The term omnichannel is not new to the marketing industry. Most businesses might be using this technique without actually knowing this terminology.
Omnichannel refers to the sales and marketing experience that your customers have throughout all your channels, whether it be in-store or online. It allows your customer to enjoy a seamless experience with the same brand message while also personalising each touchpoint.
Omnichannel Flow
A customer will most likely not purchase a product from you the first time. This is why it is crucial for you as a business to follow the customer across all touchpoints till they eventually buy from you.
This means that if a customer visits your Instagram page, website, or eCommerce site and selects a product that he/she likes then we must ensure that they are either following our page before leaving or signing up to receive updates.
The messaging at your customer’s first touchpoints is important. If you are using Instagram, then your page aesthetics must be great or your landing pages optimised to influence action.
The second touchpoint will be your email and SMS strategies. Setting up emails and SMS is very easy for small businesses. A bulk SMS service of about N2000 can give you up to 500+ messages while email services like mail chimp offer automatic replies for new users for free.
Once your prospect has signed up, they receive a welcome email from your business and special opt-in offers for signing up. The SMS is then programmed to come in two days after as a reminder with links to visit your page or website back.
The third touchpoint is your retargeting across your touchpoints. It will be a good strategy to retarget people who have visited your Facebook, Instagram, or website by reminding them will adverts because they may probably have abandoned a product at the first touchpoint.
The last touchpoint is for customers to make their decision to purchase.
Practical Omnichannel strategies to adapt
Every organisation will have different omnichannel strategies that would work for them. We would take a look at two companies doing marvellously well with omnichannel.
Disney
People usually pay attention to the degree of detail you put into your design. Disney customers can book a trip from Disney’s website on any device. Its responsiveness across all devices is the same. Once you book your trip, there is an experienced tool that allows you to plan your entire trip from food to places you want to see. Also, you can use your mobile phone to see locations and know when it will be convenient to visit.
Everything you experience from food, hotel reservations, and visit is integrated and personalised to you.
Virgin Atlantic
One in every four customers would probably experience an issue with their service provider. Customers even go as far as sharing their grievances on Twitter or Facebook after a bad experience.
A brilliant tactic for any business would be to meet their customers at every point of the sales experience to ensure it is seamless and complaints become less. At Virgin Atlantic Airlines, everyone reaches out to help customers at every point instead of moving to customer care.
There are many genuine ways to create your omnichannel from creating mobile apps to ease the ordering of your products. Customers can see your product online and set up a meeting to see the product at your shop or a designated area if you wish.
As businesses, we must also hold ourselves accountable to make sure we have also stocked our store. We should be able to ascertain if it is the same customer that visited our Instagram page and also called us for an inquiry. If your customers have to describe their needs again even when they have been on other channels for inquiries, then there is still a lot of omnichannel work to do.
Steps to get started with your Omnichannel Strategy
- Ensure your team is involved.
- Know Your Customer.
- Have a brand message across all touchpoints.
- Analyse and measure.
Advantages of Omnichannel for your business
- Allows you to grow your business.
- Gives your customer the best experience.
- Increase sales and get you more customers.