On this morning’s WJR Business Beat, Jeff discusses the importance of having an omnichannel approach in business. What does that mean? It means that in order to succeed, business owners must meet their customers where they are, and that requires both in-person and online interactions.
According to a new study just released by Talkdesk, 78% of consumers polled seek to engage with companies on their preferred channel, while 58% of consumers say their service expectations are higher than they were a year ago.
Tune in to the Business Beat, below, to learn more about creating an omnichannel presence:
“Look, one thing is for sure: there’s no going back, and if you want to be in business today and win, you must keep up with the demanding experience consumers want and expect today in order to win them over and keep them coming back.”
– Jeff Sloan
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Good morning, Paul.
One trend in business that has been going on for years and continues to accelerate is that the customer, while admittedly has always been king or queen, is now more than ever empowered. And if merchants want to win in business, you better be prepared to meet the customers where they are, rather than asking them to come to you on your terms.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that those in business today have to take an omnichannel approach that requires both in-person interactions as well as online. And if you’re online, you better be available on various marketplace platforms, social media platforms, have a website of your own, be listed on Google, have customer service online by phone and in person and on and on it goes.
And while the top business leaders in the world know this to be true and are making aggressive moves to be everywhere customers want and need them to be, only about half of all retailers today have an omnichannel presence, according to a new study just released by Talkdesk.
Of the consumers polled for this report, 78% seek to engage with companies on their preferred channel, while 58% of consumers say their service expectations are higher than they were a year ago.
For example, when a customer wants to reach customer service, they prefer to speak with a live agent via phone or in-person, with 69% of those consumers wanting to be able to transition from one channel to another while engaging with a service representative.
What’s happened is that as leading businesses went out because they’ve made aggressive moves to accommodate consumers with their dazzling customer experiences on whatever channel the consumer wants to interact with them on, or through, the bar gets set higher.
For example, Amazon, Target and Walmart, for example, win because of their supreme experiences in every way, across every channel. And the rest of the field is either expected to follow suit and match that high-quality experience or get left in the dust.
Look, one thing is for sure: there’s no going back, and if you want to be in business today and win, you must keep up with the demanding experience consumers want and expect today in order to win them over and keep them coming back.
I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of StartupNation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.