From multi to omnichannel marketing

Photo by Pickawood on Unsplash

Not all marketing strategies deliver the same rates of returns. Omnichannel marketing outperforms single channel at the rate of 2.5x.

To get to that, it’s not enough to build an easy-to-navigate eCommerce site supported by marketing campaigns that reach out to them on various channels. All those components have to be integrated to work together through an omnichannel strategy.

The ROI of Omnichannel Marketing 

The returns of omnichannel marketing over single channel are quite impressive, according to the data offered on Clickz:

• Engagement rate: 18.96% on omnichannel vs 5.4% on single-channel

• Purchase frequency: 250% higher on omnichannel vs single-channel

• Average order value: 13% more per order on omnichannel vs single-channel

• Customer retention rates: 90% higher for omnichannel vs single-channel

One channel doesn't cut it

Most eCommerce businesses today do not rely on only one digital marketing channel. When competing for customer attention, you need to reach out to them in different ways in the hope that what they didn’t click on an email may still get a click on SMS or an ad served on social media.

 In a survey by HBR (Harvard Business Review), 73% of respondents said they use multiple channels during their shopping journey. That includes email, SMS, MMS, social media, as well as searches on the site.

The challenge for retailers is maintaining coherent and consistent communication that makes the most of the different ways of connecting.  A Facebook or Instagram ad may be what first grabs the customer’s attention, though they may need some follow up to convert to the level of putting together a shopping cart with an email or MMS  message that offers personalized recommendations.

So why do we call this omni and not just multichannel?

Multichannel marketing is simply messaging that a brand uses across various channels to try to increase its reach. In contrast, omnichannel marketing is not just about sending the messaging out across the different channels but linking up the data on feedback on each one back to the customer to personalize the experience through responsive adaption. 

Customer interests are not static but constantly changing as they respond to contextual triggers. Brands that utilize omnichannel use big data analytics to update customer data and adapt  each message that goes out accordingly. An omnichannel approach adapts to such shift to make marketing messages as relevant as possible.

Timely texts

Emails remain an important marketing tool for all businesses, especially eCommerce. However, widespread smartphone use makes texts a very effective way to get attention, as they work off a device many people keep at hand for most of their waking hours. 

Text messages the perfect medium for sending time-sensitive information. That includes:

• Announcement of new product drops, especially if one of the benefits you offer SMS subscribers is early access to what’s new.

• Promotions for  same-day  flash sales, particularly if they are set for certain times like noon to three. 

• Notification that something they wanted to order is now back in stock or is now on sale.

• An urgent notice that their selections in a cart they abandoned are in danger of selling out.

Channeling Success with Targeted Communication

Targeted messaging is much more effective than generic messaging. The basis of that communication is identifying customer segments, and it can get even more relevant with personalization with product offerings and promotions selected specifically for that customer’s interests.

No matter how responsive your customers are to emails or texts, it’s important to remember that a single channel does not fit all customers under all circumstances. You need to adapt to the needs and context of the moment to deliver the right message through the right medium.. 

For example, you could have a customer who has subscribed to both emails and texts. Even though sending an SMS is fast and easy, it's not an appropriate medium for longer messages. You also can use both channels for reminders say of an upcoming promotion or a price drop on something they have looked at but didn't end up adding to cart or that they added it to the cart but failed to complete the transaction.  

On that basis, you can get the right offer to the right person at the right time, and through the right channel.

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Amazon uses snail mail for direct mail

I got mail from Amazon. I don’t mean a package for something I ordered or the usual email marketing marketing message but an honest-to-goodness paper letter that was folded into an envelope and sent to me via the post office. 

So here’s my response:

Dear Amazon Prime Video,

I have received your letter and do appreciate your taking the time to reach out to me, though I do wonder at your inability to match the personalized envelopes with a letter that would address the recipient by name. 

 The real reason I don’t use Prime Video is because there is nothing on there that I would want to see.Let me correct that. There are a few movies that have caught my eye, but they all require another paid subscription on top of Amazon Prime. In other words, they would not be included free with my membership.

As with any business, don’t assume people aren’t using your service simply because they don’t know about. Consider the possibility that your service doesn’t meet their needs or interests.

Thank you,

Ariella Brown

To read my analysis of what Amazon got right, see Dear Amazon Prime Video Team

Related: Ryan George shows best and worst marketing practices

Seeing stars

Today's targeted marketing is powered by data and automation

 Marketing is always more effective when it is more targeted. As a result of integrating data and algorithms, marketers are able to now deliver a personalized customer experience at scale. 

There are various ways to target specific customers, and approaches range from lumping customers into very broadly defined categories to getting a lot more fine-tuned about the segments and responsive to individual customer behavior .In collaboration with Google, Deloitte put out a Digital transformation through data: a guide for retailers to drive value with data that took a closer look at these gradations. 

It ranked them as follows:

• Limited segmentation: All users are analyzed in broad segments. 

• Basic segmentation: Uses standard characteristics (e.g., gender, geography) for segmentation.

• Detailed segmentation: Segments are based on personal and behavior

• Dynamic segmentation: The UX / UI can respond to a customer’s in-session behavior as he or she exhibits different segment characteristics.

Achieving the detailed level depends on much more data than the static kind that is used for basic segmentation, and advancing to the dynamic level requires a level of automation that will enable recommendations and responses to go out in real-time. 

 The coming AI revolution in retail and consumer products invoked the women’s clothing store,  Avenue Stores LLC as an example of dynamic segmentation. It explained that  it brings together “data across multiple touchpoints, including in-store activities and market trend analysis, to learn and reason about what customers want and when they want it.” On that basis it can reach out to customers with communication tailored to their situation in real-time, which makes it possible to capture their attention while in “‘shopping mode.” 

Marketing for loyalty

Being in touch with your customers to let them know you’re there for them without pressuring them to buy can pay off in winning their loyalty and business later. In this case, your automated messaging doesn’t have to respond to segment your audience, as you would be working off a general form of communication.

When you don’t have history

But what if you do need to sell your products now? Marketing recommendations can work even on the more basic level, not just for new customers for whom you have no history to flesh out a profile but for the type of marketing communication that depends on general trends. For example, a very broad segment of all people in the United States can work for promotions tied to events shared by all due to the calendar, whether it’s Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, etc. 

You don’t need to know much about your customer other than that they’ll know what these days are because they are on their calendars due to living in the United States for the trending algorithm to work well. That makes using this approach ideal for customers for whom you don’t have first-party data.

It doesn’t matter so much what they are normally interested in or what they’ve bought before when you’re sending out a marketing message about buying their mother something before May 10. However, if you do have information about the customer, say you know they’ve ordered flowers for their mother last year, then you can combine the trending recommendation with what you know about their behavior.

Read more in

Advanced Segmentation and Automation Are Changing the Marketing Game

Pick a Pumpkin for Perfectly Personalized October Marketing

  Pick a Pumpkin for Perfectly Personalized October Marketing

by Ariella Brown

We in the 2020s, and it's time for marketers to take a more inclusive approach for their messaging this season. Not everyone celebrates Halloween, and even those who do are likely to be scaling it back  this year.

Halloween is a major occasion for sales in a normal year as close to 70% of Americans, according to Statista,  celebrate. Ever think about the 30% that don’t? 

This is a good year to take them into consideration.

A combination of outright restrictions and individual choices are  taking parades, traditional trick-or-treating and big bashes  off the table for October 31. Consequently, even people who normally do shell out the NRF’s estimated average of  $86 and change  for the day are expected to spend less this year, reports Market Watch.

But that doesn’t mean that October is a bust for marketing. On the contrary, there are opportunities to effectively target customers by understanding what this point in the calendar means to them. 

That means identifying what kind of pumpkin resonates with your customer: Is it  a jack-o’-lantern, an ordinary gourd, or pumpkin spice flavor? 

Jack-o’-lantern marketing

https://p0.pikrepo.com/preview/471/304/jack-o-lantern-on-brown-surface-thumbnail.jpg

These customers are the prime target for straight-up, over-the-top Halloween marketing. Even among them, though, there are still distinct segments, and marketing should be targeted accordingly. 

You have your customers who think of it as a celebration centered around children and who want the products and imagery to reflect that. Think cartoon-style ghosts and witches to go with your classic or plastic jack-o’-lantern.

For those at a different stage of life, Halloween may be about adult parties where alcohol is served and where the spookiness rating goes from G to R. Imagery for that is more realistic and possibly more risque. 

How to know which witch to go with for your messaging? Segment your communication.

Plain pumpkin marketing

The picture above is from the Bed Bath & Beyond site. The classic harvest setup is the one that was chosen for the cover of the catalogue it sent me with the “let’s get this fall rolling” emblazoned on it.

The decor is about celebrating Fall rather than Halloween, though even that can come with different vibes, according to one’s particular taste. It makes sense for Bed Bath & Beyond to target the plain pumpkin type of customers because they make up the general Fall market.

That market is far-reaching, extending from food to fashion, cosmetics to decor, even blankets needed for cooler nights. Bed Bath & Beyond carries items from all of those categories.

For those who want a particular date to which to tie their purchases, this year there is 10/10. As Bloomberg reported, the designated shopping day is inspired by China’s Singles’ Day, which sparks record levels of shopping every year on 11/11.

This new October shopping event is the brainchild of Deborah Weinswig, a retail consultant. She told Bloomberg that she has been pressing for it for years, though this year retailers finally embraced it in the hopes of starting December shopping earlier to make sure inventory and delivery can keep up with demand.

Pumpkin spice marketing mystique

For some, ordinary pumpkins just don’t cut it. But pumpkin spice is another matter, particularly the latte associated with the flavor that owns the acronym, PSL.

The pumpkin spice mystique is not just about the flavor; it’s about building a connection with customers based on anticipation and engagement. Starbucks does it brilliantly.

Beginning in August, Starbucks kicks up the buzz as speculation about when the first one of the new season will be poured builds. Starbucks deliberately switches the date of release each year to maintain the mystery and increase anticipation.

Even brands that don’t sell anything associated with pumpkin spice directly can apply this marketing approach. When you want to build up to the launch of a new product, a special event, or even a return of a seasonal item, you can let your customers know to look out for it and build their excitement.

A similar approach can work for just about any retailer who can deliver the right message to connect with customers. It’s all about finding what they will find relevant to them and segmenting accordingly.

This season, the marketers that show they really know their customers are the ones who will deliver the inclusive and on target communication. They know that one pumpkin does not fit all.

 

For a literary connection for pumpkin spice marketing, see 

From Shakespeare to Starbucks: Pumpkin spice marketing mystique