Omnichannel Marketing: Strategies for Creating Connected Customer Experiences

Introduction

Customers of today expect the brand to know their preferences despite where the engagement happens. The customer may be browsing a site via his/her computer, checking emails via the mobile device, posting a query via social media, and completing the transaction via a brick and mortar store. Brands that fail to recognize such disconnection will likely result in inconsistent experiences.

What matters is not only having the presence on various channels but rather coordination of all the communication, timing, personalization, and intent of the customer throughout the whole process. An effective plan will transform these disengaged engagements into seamless engagement.

Omnichannel Marketing Starts With Customer Intent

One of the main aspects of connected customer experience is the ability to know the reason why the person contacted the company. The customer who is researching the product differs from the customer comparing prices or asking for assistance in handling his existing order. Identical treatment of such two types of customers leads to the generalization of communication.

In addition to the segmentation by the channels of delivery, the company can segment customers by the purpose of their actions. Behavior on the website, email activity, purchases, support inquiries, and other indicators can be used to understand what kind of information the customer needs now. This approach is an important part of an effective Omnichannel Marketing strategy, where customer interactions across different channels can be coordinated based on their needs and behavior.

Such an approach not only increases the relevance of communication but also makes it more efficient as well, since there is no need to send the same messages through different channels if the customer performed the required action.

Omnichannel Marketing Can Strengthen Personalization

Beyond just using the customer’s name in emails, personalization today means a lot more. Customers expect companies to understand what they like, what conversations have taken place before, what their preferences are, and at what stage of the purchasing process they might be.

Instead of continuing to promote the same product to the customer, who had just bought it, the retailer can offer him other products which complement the purchased one. The software vendor can provide learning material for the new customer and show the more advanced functions to the loyal customer.

Personalization needs not only relevant data but also proper segmentation. Companies should pay attention not to collecting all possible data but to those, which help enhance the customer experience. Always relevance is more important than complexity.

Omnichannel Marketing and Customer Journey Mapping

Customer journey mapping gives a useful way to find out when there is a chance of disconnecting communications. Companies will map out key touchpoints that customers go through, including discovery, evaluation, purchase, onboarding, retention, and advocacy.

Touchpoints at each stage can be linked to the right forms of communication. For example, an interested customer will get educational material while researching, comparison guide while evaluating, and onboarding help after purchasing. Customer journey mapping helps teams understand the next step that customers will take.

At the same time, gaps in the process can also be identified using customer journey mapping. There could be a good acquisition campaign but not enough post-purchase communications for a company. Another organization could have good support services but not follow up with those customers who lost interest.

Omnichannel Marketing Makes Automation More Useful

Automations become more efficient when they react to the customer’s behavior instead of adhering to a strict schedule. Instead of sending one sequence to all prospects, companies can set up triggers in relation to their behavior, non-action, purchase, submission, or change of status.

For example, a company providing services through an online channel can offer an interesting case study or comparison of products for a prospect who visited the pricing page several times but failed to become a client. When the prospect asks for a demonstration, the conversation becomes another type of conversation.

The main thing is to employ automation to assist in making decisions instead of taking the place of human interaction entirely. The high-value conversations may be still performed by a salesperson, account manager, or any other specialist.

Omnichannel Marketing Requires Consistent Brand Experiences

Consistency does not mean the same message is published on all channels. All channels have their own advantages, formats, and customer expectations. A social media post, email, website landing page, and dialogue with the sales rep should be consistent yet adapted to its specific medium.

Brand tone, offers, product information, and key messages need to be kept the same. When a client notices one price on an ad and a completely different price on a website, trust is immediately broken. The same issues arise when the information provided by various departments conflicts.

Establishing consistent brand and communication guidelines could help solve the problem. Departments should be aware of the current messages, expired offers, and importance of product or policy information that needs to be delivered to customers.

Omnichannel Marketing Benefits From Continuous Experimentation

A connected customer strategy is something that cannot be regarded as a finite project that is completed. Customer behavior evolves, new platforms emerge, and some messages may become more or less effective at various periods. Ongoing testing allows companies to understand what drives engagement and conversion.

Companies can test everything from the message timing to its format, offer, call to action, onboarding process, and even channels. Testing single variables at a time makes it much easier to determine the cause and effect.

The most valuable tests are those related to business results. Engagement KPIs may prove valuable, but businesses need to look into their conversions, revenues, return rate, retention, and overall customer satisfaction as well.

Omnichannel Marketing Must Respect Customer Preferences

The principle of the greater amount of communication does not mean more effective communication. Customers should be able to influence what messages they get and what means of communication to use, such as the amount of contacts, their frequency, channels of contact and the type of subscription.

Data governance is another factor that companies should take into account. There should be proper permissions and data access, as well as the right duration of retaining customer information, as more systems are getting connected.

Preference management will allow to increase the efficiency of campaigns. People who prefer using email for communication should not be offered to use SMS and social media. This will make the business’ communication more respectful while saving from extra communication.

Omnichannel Marketing Avoids Common Implementation Mistakes

One mistake that many make is trying to activate all channels at once. Overseeing numerous channels without having proper processes in place will likely result in a lack of consistency and additional complexity. In such cases, companies would benefit from optimizing a few essential customer journeys first.

Another mistake lies in assessing each channel individually. The customer might find out about the company through social media, learn more about it using the website, and close the deal only after talking to sales. Ascribing credit only to the last interaction will fail to recognize the contribution of other channels.

Instead, one should look into the entire customer journey and pinpoint the areas where the customer encounters any friction. One needs to start with focusing on the most impactful interactions, especially those concerning acquisition, conversion, retention, and satisfaction.

Omnichannel Marketing Turns Interactions Into Relationships

The most powerful customer strategies are those that are based on continuity and not on channel volume. The customers should not be made to start from scratch each time they change their device, platform, department, or way of communicating. Every customer interaction must help in giving context for the next interaction.

Conclusion

While technology can help create the backbone of such a system, it is the strategy that will decide how valuable the backbone becomes. Brands require customer journeys that make sense, data management that makes sense, automation that makes sense, effective communication, and effective measurement.

With such an approach, brands can rise above the level of presence in all sorts of places and become an experience that is relevant, frictionless, and relationship building.