{"id":13970,"date":"2020-12-16T04:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T04:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=13970"},"modified":"2023-01-17T10:15:39","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T10:15:39","slug":"the-guide-to-omnichannel-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/the-guide-to-omnichannel-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"The Guide to Omnichannel Strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a modern-day consumer, you’re making more decisions every day than any previous generation. Not only are you making conscious choices about where to eat or which shirt to buy, but you’re also making subconscious notes about advertisements or posts from friends on <\/span>social media<\/a>. You are<\/span>\u00a0generally processing thousands of data points each day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Going through a day is now less about time spent seeking answers and more about considering existing choices and moving forward. Whether we like it or not, we\u2019re omnichannel<\/a> customers, and retailers know it.<\/span><\/p>\n

While being hit with information through a vast set of online and offline channels may seem stressful as a consumer, it’s actually the business marketer’s best friend. Done correctly, omnichannel marketing gets the right piece of marketing in front of the right person at a point in their journey where it positively impacts the outcome of a conversion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Performing well in an omnichannel world requires businesses to think creatively and be hyper agile in decision making. This guide makes an argument for omnichannel experiences, helps you and your team see how it can fit into your broader strategy and provides tips for getting started. Let\u2019s start with defining omnichannel and the pieces that live inside an omnichannel strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is an Omnichannel Retailing Strategy?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Photo by<\/span> Patrick Tomasso<\/span><\/a> on<\/span> Unsplash<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

An omnichannel retail strategy deploys strategic, intentional marketing efforts across all available offline and digital channels to a well-segmented audience. This means your online and offline communications must align. Alignment and consistency are what separate omnichannel from multichannel efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It means your emails and text messages should mirror real-life events. It means you need clean data, a deep understanding of your customer’s intentions, and an ability to refine your approach constantly. Ideally, your omnichannel efforts are run by a full team of experts–though it\u2019s quite possible to accomplish great things with a team of a few or even one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some key elements that sit behind a great omnichannel approach.<\/span><\/p>\n

Customer Journey Mapping<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Customer journey maps come in a variety of formats but generally highlight key points along the path from awareness of a brand to making a purchase, and beyond. Simply, it’s a document that shows how strangers find your business, consider whether they’d like to do business with you, and then where and how they make their decision. Ideally, this map indicates channels being used throughout the journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

Benefits of a well-documented customer journey are felt from sales (ability to empathise with customer position) to marketing (quicker refinement of channel mix and incorporation of other elements), and beyond. For omnichannel marketing, the map gives you a clean way to see which channels fire at which point in the journey.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This isn’t typically a place to list out specific assets or even necessarily specific marketing activations. It is a place to note things like:<\/b><\/p>\n