Improving the customer experience is a big part of retaining a loyal consumer base. Profits come from happy individuals, so streamlining their ability to purchase a service or product is critical to the success of many companies. This is defined as an omni-channel by businesses, another way of saying effective sales methods and connectivity between those methods. For example, if a customer bought an item via online shop and their experience was positive (ease of purchase, fast shipping), omni-channel would mean their experience at a physical location would be the same (extremely positive).
It’s easy to see the benefits of that. High consumer praise and consistently good performance regarding all company practices leads to increased profit. It’s safe to say such practices could benefit from the involvement of third party management. Depending on their expertise, relevant third party management could ultimately streamline the whole consumer experience leading to the various benefits mentioned.
One example are webpages and how they respond to customer interaction. Does it function well on mobile? Is it responsive? Do the website aesthetics match the physical counterpart (if applicable)? Third parties responsible for site design would want these answers to be yes, as it’s one critical part of the omni-channel.
The biggest thing to emphasize though is all those “channels” (the venues where products/services are sold) should be connected. Your mobile marketing can be stellar, you might have an amazing Facebook page, your online website is perfect, but unless these elements cooperate it’s not truly omni-channel. This being said, the major goals of a third party are (or should be) oriented around connection and consistency.
Third parties have the advantage of a non-company bias when examining the omni-channel. As an outside source, they can examine the experience and determine how effective it is regarding consumer satisfaction or positivity. With their expertise, they also have the ability to determine the efficiency of each channel, like the mobile example used previously. They might notice unnecessary features or missing ones, allowing a company to shore up weaknesses regarding the omni-channel.
Third parties can also offer services related to the omni-channel, such as cloud computing. With this example, the omni-channel effectiveness comes down to the business in question while the third party is an aspect of it. In other words, a business is using cloud computing and related services to improve the omni-channel experience, like using the cloud to improve consumer connectivity with the business.
Overall, a third party can either work as a direct influence towards omni-channel goals or as a part of it. Whether it’s outsourcing website design or using an external team for advice and planning, utilizing third parties can significantly improve omni-channels. A seamless consumer experience is valuable, generating both positivity and profit, so services offered through external management can potentially increase these values.