WHY YOU NEED

AN OMNICHANNEL
STRATEGY
CREATING A SEAMLESS
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
 CONTENTS

IN THIS EBOOK

04 06 08
INTRODUCTION WHAT IS WHAT’S THE
OMNICHANNEL? DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
MULTICHANNEL AND
OMNICHANNEL?

12
WHY IS THE
14
WHAT THE
16
WHY CUSTOMER
CURRENT EXPERTS SAY EXPERIENCE IS KEY
LANDSCAPE GOOD TO YOUR SUCCESS
FOR OMNICHANNEL?

18 22 26
WHAT YOU GLOBAL BRANDS GET THE EDGE
NEED TO DELIVER DOING OMNICHANNEL IN CUSTOMER
OMNICHANNEL BEST EXPERIENCE

3
4
 01
SECTION 01

Whether it’s on smartphone, tablet, or desktop, there are

now no shortage of ways that a potential customer can
reach out – anytime or anywhere.

And no matter if you are a start-up, a government

department, an established brick-and-mortar business or
a strictly online outfit, you are now expected to be always
open for business. Are you prepared?

You may think you have all the boxes ticked: a responsive
website, a 24/7 call centre, live chat, and a comprehensive
social media strategy.

But are these channels connecting to each other? Do you

have the technology in place for these separate platforms
to speak to each other. Because if they aren’t, you won’t be
speaking to your customer in one conversation, but many –
frustrating for even the most patient of people.

In order to not only survive but thrive in what is a fast-

changing and at-times overwhelming digital landscape, most
Australian and New Zealand businesses and government
departments will need to adopt a more all-encompassing
strategy. They will need an omnichannel approach.

In this eBook, we’ll explain the difference between the

traditional multichannel and omnichannel approach; why
No matter if you are a start-up,
you need to make the switch; how to make it happen;
a government department, an which global brands are doing it best; and how to deliver a
established brick-and-mortar seamless customer experience.
business or a strictly online outfit,
you are now expected to be always
open for business.”

5
 WHAT IS

OMNICHANNEL? 0

6
02
We’ve all felt the frustration experienced by customers who
have to re-explain their issues every time they contact a
business. On the flipside, we know the relief when a service
agent is completely aware of our history with the brand
– whether we have previously contacted them by email,
phone, SMS, via social media or in person – and is able to
get straight to the point and resolve the issue.
Unfortunately, many ANZ businesses and government
departments would fall into the former category. They
run separate systems for their various channels such as
email, phone and social media, with customer service
agents specialised in only one area. Some have separate
call centres for different parts of the business – one for
online customers and one for physical-store customers, for
instance – offering no connection between the two.
As a result, this ‘multichannel’ offering has kept information
segmented, preventing customer service agents from seeing
the full picture. It also keeps valuable intelligence separated
from other departments such as sales and marketing.
An ‘omnichannel’ approach however combines all customer
interactions, as well as purchases and other important
information from the customer on a single platform. This
enables the business to track and understand the journey as
the customer moves seamlessly between channels.
With a complete omnichannel
offering and a future-ready platform
backed by the right technology, businesses
can not only compete but thrive.”
SECTION 02
So, for example, someone can start a conversation on
online chat and move to a phone call if they need more
information. Or they can start on social media and move
to webchat. And from the business’s point of view, by the
time an agent has answered a call or begun a live chat,
they know exactly what the customer is interested in.
Such an integrated approach not only increases customer
service efficiency, it can be utilised to powerful effect for
promotional and marketing purposes.
Central to this omnichannel approach is being able to
connect all these platforms. This means having the systems
in place that will pass that person between the channels and
centralise all their information from previous conversations.
Here, technology is the key.
With a complete omnichannel offering and a future-ready
platform backed by the right technology and associated
business rules, businesses can not only compete but thrive.
It’s all about providing a seamless customer experience,
irrespective of how a customer communicates with you.
01 02 03 04 05
Almost 50% of Australian consumers use
at least FIVE CHANNELS TO ENGAGE
WITH BRANDS including physical stores,
contact centres, mail, websites, live chat,
social media and mobile apps.
Source: SAP 2017 Australian Digital Experience Report
7
 ‚
03
WHAT S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

MULTICHANNEL &
OMNICHANNEL?

8

It seems a long time ago that businesses could only be
contacted in person or by mail. Then along came telephone,
making access to a business or government department, within
business hours at least, more immediate.
As soon as businesses and government departments offered
the choice of in-person, mail and business-hours telephone
access, they became ‘multichannel’ and, for a small time at
least, customers were satisfied. But the channels and the ways
they were used were chosen by the company. Customers
simply did what they were told and used the channels they
were allowed to use. What a difference a decade makes.
With advances in technology, customers have numerous other
ways to access a brand. Email, social media platforms, apps,
SECTION 03
668071120
live chat, SMS etc. broadened the multichannel offering
and meant customers could access the brand at any time
and from anywhere. What began as a one-way marketing
channel, these social media platforms became vital
customer experience portals giving customers 24/7 access
to the brand and its agents.
This expansion of channels created unique problems. Some
access channels, such as live chat, required immediate
response while others, such as email, came with less
customer expectation in terms of response time.
9
03 Similarly, some channels, such as highly-visible social media,
offered more positive results for customers compared
to less transparent and often more frustrating telephone
conversations with call centre staff.

Most importantly, the channels rarely worked in unison,

sharing customer knowledge between each other. The social
media channel knew nothing of a specific customer’s email
The unique identifier of each customer which allows the
omnichannel system to aggregate all contacts across all
channels from the same customer might be a customer
number, an email address or a mobile number.

Typically, outside of an omnichannel environment, the agent

who receives the phone call has no idea that an email has
been sent unless the customer has indicated so during the
call. Inside an omnichannel environment, however, the agent
who is handling the enquiry has a complete view of prior
interactions with that customer. If other enquiries through
other channels are also in place, the agent can immediately
understand the background to then be able to respond as
efficiently as possible.

history, past purchases or service issues, for instance. If a

customer had contacted a brand on live chat one day and
The agent has a complete view of
telephone the next, they would have to start by explaining
the history … and can immediately
their issue all over again.
understand the background to then be able
Omnichannel, however, brings all of the customer to respond as efficiently as possible.”
interactions together in one place so the service agent can
do the job the customer now expects. At the same time,
of course, omnichannel allows the customer to choose the
channel, as well as how and when they use it. – Derick Lafleur, Salmat Business Consultant.

10
 SECTION 03

9.5%

3.4%
OMNICHANNEL

Businesses utilising advanced omnichannel customer

engagement strategies experience 9.5% YEAR-ON-
YEAR ANNUAL REVENUE INCREASES as opposed
MULTICHANNEL to 3.4% increases for those that do not.

Source: www.digitalcommerce360.com

11
 WHY IS THE

CURRENT
0
LANDSCAPE
GOOD FOR
OMNICHANNEL?

12
04
Every business, new or old and public or private, is now
in a completely new and constantly changing market,
particularly when it comes to consumer behaviour and
customer expectation. Think of the 52,117 actively trading
businesses that entered the Australian market in 2016¹ and
the challenges they face compared to those that started up
five years earlier.
SECTION 04

Businesses can choose which

The digital tsunami of the past few years has created new
behaviours and expectations in which every business is
expected to be as good at customer service, at customisation
and at individualisation as the best performers. Customer
service has become the key differentiator between brands.
channels should be prioritised.
You can decide whether you want your
customer service person to take two
chats at one time.”
– Simon Spong, Salmat Group Manager of
Client Engagement.

At the same time, enormous advancements in technology

have meant cloud-based omnichannel offerings are now at
a level of cost and technical simplicity that is acceptable for
most businesses, not just for those at the big end of town.

Cloud hosting and subscription-based services mean brands

at any level can experience the increases in efficiency and
customer satisfaction created by omnichannel services. But
ultimately, success is all about having integrated systems in
place. This is why it is important to work with an expert in
omnichannel to work out the system logistics and to resource
your operation with trained customer experience agents.

Why is this landscape so good for the development of an

omnichannel offering? Because there are now multiple
cloud-based systems in the market and they all offer specific
advantages to particular types and sizes of businesses.

There are various types of subscription plans and pay-as-

you-go payment options that essentially mean that little or
no upfront investment is required. You’ll only pay for what
you use and your strategic investment, depending on the
level of success of the new system, can simply scale as the
business grows.

www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8165.0
1

13
Q
SECTION

WHAT
THE
EXPERTS

&
SAY

A
14
MATTHEW CARRACHER, SALMAT
GENERAL MANAGER CONTACT
SOLUTIONS, TALKS THROUGH THE
OMNICHANNEL BENEFITS AND
POTENTIAL PITFALLS.

Q Why is omnichannel such a focus right now?
A It’s about getting back to basics, for starters …
offering customers the channel that they prefer to use to
communicate with you. Then it’s about optimising their
experience by having the best possible tools in place. It
ensures their experience is completely seamless.
Q If a brand wants to differentiate itself in the digital world,
Are ANZ businesses doing it well?
A many similar products at similar prices, the only thing that
Few have got their head around it, but many are
moving in the right direction. The rise of the Chief Customer
Officer is a by-product of the push to create a much better
multiple-channel outcome for customers and businesses.
Organisations are trying to understand the customer
journey, but if you don’t have the right systems and trained
agents in place, and if you don’t have a cohesive platform,
then that becomes very difficult.
Q
Is it possible to get omnichannel wrong?
A
Of course. Australian banks made massive
investments in what they considered to be the digital
journey, then forced people down a self-service channel
and closed retail outlets. Then they had to re-open those
shopfronts because people wanted an interaction that was
meaningful for them.
Some customer experiences are better when there is no
05
human contact such as automated check-in at airports.
Sometimes full automation is a great thing that indicates
excellent efficiency, but sometimes it is not. Businesses
have to be careful and fully understand the experience their
customers desire.
SECTION 05
Q Is it worth the investment?
A It is more important than ever that a business
personalises customer interactions, and omnichannel
is one of the only ways to create the best possible
experience for its customer.
in a market where there are so many competitors and so
is left is personalisation.
Q
Does this approach suit government purposes?
A
Absolutely. More than 35% of our business is
government and this is expanding every day. Government
departments struggle to run an omnichannel model and to
find the right people to run it.
They tend to run their systems as separate entities.
Consumers of government services are generally forced
into different departments to answer a specific question
and clarify some aspect of a government service, however
each government agency is looking at consumer service
from the point of view of their own organisation chart.
But if they look at it from the customer perspective then
it would take a very different shape and agencies would
work together to create one experience.
15
06
WHY

CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE IS
KEY TO YOUR
SUCCESS
16
 SECTION 06

Once a business uses advanced analytics to understand

customer experience, within three years they achieve:
OMNICHANNEL IS THE
ONLY WAY TO OFFER
75%
of customers expect
CONSISTENT AND absolute consistency
PERSONALISED EXPERIENCE no matter how they
FOR A CUSTOMER, WHICH ENGAGE.
COST IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE:
REDUCTIONS

5-10% 15-25%
REVENUE
GAINS
64% 53%
will switch to another
WANT
personalised brand if they don’t
Source: www.mckinsey.com offers. receive personalised
offers.

Source: www.salesforce.com

25% – percentage of CUSTOMERS WHO WILL DEFECT

TO ANOTHER BRAND after one bad customer service
DON’T WANT TO TAKE PART IN A
experience.
DAMAGING PRICE WAR?

Research shows that 86% of customers are happy to pay

more for a product or service when they’re offered a better
customer experience.
59% – percentage of customers who feel they have
Source: www.superoffice.com
NO RELATIONSHIP WITH BUSINESSES.

Research reveals customer experience (CX)

should be the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT
BRAND FOCUS as 62% of businesses now
19% – percentage of customers who say they lose all trust see CX provided through contact centres as a
in a company AFTER A SINGLE BAD EXPERIENCE. competitive differentiator.
Source: www.thunderhead.com Source: www2.deloitte.com

BY CUSTOMERS SWITCH BRAND BECAUSE:

2020
customer experience
49%
30%
FEEL
UNAPPRECIATED

PASSED AROUND TO
MULTIPLE AGENTS
will be the KEY BRAND
DIFFERENTIATOR, more
important than price and
27% NOT ABLE TO GET
ANSWERS

product.
27% KEPT ON HOLD
TOO LONG

Source: www.walkerinfo.com Source: www.newvoicemedia.com

17
 SECTION

WHAT YOU

NEED TO
07
DELIVER
OMNICHANNEL
18

Cloud technology means that previously expensive spends
on hardware, as well as regular upgrades, are no longer
necessary for a business to take advantage of the many
benefits of omnichannel. Providers simply funnel your
current channels – including phone, email, SMS, chat,
social media – into the cloud service so that all customer
7
interactions occur in the one place.
So the technical side is not as dramatic as it once was.
However, as is usually the case with technology, the
most critical elements are the operational processes
and business rules that underpin and deliver the desired
omnichannel outcomes.
DEVELOPING STRONG BUSINESS
PROCESSES
Business rules and processes that define service levels for
each type of contact, particularly around prioritisation,
must be developed.
In other words, if your 10 customer service people receive
10 emails, 10 phone calls and 10 live chats at the same
time, what should they do?
When all contacts come through one system it becomes
easier for a business to develop these rules around
managing contacts. The rules, in turn, allow a business to
optimise its ability to meet various service levels.
For example, for phone calls there might be a target of
responding to 80% within 30 seconds. Email responses,
depending on the nature of the enquiry, could be anywhere
from a few hours to a day or two. Chat is more immediate and
requires quicker responses, but how many chats should your
service people handle at once? Then consider social media.
What guidelines must be set around that? Each business
needs to figure out and continually fine tune its own rules.
SECTION 07
Bringing your channels together and putting processes in
place to take an omnichannel approach requires a deep
understanding of the escalation process from channel to
channel, and of best practice in this area. It also calls for a
thorough grasp of what the standard questions and answers
are and how agents will read and interpret the historical
information the new system will provide. It helps to have
expert advice on hand as this is being developed.
Business rules to consider include:
Desired service level targets for each channel
(eg: 80% of calls answered within 30 seconds;
100% of emails responded to within 24 hours, etc).
Real-time prioritisation of contacts during peak
periods. This should be linked to service level
targets and real-time performance against these
targets. For example, if you are exceeding your
service level target for emails but not meeting your
service level target for live chat, your business rules
should prioritise live chat over emails.
Agent resourcing strategy to manage the various
contacts coming into your centre. Skills-based
routing is an efficient way of managing multiple
contact types, and maximising the quality of your
customer engagements by matching contact types
to those agents who are strongest in specific
contact types (eg: agents who excel at written
communication should be handling the highest
percentage of emails and live chats).
A recruitment and training program that supports
and underpins your resourcing strategy.
A good omnichannel system offers data that can benefit
the business in a number of ways. One of these is around
how effective your business rules are in managing customer
experience which, most businesses agree, is the most
important ingredient of success.
19
 07
SECTION 07

POWER OF ONE SYSTEM

Having all contacts arriving through one platform and being

managed within that system is far more efficient than having
them come through different systems. Typically, businesses
and contact centres that utilise different systems for various
forms of communication also put specific customer agents
onto each system.

These agents exclusively handle chat, email or phone calls.

There are great inefficiencies here, because people working
on one system won’t have a view into what is happening on A key benefit of omnichannel is
the others. For instance, they have no idea that a particular that you deliver a seamless
email they’re processing is perhaps related to a recent experience for the customer because you’re
phone call. providing agents with better tools to
handle customer enquiries.”
A key benefit of omnichannel is that the business delivers a
seamless experience for the customer due to the fact that
it provides agents with better tools to handle customer
enquiries. The system allows any agent to handle any
– Derick Lafleur, Salmat Business Consultant.
type of enquiry, but also allows those who are better on a
particular type of enquiry, such as phone or email, to have
more of that type of contact routed to them.

Customer service agents can see a record of all interactions
no matter what type of correspondence they’re dealing
with. Success comes when those agents are trained to
interpret the historical customer data and to use it in their
correspondence with the customers.
In terms of internal processes, a business simply needs to
monitor the skills of its customer service people and always
ensure there is a good mix to meet demand. Training and
recruitment of service agents can be guided by data from the
system, which will also highlight trends in customer service
preferences – a migration towards social media, for instance.
ALWAYS STAY UP TO DATE
Best of all, thanks to the fact that the system is hosted in
the cloud, updates are typically regular and automatic as
new functionality is added or whenever the business
requires more options in terms of flexibility, number of
users or user options.
With Salmat’s Genesys PureCloud system, for example,
updates are rolled out constantly. Changes only appear once
an administrator decides they are relevant and once training
is organised around the new functionality.

HOW GOOD CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE PAYS OFF:

74 %
68
of consumers have SPENT
MORE with a brand as a
result of positive customer
service experiences.
%
say they’re WILLING TO
SPEND MORE with a
business that provides
excellent customer service.

Source: www.americanexpress.com

20
7
SECTION

21
 0
GLOBAL BRANDS

DOING
OMNICHANNEL
BEST

22
08
A strong omnichannel offering is not just a perfect customer
service tool. The insight, data and functionality can be used
by sales and marketing departments to personalise various
campaigns, products and services for specific audiences.
This achieves greater brand loyalty as the customer feels
that the business knows them personally and treats them as
a valued individual rather than just a faceless purchaser.
While it is still not commonplace to take an omnichannel
approach in contact centres, there are some brands
that have adopted the philosophy into all aspects of
their business. Here are some examples of best practice
omnichannel functionality by some of the world’s leading
brands for inspiration.
SECTION 08
STARBUCKS
The Starbucks coffee chain has long been known for the
fact that its staff are encouraged to remember customer
names and drink preferences, and now its technology is
personalising experiences too.
The brand’s rewards app, and the physical card that also
contains customer details, creates a seamless experience
for the customer and business alike by updating all channels
in real time with any changes in credit balance, rewards
balance, profile changes, special deals, social media
promotions and more.
Customers can pay with their physical card or with their
smartphone, and when they do the balance is automatically
adjusted on all platforms. Of course, with a record of all
orders and a clear picture of their preferences, Starbucks
is able to treat every customer as an individual whether via
customer service, or sales and marketing.
The app has also meant Starbucks has been able to improve
on its already renowned customer experience offering.
Rather than ordering and waiting for a coffee, the customers
in the omnichannel environment now have a new channel
through which they can order – via the app. They simply
request their usual coffee, or anything else, as they’re on the
way to the cafe. Payment is taken through the app and their
hot coffee is waiting as soon as they walk through the door.
23
 08
VIRGIN MEDIA (UK)
The brand has been synonymous with finding innovative
and industry-leading ways to cut through the noise and talk
directly with the consumer. Unifying that communication
while making its customer experience faster and simpler is at
the heart of its omnichannel approach.
For the UK-based provider of mobile phone, TV, and
broadband services, it’s all about sharing sales data between
its linked call centres, website, door-to-door sales, and retail
stores. That seamless journey to assisted channels, whether
it’s contact centre or store, is even more important as more
than 80% of potential customers initiate their search at the
website and use at least two sales channels before buying.
Every interaction on every channel is logged, and that
data is available across all divisions which allows agents to
personalise their conversations correctly. From Virgin Media’s
end, it also means being able to personalise the buying
experience even more, so customers feel they are dealing with
the same entity not purely retail, telesales or online.
24
ROOM & BOARD
A furniture retailer that always marketed via traditional
catalogues, Room & Board combined all of its various
customer channels, and a decade of customer data, into an
omnichannel offering.
On the website, customers can shop certain room ‘looks’.
In store, salespeople can see the looks the customer was
after and direct them immediately to pieces that match their
desired style.
After-sales customer service interactions are made easier as
agents, before they even pick up the phone, know the look
the customer has been shopping for and the pieces they
have purchased.
Sales show customers who use the web-based system
before coming in to a store make orders worth 40% more
than those who do not. Customer feedback has highlighted
the fact that they feel as if the brand knows them as a
unique individual.

DISNEY
One of the best examples in frictionless customer service is
from the entertainment behemoth Disney with respect to its
theme parks. It has what you’d expect from this customer-
centric giant in terms of ease of booking online on its mobile-
responsive website, and mapping out your day at its parks
through its My Disney Experience app.
But it has taken CX to the next level with its Magic Band
program. With what resembles a FitBit watch (for each
passholder including the kids), the wristband incorporates your
Fast Pass which means you can use it to plan your day, tap on
rides, and get wait times on those lengthy lines.
And more interestingly, it doubles as your hotel room key,
stores holiday pics, and (something that would scare every
parent) allows you to order room service and buy merchandise.
Most importantly, the Magic Band collects user data, meaning
customer service agents can immediately see a user’s history
within a park, assisting them with the personalisation of offers,
solutions and information.
SECTION 08
L’OREAL
After centralising all of its Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) databases related to more than 4500
items across numerous brands, cosmetics giant L’Oreal
launched an app called Make-Up Genius.
Through the use of augmented reality, customers could test
products on their own face without physically applying the
products to their skin. The app would make suggestions and
introduce them to new products.
At the same time, of course, it was gathering information
around the preferences of every single one of its millions of
customers worldwide, information that was previously lost
at the retail point of sale.
Now, when a customer communicates with the brand via
any channel, the business responds to them as an old friend,
as somebody who knows their tastes and preferences. It
also responds in a consistent voice and armed with a full
supply of information that personalises the interaction.
25
 0
GET THE

EDGE IN
CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE

26

09
Omnichannel is far more than a system that keeps your
customers happy. Of course it does achieve that goal, but
it also offers a business an array of powerful benefits and
advantages that can be utilised by various departments.
As an identifier of tastes or trends, for instance,
omnichannel is a perfect tool. Technology such as Genesys
PureCloud identifies the channels of communication that
customers most prefer to utilise, therefore informing the
business around where investment will be most beneficial.
It can also be used to record and track suggestions from
customers about specific products or services, which assists
the business in product development and more market-
focussed innovation.
In creating a single platform through which customer
interactions can be tracked across virtual assistant to web
chat or social media, and then to an actual agent, it provides
a process which is painless for the customer.
So what’s the next piece in the omnichannel armoury?
Experts at Salmat say the next big things are voice and video.
SECTION 09
Voice relates to in-home voice assistant offerings such as
Google Home and Amazon Alexa. From ordering a pizza
to booking a flight or checking your bank account details
then being put through to a customer service agent, the
technology could be a game changer in the customer
experience arena.
In terms of video calling, imagine you’ve just purchased a
product and it seems to be missing a part, or it has broken,
or you simply can’t figure out how to put it together. The
added functionality that will come with video calling, and
the ability to use a smartphone’s camera to show the agent
exactly what you are calling about, will be invaluable.
Omnichannel is a system that benefits the customers
and the entire business, from customer service to sales,
marketing, product development and more.
Most importantly, it offers a brand that all-important edge in
customer experience.
WHY OMNICHANNEL IS VITAL:
Brands employing BEST PRACTICE OMNICHANNEL
customer engagement strategies experience an average
customer retention rate of 89% while those with weak
strategies languish at 33% .
BEST PRACTICE
89
OMNICHANNEL
%
33
%
WEAK
OMNICHANNEL
Source: www.digitalcommerce360.com
27
ABOUT SALMAT
Salmat is a marketing services business that helps clients
with the constant pressure of reaching, converting and
serving customers, week-in, week-out. With media,
digital and customer service capabilities, we manage
the fundamentals to ensure you keep customers coming
through the door like clockwork.

Entrepreneurs and good mates Phil Salter and Peter Mattick

established Salmat in 1979 when they spotted a gap in the
market for a small letterbox distribution network. Salmat
has since grown to become a full-suite marketing services
company listed on the ASX with operations in Australia,
New Zealand and Asia.

Level 3, 116 Miller Street,

North Sydney, NSW 2060 1300 725 628