Businesses are continually looking for new ways to engage with their customers personally, especially now that we are in the AI era. One such way is through omnichannel marketing.
The reason is quite simple. That’s what customers want. 56% of your customers will likely become loyal if you personalize your purchasing experience.
But what is omnichannel marketing? And how do you create this type of customer journey? We’ll give you the lowdown of everything you need to know.
Let’s begin.
What Is Omnichannel Marketing?
Omnichannel marketing is a way businesses engage with customers by giving them access to their products and services on all their channels, devices, and platforms.
The whole idea is to ensure you establish a seamless connection with customers, regardless of the channels you use.
In other words, how you interact with your customers should be the same on your email, Messenger, live chat, phone, or even in physical shops.
For example, let’s say your business sells eco-friendly home cleaning products, and a potential customer finds one of your promotional videos on TikTok or Instagram.
From there, they may check out your website and subscribe to your email newsletter to get exclusive offers and discounts.
Eventually, the customer drives to your physical shop close to their area to buy your product or orders from your online store.
The purpose of the omnichannel marketing strategy is to make sure that the information or messages the customer receives are coherent and seamless across all channels.
What Is a Marketing Channel?
With the marketing channel, the emphasis is on how a customer gets your message, like email, television, social media, mobile apps, etc.
For example, email marketing is one of the most powerful ways to interact with your customers since it’s direct and you can make it personal.
This is especially true if you use behavioral segmentation.
Multichannel vs. Omnichannel Marketing
Multichannel and omnichannel marketing both use different channels to interact with customers. However, multichannel marketing operates independently.
That means the way you engage with customers is different on each channel or platform.
For example, if you have physical stores and social media, the message focus may be different; there is no consistency.
On the other hand, omnichannel marketing provides consistent customer experience across all channels.
How Email Campaigns Optimize Omnichannel Marketing Strategies
There’s no doubt that social media is incredibly popular today. But still, 84.3% check their emails at least once a day.
So, email marketing campaigns are still a powerful tool you can use to increase your omnichannel customer engagement.
Here are some ways to optimize your omnichannel marketing strategies with email marketing:
- Integrating emails with other channels
One of the tried and tested ways of improving your omnichannel strategy is to integrate email marketing with other channels.
Let’s say a customer is checking out products in your online store. You can send customized emails using their browsing history as the basis.
Also, when customers purchase a product from a local store, they can receive an email receipt and recommendations based on what they bought.
- Using emails to group and personalize messages
Using customer data from different channels, you can group and make your emails personal.
By looking at how your customers behave on various platforms, you can send customized emails to them at different phases of their purchasing journey.
- Using emails strategically in omnichannel campaigns
You can time the email campaigns and tailor them to complement efforts in other channels, improving the whole marketing plan.
You can use your email campaigns to complement marketing efforts on other platforms based on your customer information from various channels.
For example, you can promote the same product through your email and social media campaigns at the same time.
Also read: How to Do Email Marketing in 2024: A Step-by-Step Guide
Success Stories of Brands Using an Omnichannel Marketing Strategy
Below, you’ll find companies that have used the omnichannel marketing strategies to perfection. Not only did they increase sales, but they also improved their customer experience and long-term relationships.
Here are some of the success stories:
- Target collaborating with Pinterest
Target worked with Pinterest to integrate Pinterest’s Lens into their app.
All the customers had to do was to take a photo of something they wanted to buy. The app would then display similar items for them to buy.
This move by Target improved the customer experience because you instantly knew if the product was available or not. And if it is available, you can order it right away without wasting time.
This increased Target’s sales by 10%.
- Kellogg’s UK partnering with Skai
There was a new regulation in the UK that affected Kellogg’s advertising, so they asked Skai to help adjust their advertising strategy. And this they did using the omnichannel marketing approach.
Kellogg used Nectar360 (Skai’s innovative platform) to change their advertising strategy to an omnichannel one.
This move turned out to be the jackpot because they improved their revenue by 85% and increased their return on investment by 25%.
- Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines is an excellent example of providing a smooth experience to their customers. People know them for their innovative and customer-based omnichannel marketing strategy.
Singapore Airlines partnered with airports with AOE integration and shopping centers to combine online and offline experiences.
Customers could use this partnership to shop, pre-book, earn real-time loyalty, and improve in-flight options.
- Value City Furniture
Value City Furniture has improved its omnichannel marketing methods.
They were able to find the problem that customers face when they shop online but also want to physically experience the furniture before making a purchase.
Value City Furniture launched an “Easy Pass” program, which allowed customers to create a shopping list online and then go to a local physical store.
Then, the salespeople in the store can access the customer list and display the furniture.
Customers can also create a wish list in their shopping cart while in-store and access more product information online.
This seamless shopping strategy resulted in a significant 55% increase in overall shopping engagement for the company.
- Disney
You can’t talk about omnichannel marketing without Disney. They’ve set a high standard that other retailers are aiming for.
The omnichannel marketing strategy starts when you visit the website. From there, you go to the “My Disney Experience” tool, which you can use to plan every trip’s details.
When you get to the park, you can use the app to find out the rides and various attractions and even see the wait times for popular rides.
To Sum Up
You cannot ignore the role email marketing plays in omnichannel marketing. When done right, you can boost your customer engagement and overall revenue.
And that’s what we’ve done in this guide. You can check out the success stories and use that as a stepping stone to include email campaigns in your omnichannel marketing strategy.
If this article was helpful, please share it with your friends who might need it!