According to marketing professionals, “Omnichannel marketing is the seamless integration of branding, messaging, and online and offline touchpoints as customers move down the sales funnel, enabling a more impactful customer experience.”
Omnichannel strategy refers to your brand’s presence across several channels. It provides several touchpoints for customers to interact with the brand while seamlessly guiding them through the sales funnel.
For example:
- A customer accesses a business’ eCommerce promotion after receiving an SMS notification.
- A customer clicks on a targeted ad about an item they had abandoned in their cart earlier.
- A customer receives an email subscription driving them to sign up for the business’ new service offered via an online sales page.
Each of these actions are only possible because of an omnichannel strategy, and each one drives the customer further down the sales funnel.
We don’t want you to assume that an omnichannel strategy is just putting more work on your business to satisfy technology-loving customers. Read further, and we’ll outline a few of the key benefits of using an omnichannel approach, as well as share a few tips about how you can leverage your own strategy and start to see results.
The Benefits of Using an Omnichannel Approach
Using an omnichannel approach enables your brand to show up and show out consistently in an over-saturated marketplace. It provides more opportunities for your customers to see and engage with you.
Here are five key benefits your business is sure to see once you employ an omnichannel strategy:
1). Enhance the User Experience: Omnichannel strategy is a customer-centric marketing approach that focuses heavily on providing customers with opportunities to engage with the brand. Through several touchpoints – social media platforms, customer help chats, email support, etc. – customers can easily interact with a brand.
2). Boost Customer Loyalty: Along this same vein, giving your customers an easy way to access and engage in dialogue with your brand will give them a more satisfactory experience. As every business owner knows, happy and satisfied customers are more likely to return – and return again.
3). Increases Business Revenue: An omnichannel strategy lets your customers easily find you, increasing the chances that they will make the desired purchase.
4). Generates Valuable Data: Offering several channels will mean more data for your business. With more data, you can better map the customer journey, evaluate how customers interact at each stage in the journey, and optimize that journey over time for the best results.
5). Builds Brand Recognition: Your brand should look and feel consistent across each channel. The benefit of this is that it helps your customers quickly recognize your brand when they see it, making them more likely to engage with it.
How to Leverage an Omnichannel Strategy
Each business will have its own approach to omnichannel marketing based on its goals and unique audiences. To help you get started navigating this strategy, here are a few steps you can take:
1). Collect & Analyze Data: Before you start blasting your brand across different channels, it helps to gather a bit of data. Who is your target audience? What platforms do they typically use? What products or services are they searching for? What is their style, and how do they talk? Analyze your data and use those findings to help you develop the right message and deliver it to the right audience on the right channels.
2). Adhere to Brand Guidelines: It is imperative that you adhere to your brand’s set guidelines across each channel. Consistency in look and feel will help drive brand recall, meaning your customers will know exactly whose content they are looking at when viewing your ad, email, SMS, etc. If one or more channels look different, customers are more likely to scroll past without realizing it, leading to a missed business opportunity.
3). Test, Optimize, and Repeat: Continue testing the performance of your marketing across each channel and use that data to optimize your strategy. Your audience’s desires, needs, and digital behaviors will continue to evolve over time, meaning testing and optimization is a process that must be repeated several times throughout the life of your business.
Final Thoughts
If you don’t yet employ an omnichannel marketing strategy, it’s good to start thinking about one. Maybe it feels daunting to consistently show up on more than just one platform, but the benefits for your business can be astounding.
According to the Iterable, 89% of customers are “retained by companies with omnichannel engagement strategies” and customer satisfaction is a whopping 23X higher in companies that employ an omnichannel strategy.
As a business owner, you know that high customer satisfaction and healthy retention mean more revenue for your business. So, we encourage you to start thinking about how you can share your business’ message with your audiences on the right platform.
It’s never too late to leverage an omnichannel marketing strategy in your business and see big results!
