Phygital is a term that combines physical and digital, and it refers to a new way of creating customer experiences that blend the best of both worlds. Phygital experiences are not just about having an online presence or offering delivery options but about creating seamless, immersive, and interactive journeys that connect customers with your brand across multiple channels.
Phygital experiences are becoming more important as customers demand more convenience, personalization, and engagement from their shopping experiences. According to Forbes, phygital blurs the line between physical and digital channels to create a consistent omnichannel experience. There is no longer a separate physical and digital strategy but a united phygital strategy that leverages technology to enhance the human touch.
But how can you turn your store into a phygital experience hub? Here are some steps to get you started:
Get to know your customers
Like any customer experience and marketing approach, getting to know your customers should be the foundation of all your efforts. You need to understand who they are, what they want, how they behave, and what motivates them. You can use data analytics, surveys, feedback forms, social media listening, and other tools to gather insights about your customers’ preferences, needs, pain points, expectations, and behaviours.
Set your objectives
Once you have a clear picture of your customers, you need to define what you want to achieve with your phygital strategy. Do you want to increase foot traffic, sales conversions, loyalty retention or referrals? Do you want to improve customer satisfaction or brand awareness? Do you want to differentiate yourself from competitors or create a unique value proposition? Whatever your goals are, make sure they are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.
Choose the right technologies
Technology is the main enabler of phygital experiences as it allows you to connect with your customers across different touchpoints and channels. However, not all technologies are suitable for every business or situation, so you ought to choose wisely based on your objectives, budget, resources, capabilities, audience and context.
Some examples of technologies that can help you create phygital experiences are:
- Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR): These technologies can create immersive environments that simulate real-life scenarios or enhance reality with digital elements. For example, IKEA uses AR to let customers visualize how furniture would look in their houses, while Sephora uses VR to let customers try on different makeup products virtually;
- Interactive displays, kiosks and tablets: These devices can provide information, entertainment, personalization or guidance for customers in-store. For example, Nike uses interactive displays that show product details, videos, reviews or recommendations, while McDonald’s uses kiosks that allow customers to customize their orders;
- Mobile apps, websites, and social media: These platforms can extend the customer journey beyond the store by providing access to convenient communication or engagement opportunities. For example, Starbucks uses its mobile app to let customers order, pay, earn rewards or find nearby stores, while Zara uses its website, social media accounts, chatbots, live streams etc., to showcase its latest collections, trends, styles, tips etc.;
- Beacons sensors RFID NFC QR codes: These technologies can enable location-based services such as sending personalized offers notifications, reminders, coupons, etc., based on where customers are in-store or nearby. For example, Walgreens uses beacons to send relevant coupons for products that customers are looking for, while Macy’s uses sensors to track customer movements, heat maps, dwell times etc.
Design the customer journey
After choosing the right technologies, you need to design how they will fit into the customer journey from awareness consideration, purchase, loyalty and advocacy, etc. You ought to map out all the touchpoints, interactions, actions and emotions that customers will go through along their journey and how each technology will add value, enhance, delight or solve problems for them.
You also need to ensure consistency, coherence and continuity across all channels so that customers do not feel confused, frustrated and disconnected. You should align your brand message, tone, voice, style etc., across all platforms, devices and media.
Test, measure, and improve
Finally, you need to test, measure and improve your phygital strategy by collecting feedback, data, analytics, and metrics from customers, employees and stakeholders. Also, evaluate how well each technology, each touchpoint, each channel, and each stage of the journey performs against your objectives, goals, and KPIs.
Identify the gaps, issues, challenges, opportunities and areas for improvement and make adjustments based on best practices, benchmarks and insights. Improve until you achieve the optimum for your business and customers.
