5 Ways to Win With Omnichannel Marketing

Smart, technology-driven strategies will attract a growing number of shoppers in the coming year, and retailers that develop a strong, seamless omnichannel marketing strategy—one that includes targeted, technology-driven marketing messages—could drive increased customer loyalty and potentially incremental sales.

“As consumers become more and more comfortable transacting across different channels, there is an opportunity for retailers to interact with them at every stage of the shopping journey in order to drive greater loyalty with their brand,” said Amy Parsons, Vice President of Global Commerce at Discover. “A strong omnichannel strategy will leverage the power of each channel—in-store, online, mobile—for their unique strengths, while maintaining a seamless experience for the consumer.”

With that said, a strong omnichannel strategy should consider how to integrate mobile, shopping behavior, and new technologies to improve the retail experience across all devices. From smartphone engagement to leveraging social media, here are five examples of what retailers could focus on when developing their omnichannel marketing strategy:

1. Minimize Road Blocks

New standards have been set over the years that retailers offer a range of purchasing and delivery options to their customers, ultimately offering customers the flexibility to purchase items, customize delivery, and return or exchange items easily through any channel. Strategies to consider include:

• Offering a purchase online, pick-up in-store option, to give customers the flexibility to buy and bring home how they wish.
• Enabling an “endless aisle”—in which customers might find an item in the store that isn’t the right color or size, and they can finish purchasing the correct item from another store or channel.
• Allowing customers to buy an item online and return it in the store, if need be, for a better customer service experience.

2. Identify Your Customers’ “Consideration Period”

Today, what’s important is the “consideration period,” or the window of time in which ads are served and purchases are made. One way to be successful on this front is for retailers to unveil hyper-relevant messaging during the time a customer signals their purchasing intent.

For example, though most kids don’t go back to school until the end of August, 65 percent of parents start researching supplies and products by mid- to late-July, and a quarter of them said they would make purchases during this time.[1] Merchants with a vested interest in peak shopping holidays could capitalize on the opportunity to ramp up their customer reach by launching targeted online marketing campaigns that leverage search engine optimization, which could increase online traffic to their e-commerce website when customers search for certain products.

3. Maintain Consistent Pricing across Channels

When customers can interact with a retailer through multiple channels—say, shopping on their desktop sometimes and their smartphone other times—ensuring that the pricing for items is consistent is critical for building trust among consumers. Indeed, an October 2014 RSR Research study found pricing affected 85 percent of consumer buying decisions, second only to product availability.

4. Be Prepared For Shopping to Start on the Smartphone

It’s been found that some shoppers will begin their retail journey on their smartphones, since they are comfortable making purchases there, and screens have become larger and easier to use in recent years. While the influence of both digital (laptops, kiosks, tablets, and wearables, for example) on in-store retail purchases shows double-digit growth, mobile in particular is surging. A May 2015 report by Deloitte called “Navigating the Digital Divide” shows mobile impacting 49 percent of in-store sales last year, compared to digital’s 28 percent. This means retailers need their mobile experience to be as relevant, efficient, and seamless at whatever moment their customer is interacting with it.[2] To better leverage this channel, merchants could encourage customers to start shopping on their smartphones, before other channels such as online, by sending targeted alerts based on prior transaction history and physical location.

5. Get On Board with “Buy Now” Social Media Buttons

Americans spend nearly three hours consuming non-voice data on their smartphones[3], much of it on social media; the average user spends 42 minutes a day on Facebook, 21 minutes on Instagram, and 20 minutes on Pinterest.[4] This year, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube have introduced buttons that allow users to purchase directly from these sites, especially on mobile devices. Perhaps what is more valuable are the algorithms retailers can tap into to target potential shoppers through their past purchase history on these social networks.

While the landscape of potential customer interaction may seem multi-faceted and potentially overwhelming, it is full of opportunity for retailers to create deeper relationships with their customers and speak to them in more personalized, relevant ways.

“When a retailer is considering ways to enhance their customer experience, one of the simplest approaches is determining their communication and marketing goals and then leveraging different channels to achieve these goals,” Parsons added. “In the end, always be thoughtful about what to communicate to consumers and the ideal channels to deliver that communication.”

[1] http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Schools-OutReady-Back-to-School/1010951

[2] http://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/harvard-business-review-google-micromoments-shopper-journey.pdf

[3] http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Growth-of-Time-Spent-on-Mobile-Devices-Slows/1013072

[4] http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/social-media-minutes-day/503160