How to build an omnichannel strategy

Omnichannel refers to a unified approach to commerce that integrates all customer interactions across various channels - be it online platforms, physical stores, mobile applications, or social media into a cohesive and consistent experience. This means a customer can browse a product on your website, purchase it via a mobile app, and choose to pick it up in-store, all while enjoying a consistent and personalised experience.

Map the customer journey

Understanding your customers’ journey - covering everything from initial brand discovery right through to post-purchase - is an essential element of omnichannel marketing. By mapping out how shoppers engage with your brand at every step of the way, you can gain valuable insights into their needs, preferences, and pain points. This involves identifying every interaction a customer has with your brand, from initial awareness to aftercare, and gathering as much relevant information as possible to paint a clear picture of the complete purchasing process.

To really understand your customers:

• Carry out regular customer research through surveys, interviews, and data analysis to understand shopper behaviour, as well as their preferences and barriers to purchase.
• Frequently analyse and leverage CRM data, marketing analytics, and social media insights to identify key touchpoints for your brand.
• Use attribution tools to understand how each marketing channel and/or touchpoint influences customer decisions.
• Create visual maps (post-it notes are a great starting point) that outline the customer experience across all channels and touchpoints, highlighting key interactions and areas for improvement.
  
  

Create a single source of truth 

Another crucial omnichannel step is bringing together customer data from all channels into a single source, which involves plugging info from platforms such as CRM systems, analytics tools, social media apps, and point-of-sale systems into a central hub. The unified data view offers a much more in-depth understanding of each of your customers, capturing their interactions, preferences, purchase history, and online behaviour. By centralising this data, you can refine and tailor your marketing efforts, develop more personalised connections with your customers, and ensure consistency across all touchpoints.

To centralise your customer data:

• Invest in a CDP that’s specifically designed to collect, unify, and manage customer data from diverse sources, providing a real-time, 360-degree view of each individual.
• Integrate data from all channels and ensure seamless data flow between all touchpoints, including online and offline channels, to create a complete and accurate customer profile.
• Maintain data quality by regularly cleaning, deduplicating, and enriching customer data to ensure accuracy and reliability.
• Utilise the data insights to personalise marketing campaigns, improve customer service, and make data-driven decisions that enhance the customer experience.

Bring together your brand messaging

A cohesive brand experience is essential, and in line with the golden circle marketing theory, the ‘why’ behind what you do should be evident across every channel. To build trust and strengthen recognition, ensure your brand voice and values are reflected consistently across all touchpoints, from website copy and social media posts to in-store experiences and customer service interactions.

To cultivate a unified voice and experience:

• Develop clear brand guidelines that document your brand’s tone of voice, visual identity, and key messaging principles to ensure consistency across channels, while taking care to avoid monotonous repetition. Remember that the message should always be the same, however the words can vary.
• Train your team to ensure all employees, from marketing and sales to customer service, genuinely understand and radiate your brand. 
• Carry out regular brand audits and review all touchpoints to ensure consistency, identify areas for improvement, and make changes and improvements where needed.

Create a connected ecosystem

Seamlessly linking your marketing channels and operational systems is at the heart of a successful omnichannel strategy, as it ensures that shoppers can enjoy a frictionless experience, even when switching between online and offline touchpoints. Whether customers are browsing your eCommerce site, interacting with your brand on social media, or shopping in-store, every interaction should feel interconnected and consistent. 

To link your channels and systems:

• Integrate online and offline systems such as your eCommerce platform, CRM, POS systems, and other relevant technologies to enable data sharing and build a single customer view.
• Offer consistent experiences across all channels, including synchronised product availability and pricing, however remember to customise CTAs so they’re channel-appropriate.
• Utilise conversational commerce by enabling customers to initiate and continue conversations across different channels (e.g. start a chat online and continue it over the phone).
• Make sure your ERP system integrates smoothly with your brand’s eCommerce, CRM, and inventory management platforms to ensure consistent product availability and pricing across both online and offline touchpoints.

Personalise every touchpoint 

Hyper-personalisation is key to delivering meaningful and engaging experiences. By leveraging customer data and going beyond basic segmentation, you can create tailored messages, offers, and interactions that resonate with individual preferences and needs. From personalised product recommendations to targeted promotions, every touchpoint offers an opportunity to not only streamline the purchasing journey but also make customers feel genuinely valued.

To tailor the customer experience:

• Leverage data from your CDP and other sources to segment customers and personalise interactions, focusing on demographics, purchase history, browsing behaviour, and other relevant factors. 
• Harness the power of AI and machine learning to recommend products and services in real time based on individual customer preferences.
• Deliver personalised messages across all channels that are more likely to engage and create stronger connections with shoppers.

Automate for scalability 

Automation is an absolute game-changer for omnichannel marketing, and will empower you to manage multiple channels and touchpoints much more efficiently. By automating key tasks, retailers can maintain on-brand messaging, save time, and provide a smoother, more aligned experience for customers while also scaling up operations.

To streamline your omnichannel efforts:

• Invest in marketing platforms that can automate tasks such as email campaigns, social media scheduling, and targeted customer messaging.
• Use smart chatbots for customer support to provide instant assistance through automated interactions, helping resolve common queries and frequently asked questions around the clock.
• Streamline your order fulfilment process by automating inventory tracking, order processing, and shipping to not only ensure timely deliveries but also consistent, on-brand messaging.

Measure and refine 

As with any marketing strategy, regular evaluation and refinement of your omnichannel approach is vital. By measuring KPIs and analysing customer feedback, you can adjust your strategy and ensure that it remains aligned with evolving customer needs and your broader business goals.

To track and optimise your strategy:

• Monitor metrics such as customer lifetime value, customer acquisition cost, online store traffic, conversion rates, and customer satisfaction to assess your marketing effectiveness.
• Gather insights through surveys, product reviews, and social media comments to analyse customer feedback, understand customer perceptions and identify areas for improvement.
• Continuously assess your strategy, leveraging customer data and ongoing feedback to make informed adjustments and optimise customer experiences.
   

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