Omnichannel Marketing in a Nutshell

The right marketing strategy can make or break a business. It is the only way customers can know more about your product and services, build trust with your brand and form lifelong relationships. Today, retailers are finding marketing strategies that focus on customers and can create a seamless marketing experience. Omnichannel marketing serves as one such marketing strategy.

What is Omnichannel strategy?

As we know that there are multiple marketing channels available these days like social media, email, blog, live chat, phone, brick and mortar stores, etc. A customer might choose any channel to interact with a business. An Omnichannel marketing strategy aims to provide an integrated shopping experience to customers through every marketing channel.

Omnichannel marketing example

Suppose a customer sees a Facebook ad about a t-shirt and they visit the business website. They then add the product (t-shirt) to their shopping cart but they leave the website before making a purchase.

Then, the customer can be reminded to complete their purchase in multiple ways:

●     Facebook: The customer can receive retargeting ads and a message on Facebook messenger

●     Email: The customer might receive an email encouraging them to engage with the brand once again and make the purchase

●     Social media platforms: The customer might also receive retargeting ads on other social media channels like Instagram, YouTube, etc.

How is Omnichannel marketing different from multichannel marketing?

Multichannel marketing does not integrate all the marketing channels and it does not provide a personalized, integrated shopping experience to the customers. Here, the brand pushes a message through different marketing channels. The user will receive the message and then will respond accordingly.

On the other hand, in Omnichannel marketing, the customer decides when they want to interact with a brand and how. The brand sends the messages to the customers but the message is synchronized across all channels. The brand is aware of the touch-points when the customer has interacted with the brand and it tailors its messages accordingly.

Rise of Omnichannel loyalty programs

Today loyalty program companies in India are using the Omnichannel strategy to make their marketing efforts more optimum. With an Omnichannel loyalty program, a customer can utilize the benefits being offered to them across multiple channels. For instance, they can use the reward points earned from online shopping in the offline store and vice-versa. Customers can also be rewarded for their activities beyond their purchase such as promoting the business on social media, referring your brand to a friend, etc.