The importance of soliciting user feedback and continuously iterating on your app to address user needs and improve usability.
That word.
It's been buzzing around in email newsletters, digests, & perhaps your LinkedIn feed for years. It's as exhausted right now as "the retail experience". (yawn)
"If you study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you'll find a predisposition towards endeavors that offer immediate gratification." - Clayton Christensen
"Omni" from the Latin omn- kidding! It means all!
All channels- let's consider that. Thomas Friedman reminds us in his recent book, Thank You For Being Late, "complexity is free". And apply a simple understanding of supply and demand: complexity is also therefore abundant.
Bundles of cash allocated to pilots and innovation in an attempt to enhance the customer experience and chart the omnichannel course. Is it working?
There are no answers in the few paragraphs to follow; only suggested areas of avoidance and thoughts.
Omnisuccess requires adjusting and improving the roles of front-line sales people. It also means dependent adaptation; when one or multiple channels adjust, develop or change: ALL (the omni) channels must adjust. If the customer's digital presence and attention shifts: the organization (inside and out) must shift. This naturally impacts where the 90% of all revenue occurs. Simply put, an organization's physical retail is at an impasse until optimization occurs in all digital arenas. The tools that enable sales and awareness haven't been sharpened.
True story. Two retailers from Australia (population 23 million) with global footprints. Retailer A is in apparel, and Retailer B the luxury space. Here's a very simple point:
Retailer A: Posts updates on LinkedIn on average twice a week with content ranging from goodwill/volunteering, team outings, onbording of new HQ staff, etc.
Retailer B: Has posted on LinkedIn four times in the past three months. Two of those times sharing financial reporting.
You can guess which retailer has stronger post engagement and following. We could certainly draw further conclusions down the line as well. This is not exclusive to Down Under- some of America's most well known omnistrugglers share these self-inflicted wounds. This means engaging customers through Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, LinkedIn, YouTube, musical.ly, etc. These are social channels that enable free, valuable communication and insights with customers, existing and future team members, and partners.
is a channel- not a replacement. It is a part of all. Two quick components that help blend it into the omnis:
Nowhere near new, but made much easier by recent technology. Further blends the channels, and presents an omnioffering to the consumer.
Complexity may be free and abundant, but customer's expectations, attention, and presence will continue to shift at the pace that technology enables it. There's always a choice to be a leader or laggard, but a predisposition towards immediate gratification and the lack of an omnipresence isn't going to fare well for anyone.
(This article was originally published on LinkedIn.)
