How digital marketers can capitalise on the hybrid customer experience

By Paul O’Donoghue, VP Global Presales Solutions and Customer Operations, Uberall

In the past two years, the inability to visit shops and branches in person has contributed to a boom in online commerce – one that has provided the perfect catalyst to turn the 21st century consumer into a hybrid customer. Today’s hybrid customer relies on the information and services available online, but still seeks, and benefits from, an in-store experience. Indeed, despite a marked increase in tech literacy, an incredible 74% of people still prefer to have an offline, in-store experience during their customer journey. Nowhere is this more noticeable than at the local level where the online-offline, ‘phygital’ customer thrives.

Rather than viewing this as a pain point, digital marketers should see this as an opportunity to grab attention across multiple touchpoints, and capitalise on consumers’ desire to research online before engaging with a brand’s physical outlets. In fact, mobile searches – in which consumers search for services and products near to them – have increased by 150% over two years, as consumers prioritise the convenience and personal touch offered by local businesses.

What is hybrid CX at a local level and why is it important?

Understanding how marketers can best capitalise on hybrid customer experience (CX), where their interactions with customers are fully and seamlessly integrated across digital and real world channels begins by recognising the importance of the customer experience beyond national or even global brand messaging. For example, CX at a local level refers to all of a consumer’s interactions with the bricks-and-mortar shops and services in their area, including the local branches of national brands. The impression a customer develops locally has a lasting impact on their future interactions with a business.

Yet what gets them to their neighbourhood branch often begins in the palm of the hands, through searches on their phone. In fact, 76% of people search for goods and services in their area on a mobile device before ever considering visiting a physical location. As hybrid consumers, the customer journey often begins when a business first captures a customer’s attention in an online search, and continues through to the customer stepping foot into a local branch.

This applies to businesses of all sizes. For example, customers looking for a mortgage for the first time, regardless of whether they’re searching for an independent broker close to home or the homepage for a big brand, will use online resources to determine the next stage of their journey. To engage these potential customers, the digital experience must match the bricks-and-mortar experience.

So, what steps can businesses and marketing teams take to make the most out of hybrid CX at a local level?

How to build engagement with hybrid customers at the local level

To begin with, digital marketers must ensure online listings and profiles are accurate and up-to-date. Online searches might guide customers to nearby branches, but inaccurate opening times, contact details or addresses can put off a potential customer before they ever step through the front door. Making sure details match is a small but essential step to build customer trust.

The simplest and most efficient way to ensure this is to manage online listings centrally, but at the same time, empower local teams to maintain and update listings. These teams are best placed to know about changes to offerings, opening times and the like, as well as make updates in real time. They are also well placed to customise online information to include social media handles and initiatives specific to that location.

Beyond this, local teams are also a vital resource for online review management. According to Trustpilot, 61% of consumers rate reviews as the top influence when it comes to making decisions about their choices of services – so responding and managing reviews across multiple platforms is essential. So, start by providing these teams with brand policy, rules and guidelines that are clear and easy to follow.

Businesses can also extend this practise, like the estate agents Reed Rains, that opted to appoint a local ambassador to oversee review responses with consistency and personability. When businesses reply to just three in ten reviews, they see 80% higher online customer engagement and conversions, than if they responded to one in ten reviews. This isn’t really surprising considering how great an opportunity online reviews are for expressing a brand’s personality – on top of building customer trust. Indeed, more than half of consumers feel emotionally connected to businesses that use a local touch; so enabling your bricks-and-mortar teams to respond to location-specific reviews, or resolve location-specific issues will establish a connection with customers that is impossible to replicate.

The third step is meeting people where they are to get their attention and their business, because if today’s tech savvy customer can’t find a brand online, they won’t choose it. Social media connects brands to a wider and more diverse consumer. A prodigious 97% of Gen Z shoppers, for example, use social media as inspiration before making purchasing decisions. While Facebook and Instagram continue to be the leading platforms, YouTube and TikTok are in hot pursuit, with customers often looking on social media to gauge authenticity and a brand’s engagement with their communities. Generating and sharing locally-focused content, be it offers or location-specific initiatives, helps build personalised relationships with customers and develop trust. Localised content and keyword optimisation in social media also strengthens SEO health.

Preparing hybrid CX for the future

The final step to progressing hybrid CX is to leverage your data. Analysing and evaluating CX data can tell you which areas are strong and which ones could use some improvement, defining your strategy to match consumer expectations. For example, with well-defined metrics you can benchmark your performance over time, while analytics tools can help understand how customers found you, why they chose you, and why they continue to use your company.

The online world, which now includes 6.6 billion smartphone users worldwide, isn’t just one of the channels in today’s commercial landscape. It’s an omnipresent one and a linchpin of the hybrid customer journey. With the right tools and processes in place to ensure the digital and in-store customer experience is seamless and consistent, businesses of all sizes can steer into a future with ever-evolving, more tailored hybrid services.