Omnichannel Marketing? More Like Omnipotent Marketing.

Digital marketing has been going under rapid changes ever since it was introduced to us, that’s not a surprising thing to hear. A new terminology from here and a new marketing tool from there, digital marketing is becoming more and more personalized. As a digital marketer, it is important to stay up to date with these trends and provide the optimal customer satisfaction needed.

Today, we will be talking about Omnichannel marketing. What is it? What benefits does it provide? How does it work and what does it do? However, in order to best understand what Omnichannel marketing is, it is better to break it down into smaller pieces. Let’s get into it!

1- Definition

To start with, what does “Omni” mean? Omni means “all” or “combining all things”. So, what does it give us when we add the word channel next to it? All channels? Well, you guessed it right! Omnichannel refers to the concept of using all channels in order to create a unified customer experience. And by all channels we mean all, the offline and the online, devices like the desktop and the mobile, websites and physical stores.

Omnichannel marketing is a marketing approach which focuses solely on the customer experience.

Did you know that Two-thirds of companies compete based on customer experience? That’s how important customer satisfaction is. This doesn’t only mean your customers approve your products, but also means that they have received the powerful messages you are trying to send out. Omnichannel marketing is said to be an influential way of reaching people, since the experience is adjusted mainly based on the journey of the customers. On top of that, no matter the customer engagement rate, Omnichannel marketing is remained consistent.

2- Tips

Here are some tips you need to know when practicing Omnichannel marketing:

Measure every data you can get your hands on. In order to tailor your messages to your customers and offer them the best channels they can work with, pay attention to the data and customer insight you come across with.
Understand your customers very well. Having a strong understanding about your customer engagement history helps you in collecting data and unify all your channels to work as one.
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Would you be satisfied if you experience the exact experience your customers go through? Which channel works out the best for them? Are there any unnecessary barriers that make the customer experience difficult?

Omnichannel marketing includes many types of channels, and I can list a few; email marketing, social media platforms, influencers, smartphones, websites, search, the list goes on. If you are wondering whether or not you should be present on each and every channel available, the answer is simple. If your customers are present on these channels, then your brand should be too!

3– Operation

So how does Omnichannel marketing approach work, you may ask? Well, since this strategy integrates multiple channels, therefore the inventory visibility becomes very high. Because of that, transferring from one channel to another is an easy process. For example, customers can start their purchase in an application and continue it on the company’s website.

Omnichannel marketing has four major aspects:

Data and insights: As I mentioned before, data is an important factor in omnichannel marketing. Keep in your mind that the more you know about your customers, the more you understand them, and the more you understand them, the more targeted and relevant your ads will be. However, it’s not that simple. This data should be analyzed by a team of data analysts or experts, in order to break down the best ways to use them.
Planning: Now that you analyzed your data, it’s time to plan. Planning doesn’t only mean deciding your next step, but also solidifying your budget and determining where you will invest.
channels: For your third step, make sure you are present on every single channel where your customers are active. As I mentioned before, Omnichannel marketing aims to create the best yet unified customer shopping journey across the used channels. Through different channels you will be able to create different messages to different audiences.
Reporting and measurement (optimization): with the advancement of the digital marketing tools, you do not have to wait to for an ad campaign to end in order to take a look at the results. You can tap into the reports in real time, any time you want. With this advancement, digital marketers are now able to see the entire customer journey, change strategies, accordingly, shift the budget and create new tactics all while the ad is still running.

4- Benefits

Omnichannel marketing has started to advance which is why it grabbed the attention of many professional brands. We all already grasped the first benefit it provides, which is customer satisfaction which has a great effect on customer loyalty, brand reputation (& success) and revenue generation.

Although many organizations, whether small or large, have already started using this approach, here are 10 benefits that will prove to you that going into omnichannel marketing is worth it.

Your customers will for sure spend more from an omnichannel marketing approach. Recent statistics show that marketing campaigns ran through at least 3 channels generated 13% more than ads on single channel campaigns.
Customer loyalty will increase for your brand. We all know how difficult it is to attract customers let alone keep them. Through omnichannel marketing, your brand has a higher chance of gaining loyal customers first because of its user friendliness.
Get ready for some higher and better engagement rates. Omnichannel marketing campaigns earned an 18.96% engagement rate whereas those using single-channel campaigns saw only 5.4%.
Better insight on your customers. Cookies, IDs, social media, mailing lists and many more disparate channels and systems help you create better opportunities for your business.
With omnichannel marketing, your business will be integrated. Given the use of a system where various units and channels work together on one goal, you will have a more integrated business. This also helps you integrate your sales and marketing, customer service and inventory resource planning to be integrated too!
Customers are now able to self-service. Did you know that 67% of the customers prefer to self-serve when speaking to company representative?
Since Omnichannel marketing gets your message through different channels, this means you will reach more customers. Every marketer knows how important it is to reach more but relevant customer segments, which is what Omnichannel marketing is here to do.
Following out 7^th benefit, Omnichannel marketing helps with better brand recognition! This way, customers will at least be familiar with your brand name which eventually will result in competitive advantage.
Personalization is important and here is why: 90% of the customers have agreed that messages sent from companies not personally relevant to them are simply “annoying” .
Last but not least This benefit is aimed to digital marketers, and it’s made up of two words: Cost-effective! Omnichannel marketing approach helps you decide where your ad will perform well, so say goodbye to wasted ad impressions.

To wrap it up,

Businesses that use omnichannel approach have achieved 91% greater customer retention rates compared to business that don’t. Omnichannel marketing gives the customers exactly what they want, a better shopping experience. Customers can now use the channels easily due to the professional communication between them.