There are several reasons you need multiple channels in your marketing strategy, especially when doing an eCommerce business. Omnichannel marketing is the practice of a company providing its clients with a seamless experience in all available channels, which aids in their buying decision.
What is an Omnichannel strategy?
The process involves giving clients an integrated, seamless shopping experience, where they can conduct their shopping on desktops, smartphones, on any mobile device, or a physical store. According to the current statistics, most people flip over at least four channels, which control their buying process. The channels can be internet devices, print media, word of mouth, and any other media. This variation makes the shopping experience take longer than before since it involves different channels and locations.
According to statistics, less than half of businesses have implemented the Omnichannel strategy. Others are in the process of doing so, while the rest haven’t thought of it or are planning to implement it later. Some of the reasons for not implementing the strategy include; lack of resources and investments, lack of technical and analytical resources, difficulties in integrating data, lack of communication, and many other factors.
How to get started with Omnichannel
If you are part of the group that hasn’t started the Omnichannel strategy or you are planning to get into it, here are the requirements:
1. An emphasis on context
Having good content is good, but it should incorporate context. First, you need to understand the content suitable for your customers. You need to know if the tools and information you provide help them and how they are influential to their purchasing behavior. As explained by Contentful experts, “..you’ll need an omnichannel content hub that delivers content to multiple channels and one that has a new approach to content modeling that organizes content for use across those channels.” It would help if you also tried to cross-sell other offers and send responsive emails that can read on multiple devices.
2. Know your customers
For you to provide a valuable Omni-channel experience to your clients, you have to know them better. You need to know where they are, who they are, their goals and challenges. You can use several tools to know your customers, including the social listening tools and post clicks on landing pages. You also have to know the channels they use to access your content. The most commonly used channels include digital advertising, corporate websites, social media channels, mobile sites and messaging, emails, live events, TV and radio advertising, and much more. These channels do vary according to the audience and individuals.
3. Coordination Between Departments and agility
When you have a siloed organizational structure, achieving the omnichannel strategy becomes a hard nut to crack. The reason is that each department, including marketing, sales, product development, and customer services, are independent. The good thing about these organizations is that they are diminishing, and most businesses are redefining their teams to be dependent on each other. This restructuring leads to customer experience being incorporated into two or more departments, making the Omni-channel restructuring easy since communication between departments is streamlined. Swift communication gives a better omnichannel experience to customers.
4. A fully-integrated marketing technology stack
With marketing technology becoming more prominent and better, it becomes overwhelming and necessary to choose the best tools to improve marketing efforts. These tools are known as the marketing technology stack. They include software such as Customer relationship management, Video/web conferencing solutions, print materials and solutions, and Content management system. Other platforms include Email service providers, marketing automation, and Analytics and data visualization solutions. All these tools are supported by the customer relationship management system (CRM), which records and keeps the buyers’ details. When combined, these two can help develop a better way of running the overall strategy.
5. Responsive Web pages
Your website should work flawlessly on every device, regardless of its size. It would be best not to make your customers zoom the pages to read on the content or view products when using devices with smaller screens. The pages should respond effectively and fast according to commands, especially on landing pages.
Is Omnichannel Strategy Worth it?
To most individuals who have used it, the omnichannel strategy works, but if implemented properly. Other than the customers enjoying the strategy, it has led to increased sales in stores and online. It has also led to increased research by clients when buying. The more the channels, the more it becomes valuable.
If you plan to start an Omni-channel approach or have already begun creating it, you might face challenges along the way, but the hassle is worth it. In the long run, benefits outrun the challenges. You only need to have the best approach to create the best customer experience.
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