All Hail The Omnichannel Marketing Experience

I do not claim to be a media guy. But as a strategic planner I can appreciate a media plan that’s truly customer centric and mines real insights from target journeys. So when I started hearing about Omnichannel Marketing, which ensures a seamless customer experience across devices, I found it really intriguing.

For those as green as I was an omnichannel marketing campaign is NOT the same thing as a multichannel campaign, which agencies have been hawking for years. Multichannel campaigns are simply campaigns that use a lot of different media – Print, Digital, Social, OOH – to convey information and/or activate a purchase. Importantly, in a multichannel campaign each channel is its own entity where the customer engages with one medium and that’s that.

But think about it – do we really stay with only one channel throughout the purchase cycle? Recent data cited in the DesignRush article, “What is Omnichannel Marketing? How to Create Strategies, Campaigns & Solutions to Build Your Business in 2019,” shows that it’s rare for consumers to stick with one medium only all the way through the journey. Consumers take different paths to purchase. For example, according to the study 65% start their journey on a smartphone. Of those consumers 61% continue on a PC or Laptop and 4% go to a tablet.

Enter Omnichannel Marketing – the process of creating a fully integrated, cross channel marketing plan that gives a continuous experience to the consumer regardless of what medium is used for engagement.

The data on omnichannel marketing is staggering in terms of both purchase and customer loyalty. The report goes on to explain that online shoppers that shop across devices spend on the average 25% more than those who don’t. And organizations that deploy omnichannel strategies retain an impressive 89% of their customers compared to 33% for organizations who do not, making a strong case for omnichannel marketing in the retail space.

Which brings me to an interesting thought: If this is truly the way consumers get educated and take action, why limit this idea to the retail space? What about other verticals such as financial services or healthcare? Could you imagine shopping for investments or a medical provider across devices? Or for that matter, could you actually learn about charitable causes across devices and identify charities worthy of support? I’m sure it’s already happening in categories beyond retail. Time for marketers to get on the bandwagon.

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