What Is B2B Omni-Channel Customer Loyalty?

Today’s business powered by SaaS prompted a revolution in B2B by integrating multiple channels, shifting multi channels to an omni-channel landscape. Integration of loyalty programs into channel management software led to amazing solutions regarding B2B omni-channel customer loyalty. Cutting edge software like Apex Loyalty enabled a seamless B2B omni-channel journey and made a holistic brand strategy possible.

When it comes to B2B, your challenge is more than dealing with multiple channels, though. It is more than numbers, and you have more than one type of customer. Apex Loyalty segmentation enables personalization for all types, through the multilayers of omni-channel businesses. With Apex Loyalty, a B2B loyalty program can treat your customers, personally, as if they were getting services as B2C customers.

From Mono to Omni-Channels

Looking at the evolution of business, especially in the retail context, we can say it has started from the mono channel to multichannel, later to become omni-channels. When there was physically one store to sell from, things were not as complex. When the internet entered our lives, brands included various channels to their businesses, and that led to the emergence of multi channels. Multi channels include separate entities like online and mobile domains, which operate independently. This means customers can reach your product through multiple domains.

However, this brings a challenge. As much as multichannel systems are comprised of a core model with additional domains as such, still you rely on a single look to the customer side as part of your brand loyalty efforts. This draws the focal point of customer-centric marketing instead of focusing on solely sales through many channels. The concept of omnipresence, here, becomes essential in B2B omni-channel customer loyalty context, including all parties, not only end buyers.

There emerges the need for a holistic channel knowledge that will represent your brand across all touchpoints. With the advances in information and communication technologies, a seamless buying experience is now possible.

Building the Single View

A modern approach is to integrate these separate, maybe competing channels by blending them into a whole. As a Latin word meaning “all”, “omni” talks about a unified brand look in the B2B context. The essence of various research converges on the notion that it’s about the integrated buying experience. This doesn’t only involve the physical domains such as stores but also enhances them with data derived from online domains.

A complete approach fueled with digital knowledge enables you to construct the seamless brand experience for customers.

Interaction for Integration Across Channels

What makes an omni-channel environment different than a group of channels operating here and there? With omni-channels, independent domains exist within a strategy. Customers, both within and without the channel, experience a single brand presence.

The distinguishing factor in omni-channel environments is that its foundation is “interaction”. Any touchpoint within the omni-channel enables the customer to have consistent communication with the brand. Putting it another way, once the customer faces your brand, regardless of where they are, they will interact with it in a personalized manner that would otherwise not happen in the conventional channel models.

As much as the whole B2B omni-channel landscape suggests a high level of interaction, the challenge is undeniable. The necessity to adopt a fresh mindset put aside, there are technical requirements to add to your core business model. We better call it “designing your omni-channel” with the knowledge from your multichannel state.

For effective modification, you need to study your channel thoroughly. Let’s all take a second and think: How does your channel use your digital and physical domains? Is there a pattern to that? If the answer is yes, do you think it is relevant to how your customers make their purchasing decisions?

Designing your B2B Omni-Channel Customer Loyalty Strategy

This pattern reading makes the most sense in the B2B omni-channel customer loyalty aspect of your modification process. Loyalty, without a doubt, is an integral part of this revolution in the B2B ecosystem.

Academic research highlight the essentials of omni-channel design as consistency in channel knowledge and information and seamless cross-channel experience. And loyalty strategies are coherent with the consumer-centric design after all.

How to overcome the prospective conflicts in familiarizing customers with the use omni-channel dynamics, though? This brings the significance of optimization before adding more channels to your ecosystem. Because growing smart is way more important than a gigantic spread.

What are the potential difficulties that would come in your way? As much as we are now aware of the importance of a unified look within an omni-channel, knowing is one thing and practicing it is a whole other world. Recent studies suggest the biggest obstacle for brands is not knowing how to serve their channel effectively, in other words in the “relevant” way. One major reason behind this is not having the tools to target customer needs, both existing and future ones. This brings us to the importance of targeted content.

Apex Loyalty to Boost B2B Omni-Channel Customer Loyalty

Apex Loyalty dynamic rules help you narrow all the channel knowledge and patterns into meaningful targeted content. With this content, you can tailor campaigns for individual segments and derive real insights from customers.

With Apex Loyalty, we do not utilize the content “born out of the very content” only for marketing material, but also for channel education.

Using loyalty to educate will contribute to your omnipresence. And in return, omnipresence will boost your loyalty all across your touchpoints.

You can read our previous post on https://www.apexloyalty.com/how-to-improve-customer-retention-strategy/