The Multichannel Service Imperative

Delivering a consistent and relevant multichannel customer experience is an indisputable essential to customer retention today.

The way customers shop has changed. They research and buy across multiple channels; meanwhile, the experiences savvy companies offer has heightened their service expectations. It is imperative that companies evolve with customers and provide carefully crafted and distinctive service to customers across all channels.
 
Multichannel service, however, is not serving customers across multiple siloed channels. Effective multichannel service requires an organization's different channels to work in tandem. Additionally, companies should be prepared to optimize customers' experiences in the channels of their choice. This includes targeted treatment strategies.
  
Some companies are getting that right, but others are crippled by their inability to connect the dots. The Unica study "The State of Marketing 2010" points to the biggest barriers to channel integration as being a lack of budget, disparate data and systems, and uncertain ROI. Other challenges include the need for voice of the customer ownership, a lack of competence within organizations, missing clarity on common terminology, a need for process and better organization within companies, one-way communications, and the inability to offer customers preferential channel usage.
 
Wrigleyville Sports is one company that is overcoming those challenges. It operates physical stores in Chicago and Pittsburgh, runs multiple sporting goods websites, and sells through Amazon and Sears Commercial Marketplace. It recently implemented a system to help integrate its inventory across channels to better serve customers.

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