Pathway Session: Omnichannel Success Starts With Customer Needs

Customers don’t worry about channels. They think about solving a problem, booking a service, finding information, or getting help, and they expect the experience to be seamless.

That was the central message of “Winning Today’s Value-Driven Guest: Omnichannel CX Playbooks for Franchises,” a breakout session at FGMC featuring moderator Jayson Pearl, president of ServiceScore; Stephanie Hill, vice president of marketing at MassageLuXe; Kristen Risby, head of marketing and communications at Skiptown; and Karen Wenning, director of client partnerships at Suttle-Straus.

Pearl said marketing professionals should ensure that technologies and tactics “all fit together so that the brand experience from initial discovery all the way through delivery of service and the product is consistent and effective.”

Risby said Skiptown evaluates customer expectations before determining which channels to use. The company’s challenge has been balancing its digitally driven model with the needs of different customers. She said brands should meet customers where they are and build the experience around how they want to engage.

For MassageLuXe, the customer journey begins long before a customer walks through the door. Hill described a process that starts with awareness through social media and search, moves to online booking and appointment reminders, continues through the in-spa experience, and extends to reviews, feedback, and referrals.

“All of these things aren’t separate departments,” Hill said. “We want to make sure that they’re all flowing together.”

Wenning said journey mapping should reveal where customers abandon carts, stop responding, or fail to return. The next step is to collect feedback and use it to improve the process. “Find where the gaps are,” she said.

Wenning shared an example from Goldfish Swim School, where direct mail was combined with Meta advertising, email, USPS Informed Delivery, and retargeting to create multiple touchpoints throughout the customer journey. Wenning said channels are most effective when they work together.

Risby cautioned against treating playbooks as static documents. She said that resources should be quick to find, easy to understand, and regularly updated rather than buried behind outdated links and documents.

Risby also urged brands to be transparent about failures and lessons learned. “Transparency in franchising is so key,” she said.

Hill said the goal of an omnichannel strategy isn’t generating a booking, a sale, or a visit. “It’s not just a transaction,” Hill said. “It’s becoming a habit for the consumer.”