Using Omnichannel Marketing to Help Your Conversions

Introduction

These days, a shopper is no longer limited to visiting a brick-and-mortar store. Customers today have the choice of additional methods as they go through their shopping experience. They can browse and buy products through their computers, mobile devices, and even at electronic kiosks. Through social media or a brand's website, they can do price comparisons, research reviews, and look up product details before finalizing any in-store or online purchases.

If you're not making yourself visible at all these channels your customers or potential customers frequent, your absence will hinder their customer experience and your conversions. To avoid this, you need to put omnichannel marketing into practice.

Using Omnichannel in Retail

Omnichannel marketing takes your customers from start to finish through a wholly integrated shopping experience. It unites the experience of in-store shopping with online browsing and other channels. Such as picking up an order in-store after purchasing online. Or browsing products at a brick-and-mortar store, scanning the product number with your phone app, to later make the purchase online in a different color or size. Or viewing items in newer styles at an online shop, exploring these products on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, and then receiving a redeemable in-store coupon. Another instance is having your data link to your customers' in-store purchases so that dedicated customers can receive messaging whenever you release comparable items.

When your sales content and activity easily flow from one platform to another, it will give your customers a seamless shopping experience that is the same however or wherever they engage with your brand.

Differences Between Omnichannel and Multichannel

Although both involve the use of multiple channels, omnichannel marketing integrates all channels where your customers frequent. Through omnichannel strategies, every interaction by a customer with your brand, no matter the channel, shows the same messaging and consistent experience.

Reasons to Use Omnichannel in Your Strategy

Business Insider conducted a study that discovered shoppers using multiple shopping methods made more frequent purchases. In a Harvard Business Review study of 46,000 shoppers, 7% exclusively shopped online, 20% shopped in-store only, and 73% shopped by using multiple channels. They also found that omnichannel shoppers liked using these various points of retailer access in a range of combinations and locations. Customers not only used phone apps for price comparisons or coupon downloads, but they were dedicated users of in-store interactive tools, such as price-checkers.

Besides using these various channels and contact points, customers enjoyed the omnichannel integration when available. Those who interacted in this experience bought 4% more when shopping in-store and 10% more online. Seamless shopping that transitions from one channel to another can dramatically boost sales and powerfully enables you to retain most of your customers.

Implementing an Omnichannel Strategy

Start by determining what platforms, mediums, and devices your customers use daily. Research where they prefer to shop, spend their time, and the events that motivate them. If you find your customers do not use a particular channel, investing your marketing budget in this is pointless.

A simple method to find popular channels to incorporate into your business is through consulting Google Analytics' Acquisition reports. From there, you can observe the exact source of how people discover and come to your website.

To go even further, you can generate various attribution reports within the Multi-Channel Funnels to examine the usual paths customers take prior to conversion. Surveying the complete conversion route this way assists you with properly identifying the channels and strategies that drive these sales.

Once you've defined the specific platforms to condense or refine, you can take this information to construct an omnichannel purchasing experience, where shopping opportunities are present at every touchpoint. A product added to a website shopping cart will also show up in a shopper's mobile app. When they visit the store's social media platform, they will see suggested products based on prior views made on other platforms.

Link the Online and Offline User Experience

Should your marketing plan involve any online sales, it's important to link both online and offline channels. A presence in both isn't enough, as customers expect a seamless connection between the two. They want to check online if a product is in stock prior to their visit, redeem an online coupon, use a digital or physical gift card, or make an online purchase that will be ready for in-store pickup.

Your final goal shouldn't be conversions limited to one platform. Sales should flow synchronously throughout all platforms, making each one shoppable while merging digital traffic with in-store visits.

Conclusion

Years ago, omnichannel marketing would have never been considered. But now, it's a critical marketing strategy. Most consumers consult multiple channels before their purchase. Restricting your brand to solely one or two channels without a smooth integration can hinder your growth over time. Keep watching for novel outlets and methods to link all channels. Build a user experience that isn't limited to one platform. Instead, build an experience that can be finalized and repeated on each platform and watch your conversions grow.