What Is Omnichannel Marketing and How to Apply It?

Omnichannel software graphic

Are you thinking about starting an omnichannel marketing campaign, but not quite sure how to do it?

In this article I’ll take a closer look, so you can effectively start an omnichannel marketing campaign and see why this useful method brings so much success to businesses around the world.

Omnichannel VS. Multichannel

Traditional multichannel marketing has been popular for some time, but it is no longer effective if you want a closer relationship with customers and more revenue.

Multichannel marketing is made to put the brand at the center. It spreads in different directions from one point and it goes to different channels of marketing, like Facebook, email or social networks. The communication is limited and you can only focus on one channel at a time.

If you start an ad on Facebook, you will see how many people interact with the ad. That is basically where the journey ends. You need something more than that.

If you want to truly interact with your customers, you should be able to see how they respond to a campaign when you offer them multiple channels of communication. That Facebook ad could be transformed into an email offering, which should be followed up by a newsletter signup and end with a phone call.

Why not use everything you have to transform that simple like on the Facebook into a sale? That is exactly what omnichannel marketing looks like.

You can use all marketing channels to put your customer at the center of your strategy and to follow their journey from the moment they discover your brand to the moment they purchase a product or service. Omnichannel marketing simply offers a more personal approach and more interacting options that influence the customer experience during the purchasing process.

As a result of this interaction, your company will have a better overview of the actions your customers take before they purchase something. It is the best way to actually know what they really like and what they need at every moment.

Omnichannel Marketing Brings Results

In many case studies, brands revealed that omnichannel marketing simply brings better results than other types of marketing.

One of the brands that realized this fact is Net-a-Porter.

They simply used some tactics that are based on customers’ experience in the brand’s entire ecosystem. They included social networks and mobile apps to keep customers updated. At the same time, they applied email marketing to follow-up on customer behavior. Emails about abandoned carts and birthday wishes worked the best for them at this stage.

At the end, Net-a-Porter strategists use ad retargeting to catch visitors who left their website before purchasing. When you combine all of these strategies and innovation, like the mobile app/social network known as The Net Set where the users can share images and interact with each other, you get the complete omnichannel circle where customers are at the center of the strategy.

As you may have expected, Net-a-Porter experienced:

● Better control of their channels
● Improvement of ROI
● Better brand awareness
● A unified experience for their customers

By using this strategy, Net-a-Porter had a total revenue of more than $3 billion in 2017, which is a year-over-year growth of 16.9%. Order values increased to about $400, which is higher than the most relevant online retailers, like Amazon. They realized omnichannel marketing can perform miracles if properly applied.

Ways to Implement Omnichannel Marketing

The best way to implement omnichannel marketing is by going through the whole customer journey. Research your products, place an order, complete refund processes, engage with all marketing channels and do everything that your customers do.

Ask for feedback and see what should be improved in your marketing strategy. Social networks, ad re-targeting and email marketing are the methods that give the best results, and you can implement them all in your campaign.

If you know that 86% of customers are willing to pay more money (up to 25% more money) for a better customer experience, then you should seriously consider omnichannel marketing in your brand orientation.

Learn more about omnichannel marketing and see how some businesses apply this strategy to get more sales and learn more about their customers. The strategy could be truly effective if implemented properly.

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