In a world dominated by digital connectivity and ever-expanding consumer choices, delivering a brand experience that isn’t 100% seamless in 2024 is not an option.
Research clearly shows that brands with the strongest omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain almost 90% of their customers – vs 33% for those with weak strategies. That’s a difference too stark to ignore.
What’s more, brands that successfully provide omnichannel engagement enjoy a 9.5% yearly increase in annual revenue.
But leveraging multiple channels is only half of the battle. We know that customers are instantly put off by a disjointed brand experience – 76% due to lack of relevance and 51% due to lack of authenticity, according to Edelman’s latest research.
With this in mind, the focus should be on cultivating a Single Customer View (SCV), as well as exploring new and innovative ways to deliver a consistent experience across all channels. But how?
1. Research your customers
Understanding your customers is the cornerstone of a successful omnichannel brand experience. Dive into their preferences, behaviours, and expectations. What are they looking for? How are they looking for it? Recent research shows that two-thirds (66%) of customers expect brands to understand their needs and expectations, while just over two-thirds (68%) expect empathy.
2. Map your touchpoints
The fact is, customer journeys don’t always follow a linear path. More often than not, they have a ‘messy middle’. But this doesn’t mean you can’t map your customer touchpoints. In fact, embracing this messy middle and delivering consistent brand messaging across each channel is the key to nailing an optimal brand experience – especially when over three-quarters (76%) of consumers expect consistent interactions across departments.
First, identify each touchpoint your customer can have with your brand across online and offline channels – right from brand awareness through to consideration, purchase, and post-purchase – and make sure each is linked and ready for a seamless experience.
3. Centralise your data
As per the maxim rubbish in, rubbish out, your insights are only as strong as your data. If it is stuck in platform-specific silos, you’ll end up with a complex multichannel strategy. Instead, you need to unify your data to be able to effectively measure where and how customers interact with your brand.
This can involve centralising different types of data, including zero-party data (e.g. preferences that customers deliberately and proactively share with a business), first-party data (e.g. CRM data collected, stored and used by a business), second-party data (customer data shared by mutual agreement e.g. Google or Facebook) or third-party data (e.g. research company data collected by parties not involved in a transaction).
UK retail giants including Tesco and Sainsbury’s exemplify this by integrating customer data across online and in-store purchases, enabling them to offer personalised promotions based on comprehensive customer insights.
4. Integrate marketing automation platforms
Marketing automation is vital for successfully executing an omnichannel strategy. It will help you collect the necessary data (see step above), and perform trigger-based actions throughout the customer journey.
Global beauty brand L’Oréal effectively utilises marketing automation to tailor promotions based on customer behaviour, enhancing engagement across multiple channels.
5. Test and learn
Creating a culture of continuous development within your business is the key to improving your omnichannel marketing strategy over time. Learn from what is and isn’t working by getting customer feedback, as well as testing campaign performance, and use those insights to continually refine your strategy. Examples of test-and-learn tactics include A/B testing different ad creatives to identify which perform best in terms of CTR, revenue per visitor etc.
European retailer H&M has successfully implemented a test-and-learn approach which gathers customer feedback to adapt its omnichannel strategy. This iterative process ensures the brand stays agile and responsive to evolving customer preferences.
Mastering omnichannel in 2024
In 2024, only the strongest brands – supported by a single customer view – will thrive. To avoid being one of the ‘33%’ brands, now is the time to prioritise in-depth customer research, meticulous touchpoint mapping, centralised data, effective integration of marketing automation, and a commitment to continuous learning.
Is your brand as clear and unified as it can be across every channel?
Adopting an omnichannel approach across your brand often takes a level of marketing and cultural transformation that can be overwhelming without support. At Cognitive Union, we use our 25 years of combined experience to provide our clients with consultancy and training in digital, marketing, data and culture transformation.
See how we can help you equip your teams with the skills they need to develop an omnichannel marketing strategy by contacting us today.