Revisiting Omnichannel Marketing
Do you want to reach your customers through various channels while still relaying the same message? You might want to use omnichannel marketing or messaging for your business. Let’s go back to the basics and revisit what exactly it is.
Omnichannel messaging is a customer communication strategy focusing on giving a consistent experience across multiple communication channels. Its goal is for brands to embrace a holistic approach to customer communication. It is a customer communications strategy that involves several different channels, and not just a single one. Omnichannel messaging also delivers this experience both offline and online. It connects interactions across social media, websites, mobile apps, email, in-store experiences, and other touchpoints. By integrating these various channels, businesses provide a unified experience where customers can interact with the brand on their preferred platform without losing continuity in their journey.
Curious to know more? Here are some of your FAQs about omnichannel, answered:
Why is omnichannel marketing important for businesses?
Omnichannel marketing aligns with modern consumer behavior. Customers today expect flexibility and consistency, so a unified experience across platforms helps build trust and enhances brand loyalty. It improves the customer journey by making interactions more convenient and personalized. Businesses with strong omnichannel strategies generally see higher engagement rates, increased customer satisfaction, and better conversion rates.
What are some examples of omnichannel marketing?
Examples of omnichannel marketing include in-store and online connections. Customers can research a product online, check in-store availability, and complete the purchase at a physical location. Personalized messaging is when a brand sends personalized promotions via email, social media, and in-app notifications based on a customer’s purchase history. Integrated customer support is when a customer who starts a chat on a website can continue the conversation on a mobile app without needing to repeat their questions.
What tools are commonly used in omnichannel marketing?
Tools that support omnichannel marketing include customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, marketing automation software, and customer data platforms (CDPs). These tools help businesses collect data across channels, segment audiences, personalize communications, and analyze customer journeys to improve engagement. Additionally, some platforms integrate with point-of-sale (POS) systems, analytics tools, and social media management software for a comprehensive view of the customer.
What are the main challenges of implementing an omnichannel strategy?
The main challenges include data integration, channel coordination, and ensuring a cohesive customer experience across all touchpoints. Companies may struggle with consolidating customer data from different sources to create a single, actionable customer profile. Additionally, it requires cross-departmental collaboration and investment in technology, which can be resource-intensive.
How do businesses measure the success of omnichannel marketing?
Success in omnichannel marketing can be measured by tracking metrics such as customer retention rate, customer satisfaction score (CSAT), cross-channel engagement rates, and customer lifetime value (CLV). Businesses also often measure conversion rates across channels, cart abandonment rates, and net promoter score (NPS) to gauge how well the omnichannel experience supports customer needs and contributes to business goals.
Is omnichannel marketing suitable for all types of businesses?
While omnichannel marketing is highly beneficial for businesses with multiple customer touch points, like retail, e-commerce, and service-based industries, it can be adapted to almost any sector. Smaller businesses can implement scaled-down versions of omnichannel strategies by starting with a few channels that resonate with their audience, then gradually expanding as they grow.
How different is omnichannel marketing from multichannel marketing?
According to moengage.com, the multichannel approach “focuses on maximizing reach by tapping into all communication channels. As such, the same message is passed through two or more channels, with email and social media being the most popular picks.”
Omnichannel marketing, on the other hand, “adopts a multidisciplinary approach by connecting all the communication channels and then with the customers. Plus, it attempts to incorporate as many communication channels as possible.”
While both strategies involve using multiple platforms, omnichannel focuses on creating a connected, consistent experience across them. Multichannel marketing typically uses several channels independently, without ensuring they work together. For example, with omnichannel marketing, a customer can browse a product on a website, add it to their cart on a mobile app, and complete the purchase in-store. With multichannel marketing, these channels are siloed, meaning customer interactions are confined to each specific platform.
How do you choose an omnichannel marketing platform?
According to amasty.com, assess if the platform provides a smooth user experience and various engagement opportunities. You have to see as well if the platform supports all the needed channels and provides you with several types of messaging.
Omnichannel marketing success stories
Here are some brands that have successfully used omnichannel marketing, as cited by McKinsey and Co. While B2B and B2C mostly use omnichannel marketing, medtech companies use them too. They use omnichannel marketing in a variety of channels, including digital marketing, inside sales, portals and e-commerce, and hybrid sales-rep interactions to engage with healthcare professionals.
Some examples include:
Best Buy usually focuses on in-store and online commerce, but boosted its in-store experience by creating offerings for customers to explore smart home-technology solutions, pairing them with free in-home advisory services. The brand’s mobile app lets customers “scan to shop” from catalogs and curbside, or buy online and pick up merchandise in the store itself, smoothing the end-to-end journey for customers with the 24/7 tech support from its Geek Squad. Best Buy’s Totaltech support offer was also a hit with customers, and it launched 200,000 memberships in 2018, which climbed to two million within a year.
Nike used an omnichannel marketing approach by extending the brand experience and offering customers an ever-growing platform of content, offers, and community interactions. The SNKRS and Run Club apps, for example, facilitate in-person meetups, running groups, and events. It also has an app for delivering individual workouts and fitness programs where they create experiences that go far beyond shoe and apparel lines to meet customers in their day-to-day routines.
Omnichannel marketing can change your business in great ways. Want to start but don’t know how? Message us and let’s talk about it.