Mistakes are common when it comes to creating experiences that engage customers and especially mobile experiences. These errors are not caused by technical issues of integration. They result from a failure to see the bigger picture and sticking with the status quo. Independent retailers can improve the mobile experience by being able to grow faster than established retailers.
Mobile Integration Key Considerations for Independent Shoppers Why are we talking about mobile integration? Mobile integration is complex. Each business will have its own needs and use cases. Mobile integration can be confusing and often misunderstood. These are five things to consider when you think about mobile customer experience.
- Technical Integration – Access to data and processes from different systems is required for the mobile experience. These systems may be found within the mobile application or in other systems. (See five areas of integration below). To integrate data and processes into the mobile user experience, a technical architecture is required. Your experience strategy should drive the technical integration approach.
- Full Journey Integration – As you create your experience strategy, which part of the customer lifecycle or journey are you designing it for? Is it just the shopping experience, or the whole journey? While you might believe that the purchase should be your first priority, our research shows that consumers value a seamless experience at all stages of the journey. Help and servicing are a common missing element in mobile. To get help, many mobile apps require that you exit the app and call a toll-free number. Are your customers okay with this? Take into account the customer journey to determine which parts of your mobile experience should be included.
- Organizational Integration – It is a common problem to get different departments to work together to deliver a single mobile experience. This can be a problem in large organizations. We often mention the importance to include customer care in the mobile experience. No one in the company will be able to do it. Who sits at the table for mobile strategy? Is it all those responsible for creating a mobile experience?
- Mobile has a profound impact on how customers interact with you company. Don’t let outdated metrics stop you from building a mobile experience that is seamless. Research and our experience show that mobile customers are moving away from email and voice to texting. Texting or talking to someone to get help is an entirely different experience than calling and may require different operational metrics. Is First Call Resolution still valid You must ensure that your metrics accurately measure mobile experience and consumer preferences.
Additional Considerations
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- Mobile User Interface – The user interface (UI), is essential to make it easy, fun, and functional to use your store’s services. These integrations may include functionality that is easily integrated into the web or mobile app. Contact Solutions offers a software development kit (SDK), which can be easily integrated into retail apps and provides customer care. There are many plugins and SDKs that make it easy to build mobile experiences. These plugins, however, are only the tip of an iceberg. They require additional components to support them.
- Context Integration – The phone’s rich data provides context to the user’s experience. This data allows for rich, meaningful experiences to be created. Contextual data can include data such as the location-based data, like if I’m near a store or other sensor data, like temperature. The integration strategy should be developed after you have understood how contextual data will be used to create experiences along the journey.
- Integration of Help Functions – We often create solutions for our clients that allow them to reach someone who can help them when they are struggling. This helps to generate amazing engagement. Mobile is able to help anyone, regardless of their background. Instead of being a call centre agent, the help provider is now a fashion advisor or a retail clerk. They can also be a front desk person or concierge to make a difference in the customer experience. Integration is important because the help provider must have the right data and processes available to support the customer.
- Cross Channel Integration – Research has shown that customers desire seamless experiences regardless of their channel. It is difficult to combine different interaction channels to create an omnichannel experience. The good news is that most channels can be consolidated onto the most important mobile device for your customer.
- It is important to have a holistic view of the mobile experience to be able to create a mobile strategy that is more competitive. You will be able to uncover the assumptions and shortcuts that may be holding you back from creating a mobile strategy that keeps customers coming back. Ask why!