4 Ways To Create an Omnichannel CX with the Swym Apps

If you want to create a truly omnichannel customer experience, where customer history, context, and personalization are not lost whether they’re shopping online or offline, Swym’s omnichannel customer engagement apps can help you join the dots. 

In this blog, we break down hands-on moves to make your customer experience seamless using two omnichannel customer engagement apps Swym’s Wishlist Plus App and Swym’s Back In Stock Alerts App. These apps achieve far more than the obvious benefit of allowing customers to receive the convenience of a repository for their favorite items, and notifications about out-of-stock inventory they’re interested in. 

If you are looking for an introduction to omnichannel retail, hop over to our blog Mastering Omnichannel Commerce: Your Ultimate Guide To Seamless Customer Experiences And Business Growth, where you can gain a conceptual understanding, differentiation from multichannel commerce, an overview of top challenges and how to overcome them, and more.

But staying with Swym Apps, Swym Back In Stock Alerts open the doors to gathering customer email addresses, and phone numbers because as they hit the “Notify Me” button, you can have a prompt that says, “Sure, enter your email address/ phone number here, and we’ll notify you when the product is restocked.” Similarly, when customers are using their wishlist built on Wishlist Plus, pop-ups invite them to create a customer account. 

But that’s just the tip of the omnichannel marketing iceberg. Your Wishlist Plus App and Back In Stock Alerts App also give you access to valuable customer data that enables you to personalize your customer experience across online and offline touchpoints—-that’s right, you can pull up all the data gathered online to improve in-store customer interactions too. And it works! Swym’s own data has found that our customers experience a 30-35% CTR on back in stock alerts, and 20% conversion on alert traffic. Similarly, e-commerce businesses that use Swym’s Wishlist Plus enjoy 20-30% better conversion rates and 36-50% higher order sizes. 

Here’s how: 

Email Marketing 

Your Swym apps double up as omnichannel personalization software that can give you valuable data that helps you create more contextual communication flows. Swym’s integrations with email marketing platforms like Klaviyo, Listrak and Mailchimp allow you to segment your audience and then go on to send out emails that get your customer’s attention. 

Once you integrate with your email marketing platform of choice, Swym lets you set up events and triggers. These in turn help you send automatic, customized messages to your customer when your chances for conversion are higher, that is, when you hold the customer’s interest. 

For example, imagine your customer, Tom, signing up for a back-in-stock alert for a pair of your designer label straight-cut indigo jeans, or adding the pair to his wishlist. 

Swym’s POS app also allows your in-store team to add the pair of jeans to his wishlist if Tom is shopping in-store

You now have Tom’s email address, and data on this one item that he likes. You can encourage Tom to make a purchase with one or more of the following email marketing moves (or something like them): 

Showcase similar items

If the customer has signed up for a back in stock alert, you might try: 

Hi Tom, FOMO is no fun, and we’re sorry that you missed out on our XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans. We’ll let you know when they’re back in stock. Of course, we understand that style waits for no-one and that’s why we’ve lined up these three lookalike alternatives to help you get your fashion fix right here and right now. 

Alternatively, if Tom merely added the jeans to his wishlist, you might try: 

We know you love dark-wash denim! You’ve got great taste, and that’s why we’ve curated this special collection of straight cut dark wash jeans, popular with only our most well-dressed customers. 

Showcase related items 

For a back-in-stock alert customer, you could say something like:

Hi Tom, you’ve got great taste, while you wait on your  XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans why not stock up on these shirts that are a match made in heaven with your favoured style of straight leg denims? 

Meanwhile, for a wishlist alert, you could say: 

Hi Tom, you’ve got great taste! Why not stock up on these shirts that are a match made in heaven with your favored style of straight leg denims? 

Showcase other choices

For a “Notify me when back in stock” customer, your email might read like: 

Time waits for no-one, Tom, and that’s why we aren’t asking you to wait around for your  XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans (although we promise to let you know when they come around). Here are a some other cuts in that rich indigo color you love, and dark wash jeans in a stylish straight cut that testifies to your great taste. 

While for a customer who wishlisted the item, your email might read like:
Tom, we love the XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans you have wishlisted. Here are some other of our most loved items that you might love too!

And when Tom’s selected pair of jeans is restocked, you can try the following 

Good old back in stock alert

Good things come to those who wait, Tom. Your XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans are back in stock. Hurry to make your purchases while stocks last

Of course, it’s entirely possible that by now, Tom got his straight-cut indigo denim fix from elsewhere. But surely you aren’t going to let him slip through your fingers so easily! 

Certainly not when you’ve got Swym’s BIS Alerts App in your arsenal! Purchase intent once evoked, can be reignited when you play your cards right. 

Here are three temptation tactics to try. Note that these are also useful if Tom just added the XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans to his Wishlist, provided he’s given you an email address in one of Wishlist Plus’ prompts. 

Build FOMO

Tom, only 3 pieces left of your XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans

Drive urgency

Tom, only 1 piece left of your XYZ Collection, Straight Cut Indigo Jeans. We’ve reserved it for you until <timer> 

Enable “opportunistic” buying 

We like to reward great taste, Tom, and that’s why we’re offering you 20% off on your XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans 

(you can even add a time limit for the discounts) 

It doesn’t end there. Swym’s omnichannel personalization software continues to gather insights even after your marketing email is sent, helping you fine-tune your messaging in line with what gets you better outcomes. For example, if Tom didn’t reply to the first restock alert or wishlist reminder but responded to the only 3 left in stock alert, you (and Swym) know what triggers Tom in the future and this becomes additional data that fuels future segmentation and triggers.

Similarly if Tom only responded once you threw in a discount, Swym’s analytics has now registered that he is price-sensitive, and will theme your marketing emails accordingly, i.e. Tomo’s price sensitive nature becomes another data point.  

Marketing SMS  Messages

While customers are typically guarded with their mobile numbers (to avoid getting spammed), they’re usually more liberal when signing up for a back-in-stock alert, because they want to hear from you. That’s the magic of this omnichannel personalization software that also offers customer convenience. Of course, you don’t want to take this trust for granted, and earn the dreaded spam tag, so while you shouldn’t miss out on the opportunity to market to your customers, you should also ensure you aren’t annoying. That means being useful. 

Now, it might be tempting to make your wishlist access gated, and allow customers the convenience ONLY in exchange for contact details or creating a customer account. Swym has the functionality to support this, but we’d advise against it. Allow your customers the convenience (we’ll certainly support your goals with pop-ups asking them to leave their details). It makes for a better customer experience and gives you access to valuable data!

All of the thoughtful moves from the email marketing section can be repurposed for the rest of your omnichannel marketing strategy in your SMS marketing endeavors, with minor tweaks — you’ll need links, for instance, rather than images of products in your SMS. Let’s look at a few examples around the same customer from the previous section, Tom who hit the Notify Me button or the Add To Wishlist Button for the XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans, and left his mobile number. 

In your showcase similar items move, your message would stay the same in some ways, but it might be shorter, and would redirect the customer to a link at the end, like this:

Hi Tom, we’re working on re-stocking your XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans. In the meantime, get your fashion fix right here and right now with these lookalike alternatives. Click on this link to view your personalized collection of alternatives created specially for you. 

Your drive urgency move with a timer might actually mention the timing instead of having a timer, like this, and perhaps in a flow (these could also work if Tom only wishlisted the jeans): 

• 1 day left Tom, only 1 piece left of your XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans. We’ve reserved it for you until 8 pm on 20 September. Click here 

• 12 hours left! Tom, don’t lose out on what you love.  Your restocked XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans are almost out of stock again; grab your piece before 8 pm today. Click here

• 5 hours left: YOLO Tom, don’t miss out on your XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans. Last change to make it yours until 8 pm today. Click here

For double the punch (and to double your chances of success), combine email and SMS marketing. Don’t worry about being annoying. Customers are busy; they forget and when there’s a great offer in hand (or info about something they expressed interest in), they will welcome your follow-up SMS. Following up an email campaign with a contextual, personalized SMS reminder can significantly boost open rates and drive more customers back to your site. The words to pay special heed to, here, are contextual and personalized. And both are easy to achieve thanks to your omnichannel customer engagement apps from Swym. 

Social Media Marketing 

You can’t even think about overlooking social media marketing in this day and age, but why would anyone stop to look at your ad amidst scrolling through the world’s best-looking people, breathtaking destinations, jaw-dropping scandals, pets doing uncanny things, and news from their own loved ones?  No wonder the conversion rate for display ads on social media is 0.07%. However, this changes when you use omnichannel personalization software to place a personalized retargeted ad: the conversion rate jumps to 0.7%, or maybe even more! 

So how would this play out with Tom and his designer jeans? Simple: Swym’s Meta pixel integration uses event triggers from your Wishlist Plus and Back In Stock Alerts apps to help you serve personalized retargeting ads to shoppers in order to bring them back to your e-store.  

Swym connects your online and offline stores, and all marketing messaging forums including social platforms 

Your retargeting ad flow, triggered by Tom subscribing to a back-in-stock alert, might look something like this: 

As Tom scrolls through his feed on Instagram, he sees an ad for straight cut dark wash jeans. It’s a carousel, but the first pair is the out-of-stock pair of XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans that he’s wishlisted or requested a back-in-stock alert for. 

The text might say something like:  

Trending Straight Cut Indigo Jeans — Stocks Selling Fast. Grab now and #saynotoFOMO. 

For Tom, it might feel serendipitous or coincidental or magical, and that’s the power of omnichannel customer engagement software. 

Maybe Tom clicks on the ad and finds that his beloved pair is still out of stock. He’s not interested,

Ouch. But don’t give up. Nobody said omnichannel marketing was going to be easy; we said effective! 

You might try to drive purchase intent by adding a limited validity discount to the equation. This also works if Tom wishlisted the jeans. Your text might look like this: 

Trending Straight Cut Indigo Jeans — Stocks Selling Fast. Grab now and #saynotoFOMO. 20% off on select styles today, 20 July; use code: 20ON20. 

And of course, when Tom’s favorite pair of jeans is restocked, you might place an ad picturing the pair of jeans, and text that might look something like this: 

They baa-aack! Our XYZ Collection Straight Cut Indigo Jeans are back by popular demand. Love them? Buy now; limited stocks. 

Get creative and don’t forget to place follow-up retargeting ads, without losing so much as an ounce of your enthusiasm. Remember the classic advertising “Rule of 7” suggests that shoppers need to see or hear from your brand seven times before making a purchase? That’s exactly what’s in play here: Contextualized social media ads for the products they’ve already expressed interest in, triggered automatically from your omnichannel customer engagement app consistently nudge your shoppers closer to a buying decision. 

Beyond Wishlist and Back In Stock Alerts: Opt-in Marketing

You know how challenging it is to get addresses for your email marketing campaigns, and how maintaining deliverability can be a task. In addition, today’s privacy-aware world has legal implications for would-be spammers. 

So how do you keep in touch with customers, update them on exciting offers and inform them about new launches, limited edition collections and so on? 

Your Swym Back In Stock Alerts and Wishlist apps come with Grow Your Email List Feature that has your back. When shoppers sign up for back-in-stock alerts, or flit around their wishlists, this feature gives them the ability to opt-in to future marketing from your brand. If they do, they are automatically added to your omnichannel marketing list. From there, you can send them personalized communication based on their preferences and activity collected by Swym’s omnichannel personalization software, setting the stage for improved conversions. 

In-Store Experience 

After your customers have shared their contact details with you, they don’t want to walk into your store and be treated like a stranger. 

Customers have grown habituated to the personalized product recommendations that they receive when they visit your online store. Obviously that expectation extends to your physical store. 

Fortunately, there’s a quick and easy way to send all that customer data down to your stores. Here’s how: 

The Swym + Shopify POS integration bridges the gap between online and in-store experiences by allowing your team to access to all the important data points that would impact how they service the customer. Key features include:

• Access to customers’ browsing and purchase history within your store
• Viewing and managing wishlists directly from the Shopify POS system
• Seamless item transfer between shopping carts and wishlists if customers decide they want to purchase later.
• Automatic enrollment in back-in-stock alerts for desired items

Plus, this integration supports all Swym app functionalities we’ve described above (and your other marketing tools), ensuring a unified approach to customer engagement across all platforms.

Conclusion

Over 35,000 merchants use Swym’s omnichannel customer engagement apps to capture demand linked to products. The whole idea is to turn a disappointing out-of-stock situation into an opportunity, to showcase other products as part of your omnichannel marketing strategy, and for your customers to find other favorites that they like. 

Connect your offline and online stores, and marketing for an excellent CX and better store performance 

Moreover, the opportunity doesn’t end there for you, because you have now gathered valuable data about your customer’s tastes, and still more valuable customer contact information allowing you to build and grow your customer relationship in the future. 

Try our omnichannel personalization software now and join countless customers who have experienced better e-commerce metrics with Swym’s Wishlist and Back In Stocks Alert apps.