3 things we learned about omnichannel at All Access: Digital CX

From its rise to prominence more than a decade ago, omnichannel is now a CX standard and customers expect seamless experiences with all companies across the many channels that are now available for interaction and transaction.

CX Network’s All Access: Digital CX webinar series was partly focused on strategies for successful omnichannel models, with experts from Lenovo, Pandora, Arvest bank and JourneyTrack sharing their experiences with omnichannel CX. Read on to find out how our speakers approach the challenges that surround omnichannel and what they have achieved in doing so.

1. Starting out is easy

Shenan Boit, design and operations manager at Arvest Bank and Ania Rodriguez, founder and CEO of JourneyTrack joined us in our second session to discuss Arvest’s digital transformation journey into omnichannel.

Boit explained that “Arvest recognises that we have to invest in the digital tools to meet customer when, when and how they want to bank”. She then laid out the five steps Arvest Bank took to adopt omnichannel and transform CX:

Step 1: The bank adopted a cloud banking platform and developed a data platform to understand how customers were interacting with the brand.

Step 2: It then adopted artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

Step 3: Using this software, the bank mapped out the customer journey.

Step 4: Internal teams collaborated to identify pain points along the customer journey.

Step 5: Based on these findings, Arvest identified where to invest money for improvement, currently focused on the contact center, loan services and deposit platforms.

Hiring the right people and getting the right tools were also essential in this process, Boit noted.

Partnering with JourneyTrack was a critical component, with Boit explaining that the platform “takes all this verbiage that people [across different areas of the enterprise] are giving you, and it builds a customer journey app. What was taking us a week or two weeks to do, we can now do in a matter of hours”.

2. Aim for “maniacal simplification”

Our opening session saw Ajit Sivadasan, president and global head of direct-to-consumer at Lenovo, walk us through the Lenovo’s omnichannel model, explaining why and how the tech giant is prioritizing mobile experience transformation.

Sivadasan began by explaining that Lenovo has executed a replatforming project over the past four years and that mobile transformation is at the center of this, owing to the fact that 6.8 billion people use mobile phones worldwide. During this time, mobile customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores have gone up by 17 points and conversion rates from mobile interactions have increased by double digits.

The brand focused on three main paint points: web page performance inconsistency across the world, difficulty standardizing the “thirty to forty” mobile websites and improving user experience (UX). Critically, Lenovo sought and is seeking to “demystify” mobile websites, through a process Sivadasan jovially described as “maniacal simplification”.

There were six key tips that Sivadasan shared for improving mobile experiences as part of an omnichannel strategy:

1. Continual evolution: What looks good today may turn out to “slowly erode into the abyss,” Sivadasan says, and “you have got to watch that!”

2. Manage complexity: A lot of information must be presented in a small space to allow a customer to make a decision quickly. Cut-throat prioritization is key here.

3. Learn with AI: Leveraging AI can illuminate customer needs and be critical in prioritizing content and information.

4. Good content: “Consumable, podcast-y” content keeps customers engaged.

5. Keep an eye on payment pages: Checkout and payment pages are often where bottlenecks occur, Sivadasan explained. These pages need to be as frictionless as possible. Johan  Andersson, director of product management for global digital development at Pandora, echoed this in his session, saying “as a retailer, [payment and checkout pages are] the one thing you cannot fail on.”

6. Maintain brand identity: Do not make the mistake of imposing internal silos on the customer, Sivadasan warned. Shenan Boit at Arvest Bank also made this point, saying “customers are not seeing themselves in silo pieces of the organization, even though that is how we are technically set up. They see one Arvest”.

This is no simple task, he explained: “[Lenovo has] a long-term commitment to changing things continually, from a technology standpoint, from an internal process standpoint, from an external process standpoint and from a customer centricity standpoint. You have competing sets of variables that make this job very, very difficult.”.

3. Centralize management of digital capabilities 

Pandora is the world’s largest jewelry brand, with 600 million customers passing through its various touchpoints annually. Of these, 500 million are interacting with the brand online, meaning 21 percent of sales occur via online channels.

Three years ago, in the midst of the global pandemic that saw Pandora’s ecommerce business jumping from a 10 percent share of sales to almost 100 percent, the jewelry giant established its Digital Hub. The hub was, and still is, aimed at centralizing digital capabilities and transforming CX from end to end.

Operating on the mantra “make it work, make good and then make it fast”, in the third year since its inception, the hub is mainly focused on the final part of the mantra, Johan Andersson, director of product management for global digital development, explained in his session.

The Digital Hub team has consolidated everything into a single platform built on a single code base, Andersson said. Initially, the operation focused on two key pain points in the ecommerce customer journey: optimizing payment pages and improving customer service, especially self-service options.

After identifying a high contact to order ratio, the team successfully implemented a live chat function and soon discovered that customers preferred this channel over the more traditional phone channel. Through this project, the team also installed a new customer feedback tool, granting further visibility into customer journey pain points.

After getting the basics right, the Digital Hub turned to an array of other exciting omnichannel projects. The brand’s recently launched online engraving service, which operates via fully integrated web, order management and distribution center platforms to send customers’ designs directly to manufacturing machines, has been a hit with customers, who enjoy personalized products within short lead times.

The Digital Hub also worked on the My Pandora loyalty program, which allows customers to “earn and burn” points in-store and online has seen up to a 70% adoption rate in some markets.

The online bracelet builder function the team built uses a three-dimensional interface to allow customers to build their own charm bracelets. When the Digital Hub was tasked with “bringing the store experience online”, it rolled out a virtual sales assistant function in which customers can video call sales assistants.

Finally, with Pandora Diamonds unveiled in August 2023, the Digital Hub quickly implemented 3D imaging and online appointment booking to view products in-store.

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