Omnichannel and multichannel are popular words in digital marketing references. This is yet another marketing strategy that can be adopted by e-commerce businesses.
Omnichannel is a type of digital marketing strategy that focuses more on the customer rather than the product itself. It’s a full-fledged approach that involves serving customers through all channels like social media, emails, websites, mobile, brick-and-mortar shop, and so on until it results in conversations.
It even continues after the sale of the product in some cases to enhance their after-sales services better. However, omnichannel should not be confused with multichannel as there is a thin line of difference between them.
Omnichannel marketing makes use of multichannel such that each channel works together with one after the other according to the targeted customer. On the other hand, multi-channel marketing makes use of multichannel but not in a manner omnichannel marketing treats it as. In multichannel marketing, the channels work independently as a separate entity. Let's understand it with the help of an example:
This series of engagements continue as now they will start showing other products through social media ads on your account. Therefore, an omnichannel marketing strategy works by taking the required action as per the user’s behavior.
Omnichannel marketing is an effective way to increase sales if performed diligently as it requires continuous efforts on the part of marketers. In omnichannel marketing, what action will be taken by the company next depends on the customer’s buyer behavior and actions. Each customer interaction is dealt with differently with a touch of personalization.
To get a better understanding of how brands are making use of omnichannel marketing strategy, here are some of the live examples:
Who thought digital marketing would make banking so easy. The omnichannel marketing strategy adopted by Bank of America enables customers to deposit checks, schedule appointments, pay monthly bills, and a lot of others without visiting the bank physically.
It still has a long way to go for more complex options like granting loans etc. but still makes use of omnichannel to provide the best experience to its customers with the help of responsive apps.
Connecting your digital and physical presence is not an easy task. However, Oasis, a UK-based fashion retailer, has made it possible by providing a top-notch shopping experience to its customers by connecting the various channels i.e., such as a mobile app, e-commerce website, and brick mortar shop.
These three channels work in coordination such that the customer can buy a product they saw on their eCommerce website from their brick and mortar shop and vice versa.
Every salesperson in their stores has iPads in their hands that help you find your product, all the related information, and even ship the out of stock products by placing an online order directly to your home address.
Starbucks uses its omnichannel strategy to provide the best payment and reward experience.
The deal is the Starbucks reward app. Starbucks provides a free reward card you can use to make a purchase. But don’t know how many reward points are still left, or are they enough to make another purchase? That’s when the reward app comes into action, unlike other customer loyalty programs that don’t provide the same information.
This app can be accessed through your mobile, website, and even in-store. You can instantly check-in for the points and even reload them while you are standing in the line itself. The omnichannel experience makes it possible to perform instant updates and provide the best experience to customers.
Pepperfry is an Indian furniture store that is based both as an in-store and eCommerce website.
To provide the omnichannel experience to its customers, it lets them choose their products through the website. Thereby, the customer can choose to visit the studio to look for the same product in person. To add to the purchasing experience, Pepperfry also provides the facility of design consultants at their studio shops to help their customers provide the best interior designing suggestions and ideas.
They create an atmosphere that doesn’t make the customer feel too forced to make an in-store purchase. The customer has full freedom to order it later from their website as well.
