Why Does Your Business Need Omni-Channel Marketing?
Harvard Business Review, along with a major U.S retail company, conducted a 14-month study to understand the behaviour of consumers. They interviewed around 45,000 people and the findings were:
20% of them only shopped at the physical store.
7% of them were only online-shoppers.
And 73% of them used multiple channels throughout their shopping experience.
The study also revealed that the more channels the customers used, the more valuable they proved to be to the business. The study found that people who used more than 4 channels spent 9% more as compared to customers who used lesser channels.
Omni-channel strategy is no longer an option. Businesses have to rethink their customer journeys and find new ways to acquire, engage, and retain customers through positive experiences across multiple touchpoints.
With new marketing channels emerging, it’s time businesses shift their focus from traditional marketing to omni-channel marketing strategies.
Now that we have established the need for an Omni-channel Marketing Strategy, let us tell you exactly what it is…
What is Omni-Channel Marketing?
Omni-channel is defined as a multi-channel sales approach that provides the customer with an integrated customer experience. The customer can be shopping online from a desktop or mobile device, or by telephone, or in a bricks and mortar store and the experience would be seamless.
It is essential to differentiate Omni-channel marketing from Multi-channel marketing.
Multichannel marketing ensures a widened customer engagement across all possible marketing channels. Every channel is separate and independent from the others and works in a vacuum, each with its own strategy and goals. The lack of integration from a multichannel approach can create a confusing and impersonal experience that often leaves shoppers feeling frustrated.
On the other hand, Omni-channel businesses are attentive in ensuring that their customers keep receiving the same messaging and consistent experience throughout the channels. The guiding principle of omni-channel marketing is that it’s shopper-based, not channel-based. The main goal is to make the shopper experience as easy as possible, and that means consistent engagement no matter where or how a shopper is interacting with you.
All Omni-Channel Experiences Will Use Multiple Channels, But Not All Multi-Channel Experiences Are Omni-Channel.
Remember: You can have amazing mobile marketing, engaging social media campaigns, and a well-designed website, but if they don't work together, it's not omni-channel.
How to Develop a Successful Omni-channel Marketing Strategy?
1.Think Consumer First:
A major difference that separates omnichannel and multichannel marketing is the fact that omnichannel prioritizes the customer. The first step to omnichannel success lays in evaluating the customer journey.
Take a look at every touchpoint a buyer comes across before becoming your customer. Do these touchpoints provide a consistent customer experience? If not, you’ll need to gather the necessary departments to make this change. Each department should be aligned with a customer-first focus and work to facilitate engaging customer experiences.
2.Know Your Customers:
It is highly important that marketing teams understand their customers. This means developing buyer personas, identifying target audiences, and understanding their wants, needs, behaviours, demographics, preferences, and goals.
From there, you’ll want to leverage available first-, second-, and third-party data to analyse and identify patterns in buyer preferences. It will be helpful to use the right tools to gather, analyse, and store this data. Once you understand who your customers are, it becomes exceedingly easier to deliver appropriate marketing.
3.Use the Right Tools:
Once you’ve identified your customers, you must identify the tools and solutions you will use to connect with them. Choosing the tools that fit within your tech stack can be complicated, however, we recommend looking into the following solutions to start:
Customer Data Platform
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software
Marketing Automation Tools
Social Media Management Solutions
Data Analytics Tools
4.Segment your Users:
It is important to segment your audience based on the data points and audience characteristics that are most important to your business goals. You can develop segments based on buyer personas, paths to purchase, subscription status, and more. Proper segmentation helps e-commerce companies effectively tackle marketing and re-marketing efforts.
5.Personalize Across All Channels:
Personalization is the most crucial element of omnichannel marketing. This is what makes your customers feel appreciated. Successful personalization requires you to establish a 1:1 connection with each member of your target audience. With the right data points, automation and analysis tools, your organization will be able to deliver individualized content to recipients. This will improve the customer experience, drive revenue, increase brand loyalty, and create consistency across channels.
6.Track your Success with the Right Metrics
Tracking the right metrics using the right tools allows you to report accurate data and derive actionable insights to enhance your omnichannel approach. By capturing the right metrics, you can better report on the successes and failures of your omnichannel strategy and use those data points to revise your strategy and enhance ROI.
Some of the Best Omni-channel Marketing Strategies by Big Brands
1.Disney
Disney gets omni-channel experience right, down to the smallest details. It starts with your initial experience on the entertainment giant's beautiful, mobile-responsive website. Even its trip-planning website works well on mobile — that alone is something that you don't see very often.
Once you've booked a trip, you can use the My Disney Experience tool to plan your entire trip, from where you'll dine to securing your Fast Pass. In the park, you can use your mobile app to locate the attractions you want to see, as well as view the estimated wait time for each of them.
The entertainment company takes it one step further, though, with the release of its Magic Band program. This tool acts as a hotel room key, photo storage device for any pictures taken of you with Disney characters, and a food ordering tool. Plus, it even has Fast Pass integration to keep your vacation moving.
That's a truly omni-channel experience, and it's a privilege to see Disney leading the way.
2.Starbucks
A quick look at the Starbucks rewards app will reveal why many consider it one of the top omni-channel experiences out there.
First, you get a free rewards card that you can use whenever you make a purchase. But unlike traditional customer loyalty programs, Starbucks has made it possible to check and reload your card via phone, website, in-store, or on the app. Any change to the card or your profile gets updated across all channels, in real-time. Standing in line to get a coffee and realize you don't have enough on your balance? Reload it and the cashier will know it's been updated by the time you swipe your card.
3.Sephora
The beauty giant Sephora creates an omni-channel experience that connects its shoppers' online purchases to their in-store visits. In addition to beauty workshops and complimentary makeovers, customers can use in-store tablets to access their "Beauty Bag" account while shopping.
This account allows them to look up item details and virtually try on products using digital software. If they like a product, they can add it to a wish list and purchase the entire list using the app.
Sephora recognizes that its shoppers have a variety to choose from when they walk into one of its stores. By integrating its Beauty Bag feature with its in-store communication channel, Sephora is able to help customers narrow their options and keep track of products that they intend to purchase.
4.Pepperfry
Pepperfry is a home furnishings company that's based in India. It was built by two friends who wanted to create a delightful customer experience for purchasing furniture.
Pepperfry accomplishes this goal by pairing its online store with an immersive in-person experience. Customers can shop for a product online, look for furniture they like, then travel to a "Studio Pepperfry" to see what the products look like in person.
Once there, customers tour the studio with a Pepperfry design consultant. The consultant helps them find their ideal home decor and makes suggestions to ensure customers don't experience buyer's remorse. When customers find the furniture that's right for them, they can either buy the product in-store or return home to buy it online. This reduces friction between customers and salespeople as leads don't feel as pressured to make an in-store purchase.
And, this investment seems to be paying off for Pepperfry as the company reports that 10-15% of its sales come from these studio locations.
Is Omnichannel Marketing Worth the Effort?
For all the efforts put into understanding the data and creating a seamless experience for the customer across all the channels; it is understandable that the marketers might question whether omnichannel marketing is worth it. Here are some statistics that we would like to share to drive home the importance of omnichannel marketing.
Marketers who use an omnichannel channel strategy witness a 250% higher engagement rate than those using single-channel marketing.
The average order value was 13% more when marketers used the omnichannel strategy.
The customer retention was 90% more with an omnichannel strategy.
Omnichannel marketing may require your team to combine their marketing and technical expertise and go through a humungous volume of data to create a successful campaign. However, in the end, all of it is only going to help you create a positive customer experience. What more do you need than a happy customer who is willing to come back to you repeatedly?
We at DigiSWOT are committed to helping you create effective digital marketing strategies that can enhance your customer’s experience and help grow your business.
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