Bobby Meixner
Appearances
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
Yeah, you touched on doing some user testing. What role does user feedback play in really optimizing that experience in your view from what you've seen?
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
Certainly. So you touched on multi-channel, which I think is an interesting term. You don't hear it a lot. I think people don't like to talk about it. Everyone likes to think that they are omni-channel. But I think some companies are still in transition from a multi-channel strategy to a true omni-channel strategy that gives you that completely seamless integrated customer journey.
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
For companies that are at least perhaps being honest with themselves around where they're at, what advice would you give them along that journey?
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
Yeah, and as they're making this transition, the industry doesn't stop. There's always new channels popping up. There's new emerging technologies. How do you see emerging technologies like AI, virtual reality, augmented reality influencing the future of omni-channel strategies and really enhancing the customer journey across all of these touchpoints and platforms?
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
Now earlier you touched on, one of your tips was start early, right? So when you think about this holistically, what's the ideal timeline for gathering and implementing customer feedback in order to really come up with a strategy, right, that's going to produce a successful holiday shopping season. I can't even believe we're talking about it. I feel like we just got out of a holiday season.
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
But to your point, you need to start early. We need to start thinking about it now. So how can businesses make sure that they've started early enough so that they can actually act on insights and time?
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
I think that's great advice, Kate. You are a wealth of knowledge. Thank you so much for being on the show. Really, really enjoyed this conversation. I'm sure people have more questions. How does somebody learn more about you, your thought leadership, the work that you and your team are doing at Flywheel Strategy?
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
Wonderful. Thank you.
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
So you wanted to jump in. You wanted to be the referee. You wanted to be the mediator. Yes. And that's what carried you.
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
Yeah, I think that's a great call out. And when we think about omnichannel, omnichannel, it's been a buzzword for, what, over a decade now, maybe more. So I think everybody knows that it is important. People do it. Organizations can pull it off to varying degrees. From your vantage point as somebody who's been on multiple sides of the fence, why is omnichannel so important?
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
So everyone has the same goal. They're coming at it from different points, depending on essentially how and when they started their business.
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
So Kate, you brought us a great example of a brand doing omnichannel, right? Not only for driving business, but also as a feedback loop for customer insights. Tell us about that.
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
Yeah, when everything comes together like that, it really just feels natural. It feels organic to where you're not even thinking about it. You're just enjoying the experience.
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
Yeah, I love how anthropology does this with these pop up stores, they create those really unique organic experiences. And, you know, there, there are numerous benefits to that, you know, one, obviously being all of the information that they can collect the ethos that they build, as they're kind of extending their omni channel reach.
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
When you think about other brands, right, how can other brands leverage similar tactics within their own strategies to drive both in-store and online engagement?
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
So start early, and it may not pan out exactly how you would like it to, at least right from the beginning. It may take a few baths, which I think people probably have some battle scars from. So when you think about the components of all the different systems, platforms, the touch points that go into creating a truly omnichannel experience, what are some of the key ones?
Insights Unlocked
How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn)
We're excited to have you, Kate. And I know that you've had a really impressive career working on customer-focused omni-channel strategies. Can you share a bit about your journey, how it shaped your perspective on creating those sometimes ever-elusive, seamless, customer-first interactions?