot

An indispensable part of an omnichannel strategy is 24/7 customer support. In the past, only a few companies could afford such a service, because of the costs and resources involved. AI chatbots now let any business communicate and interact with customers around the clock. In China, make this support available on the channels your customers use, such as WeChat: with WeChat Customer Service, customers can talk to your team without adding it as a friend, from your Official Account, Mini Program, WeChat Search or payment receipts, and its API supports automatic replies.

A chatbot can make your user experience more memorable and increase your revenue in many scenarios. It can draw your visitors’ attention to ongoing promotions or offers, or assist a customer who finds it difficult to finalize a purchase or needs more information before making a final decision. An AI chatbot can make the difference between acquiring and retaining a client, or losing one.

To integrate an effective AI chatbot, study your customers’ behavior and typical shopping journey, and set the chatbot to answer the most frequently asked questions and solve the most common problems. When a request goes beyond the chatbot’s capabilities, the system should transfer the customer to a human operator who can seamlessly take over the conversation.

An Integrated CRM and Analytics Back End

As mentioned above, omnichannel commerce cannot exist without a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, and for good reasons.

The CRM lets your business monitor its operations in real time and see how each channel contributes to them. It returns insights that you can turn into business intelligence solutions that optimize your internal processes and your interactions with customers.

For instance, the CRM is where you track individual consumer behavior and general trends, so that you can create personal and to-the-point interactions with your customers. You can also use it to monitor social media interactions, then prepare more effective marketing campaigns or address your customers’ complaints.

A good CRM also gives you precious insights into your sales process. You can monitor how each department contributes to sales, at which point a customer met a problem, and how the problem was solved. These insights reveal dips in your retail activity, a lack of communication between departments and other problem areas that can hurt your business. The data your CRM returns is vital to optimize customer relationships and keep improving the shopping experience, and custom CRM development fits the tool to your own channels.

The back end must also connect the other systems each channel relies on. For Go City, QPSoftware developed a WeChat Mini Program for attraction passes, working with the company’s marketing team in Singapore, the team of its booking engine in the UK and a payment provider in Southeast Asia. The Mini Program integrates the official WeChat Pay SDK, offers one-click refunds from the back end and uses Wedata to analyze its data.

Social Shopping Features

Social media channels have become powerful tools, not merely to spread marketing messages but also to sell products and services. Social commerce helps businesses acquire more customers and increase revenue, so make good use of social commerce features: your customers should be able to complete a purchase quickly on the social platform they are using or, if they prefer, move to your online shop effortlessly.

There are several tools for this purpose. One of the most popular and obvious is a “Buy Now” button in your posts, which usually leads to the checkout page of your online shop.

In 2020, tagging products in posts or stories on Instagram or Snapchat was becoming increasingly popular. Users appreciate not having to open a new app or interrupt their activity, since the shopping experience stays within the social media platform they are using.

For businesses targeting the Chinese market, a viable solution is to have your WeChat Mini Program developed. The Mini Program is integrated into WeChat and is a powerful tool for marketing and closing sales. For instance, the French company Ma France, which first sold through a website only, completed its WeChat ecosystem with a Mini Program that simplifies purchasing and rewards customer loyalty.

What Should You Do Next?

An omnichannel approach to e-commerce is a must to meet the demands of your customers. Building an omnichannel strategy requires careful planning and a measure of technical support, and with so many steps and variables to consider, it may seem daunting for many businesses. It is also what gives you a crucial market advantage.

Start by mapping your customers’ journey across your channels, then list the systems that must share data: online store, WeChat Mini Program, marketplaces, CRM and warehouse. With third-party integration (ERP, CRM, logistics), orders, stock and customer data move between these systems without manual work. To bring shoppers into that journey, read our five practices to drive traffic to your China e-commerce store.

Frequently Asked Questions