Omnichannel : connecting Offline & Online

Omnichannel has become one of those marketing concepts that everyone in Marketing field use on their presentation and every marketing plan includes but almost anyone really knows what implies neither apply on their marketing initiatives.

Well, far from trying to teach anyone about Omnichannel, I will share only what I consider it is about from my professional experience.Omnichannel isn’t just about the digital experience. Converting searchers to paying customers is still the end goal. But focusing solely on your website won’t mean much if your in-store experience is lacking.

Many companies limit their omnichannel initiatives to set a Google My business profile and upload offline conversions to the paid channels, to instruct the algorithm towards users that are more willing to make an offline conversion or go to the shop.

you need to make sure you have their buy-in to provide the same level of experience your online channels promised

But what almost all usually forget is that when a customer comes to your store after doing online research, you need to make sure you have their buy-in to provide the same level of experience your online channels promised. What are they doing to ensure a positive, personalized customer experience? Have past conversations been analyzed or documented? Is the in-store team using this information instead of asking the customer the same questions over again?

Answering that questions will give you an idea about how advance you are in your omnichannel approach or how big is the room to improve.

Converting online searchers to paying offline customers with Google Maps & Street view:

Let’s Imagine that a customer finds you online, land on your website, experience your branding and see your facility photos, uploaded by yourself. After they finish their research they take to Google Maps to get directions only to find that a Google street view of an old building, no gate, and branding that doesn’t match. At the best case, they are confused by the mismatching and still decide to give you a shot. At worst, they doubt whether your website is in fact legitimate and decide to go to your competition. This is simply one example of how inconsistency can breed skepticism.

If users or future customers can’t count on you to provide consistent guidance through the path-to-purchase journey, they certainly won’t trust your product or service to meet their needs.

The benefits of marketing your business with google street view trusted

To provide that consistence guidance and the same level of experience your online channels promised I will explain a bit of a tool than can help us to connect the dots, between offline & online: Google Street View Trusted

If you are not yet convinced about the importance of it, I will nurture you with some data: according to Ipsos Stud (1), when searching for businesses, consumers use mapping products 44% of the time.  By improving businesses listings with photos and a virtual tour you are twice as likely to generate interest from potential customers.

when searching for businesses, consumers use mapping products 44% of the time.  By improving businesses listings with photos and a virtual tour you are twice as likely to generate interest from potential customers.

One of the main obvious benefits is to increase online visibility and develop interactivity. The images used in the profile could encourage customers to click through to the website.  Whilst Google Business View photoshoot by itself is a very minor ranking factor, the number of click throughs you get from your enhanced profile can indirectly help your rankings.

Furthermore can allow a business to stand out from its competitors in search results (SEO) and by offering a unique viewing experience to potential customers.

Privacy concerns

Well as this is not a promotional article about google products let’s talk about the other flip of the coin, which will be about privacy.

Although Google sustain that the photos were taken from public property, this does not take into account that the Street View cameras take pictures from an elevated position, enabling them to look over hedges and walls designed to prevent some areas from being open to public view. Before launching the service, Google removed photos of domestic violence shelters, and additionally allows users to flag inappropriate or sensitive imagery for Google to review and remove. (2)

Agreeing with Rory Mir, an organiser with digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation: “Users should be in full control of how their private spaces are recorded, and how this data is used,” .”Without meaningful user consent and restrictions on the collection, a menacing future may take shape where average people using VR and AR further proliferate surveillance in public and private spaces.”(3)

Bonus track: The Strange case of Germany

The image used as a header shows how Germany is one of the few countries with the lowest coverage of Google Street. Google has tried to launch Street View twice in Germany, and failed both times due to public backlash. If you want to know why read this article: https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/germany-street-view/

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