Companies with robust customer engagement strategies must retain an average of 89% of their customers, compared to 33% for companies with weak customer engagement strategies.
Surely you’ve heard the loud word “omnichannel” thrown around, but what is it about? Let’s find out!
What is Omnichannel Marketing?
Omnichannel marketing integrates various channels that organizations use to communicate with consumers to create a coherent brand experience. It includes physical (such as stores) and digital media (such as websites). An omnichannel marketing strategy aims to create a convenient, seamless customer experience that provides multiple fulfillment opportunities. For example, an omnichannel approach can allow consumers to find and buy an online store or a combination of these – such as “online shopping and in-store pickup.”
Today, organizations from all industries use broad channel strategies, including healthcare, retail, finance, technology, etc. Thanks to online channels, modern consumers have more options than ever before with real-time data. In addition, omnichannel marketing allows them to collaborate with brands on their terms, leading to an overall better customer experience.
Benefits of Omnichannel Marketing
1. Better Business Analytics
Companies with an omnichannel marketing strategy automatically have multiple sources to extract data. For example, understanding customer touchpoints help organizations understand the customer journey and create a better marketing experience.
2. Better Brand Recognition
An omnichannel marketing strategy means that your customers everywhere should have a consistent and seamless experience every time they visit your brand. So, for example, if your customers get a personalized experience on their mobile device, it should also translate to their desktop.
Successful marketing strategies for all channels increase awareness of your target market. If your brand is market-targeted, customers are at least familiar with the brand name and the products or services. As a result, it can help you gain a significant competitive advantage.
3. Testing / Optimization
One of the essential components of an Omnichannel marketing strategy is continuous testing of the effectiveness of your Omnichannel approach. This allows the marketing team to identify ways to optimize campaign spending, messaging, creativity, and more. In addition, today’s organizations need to use media planning tools that can execute “what if” scenarios that take budget, target audience, multiple KPIs, and media mix into consideration and, in turn, provide a highly granular media plan that can maximize ROI and inform future decision-making.
4. Brand Guidelines
Organizations need to develop a brand identity with clear guidelines for messaging and creativity. These guidelines should be followed across every channel to facilitate brand awareness and recognition through a single message. In addition, organizations can help ease the experience across channels by using brand monitoring tools that can help measure and predict the health of their brand in the minds of consumers.
5. Improved Collection of Customer Data
Your company will monitor your customers across all the channels they use and thus understand them better about their preferences: the product cards they have viewed, what offers they have clicked on, etc.
It allows for greater customization of the communication and promotions done with each customer and will make them feel special. They will think that you do not treat them like everyone else, and you know and care about them.
6. It’s Cost-effective
With the insights gathered from the data collected, you can manage marketing campaigns and allocate your resources more efficiently. Analysis of omnichannel data will also tell you where and when to focus more on one channel than others for even more attractive returns. For example, your Google ad may outperform your Facebook ad when considering both platforms’ CPC, CTR, and CTA. Therefore, it makes more sense to cut the cost of Facebook ads and focus more on Google ads.
7. Better Brand Visibility
Omnichannel marketing helps you spread your message across all channels in a consistent and timely manner – whether mobile, online, or in-store – whichever is most convenient for your customers. As a result, every time a customer interacts with your brand, they are provided with a seamless and personalized customer experience. It leads to better brand visibility, which means greater customer loyalty.
Tips for Creating An Omnichannel Strategy
1. Focus On Increasing Personalized Services
Personal communication is of paramount importance in the current environment, and customers expect businesses to understand their needs and preferences. Therefore, every good omnichannel strategy should personalize customer experience using data through CRM systems and in-store technology.
2. Focus On Creating Memorable In-store Experiences
Stores are already being reimagined, and this trend is expected to accelerate even further. The store’s future provides a personalized experience that engages customers and builds the brand. Think about your company’s voice and whether experiences can amplify that voice in a meaningful, creative way.
3. Incorporate Interactive Technology
As Coresight reports, business leaders expect interactive technologies to enhance the in-store experience by strengthening engagement and providing customers with actionable information. About 22% of the respondents said that using AI, AR and VR is the most important way to connect with customers.
4. Concentrate On Training/reskilling Staff
Consider training and retraining store employees so they can better meet your new channel journey. For example, when lockdown measures went into effect, some companies turned their employees into personal concierges. But, again, agility is the key to success in the new climate.
5. Invest In Consumer Insights
Use the actionable data that can be applied to optimize your channel experience. Data is king in the new landscape, and it is the fuel that drives the personalization needed to build a successful broad-channel strategy. Make sure you have the right tools to develop a data-driven approach.
When it comes to marketing across all channels, consistency is crucial. Evaluate where you are and where you want to go. If you need to know more about omnichannel marketing, you can contact us. Our experts are here to help you. Call now!