Have you heard of omnichannel retail? If not, you’ve probably experienced it. In today’s market, retail businesses must provide their customers with a seamless shopping experience from online to in-store so that they can turn browsers into loyal buyers — and do it faster than the competition. Many retailers have been able to leverage Salesforce to provide that desired experience, letting them connect every part of their business on a single, intelligent platform with consistent branding and theming, both digitally and IRL (in real life, for the non-Millennials).
A Consistent Customer Experience
The customer journey is changing. From social media and newsletters to online stores and customer service support, there can’t be a gap in the customer experience without losing credibility. For retailers with both an online presence and brick and mortar locations, it is vital that the customer experience be the same in both locations. Imagine if your eCommerce site carried the same look and feel from the online entry point and right through the mobile devices used by associates in the store. This can be done all by leveraging the powerful Salesforce platform.
Today’s consumers are looking for every brand interaction to be connected, relevant, and convenient. For example:
- 75% consumers expect a consistent experience wherever they engage (e.g., website, social media, mobile, in person).
- 64% consumers want personalized offers from retail brands
- 56% consumers willing to share data to receive faster and more convenient service
Salesforce provides the flexibility to maintain this consistency across channels. For example, let’s say a customer is on your eCommerce site, creates an account, and adds an item to their wishlist. Wouldn’t it be great if the sales associate could access this wishlist using their mobile device when the customer comes in the store? Well, they can! Although some custom coding is required, a Lightning component can be created to show this information where needed on the Salesforce app. Additionally, maybe with information garnered through the customer profile can provide a trigger to remind them of items they liked when they reach their shopping cart — which provides for a great upselling opportunity.
Out-of-the-Box Customization
The best part of all, you don’t need to build your own mobile app to accomplish this. The Salesforce app for iOS and Android can be customized to look the same as your eCommerce site; company logos, colors, and styling can all be applied to the out of the box Salesforce Mobile App.
To customize even further, you can use CSS and custom Lightning components to provide a similar user experience on the mobile application as on your eCommerce site. The Salesforce app is provided by Salesforce and already on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
The flexibility of the platform and the resources provided by Salesforce allow you to get a headstart in creating that desired unified experience. Additionally, processes and user journies can be tailored to meet your organization’s needs; for example, while a Sales Associate is working with a customer, the app guides them through the process in the steps predetermined and outlined by your business.
Customer Communities to Enhance Experience
Beyond just eCommerce and in-store experiences, customer communities can extend your personalization and branding efforts while providing an even deeper experience for the customer. Customer communities are a place to provide customers the ability to get help if they need it for your product. These communities can be branded to have the same look and feel as your website so the customer does not even know they have transitioned to Salesforce. In this community, they can interact with other customers, ask questions, look up answers, and even log cases that your customer support team can respond to.
Salesforce provides numerous customization and personalization options for its customers to make the system feel like their own, while still utilizing the benefits of the platform as a whole. So how are you going to personalize your Salesforce org?
