McKinsey & Company found that 81% of customers researched items on multiple channels before buying a single product.
With omnichannel personalization, it always feels like you’re buy whatsapp number list reading a customer’s mind and giving them exactly what they want every time they interact with your brand. And in doing so, you deeply connect with them and create a relationship that goes beyond a simple purchase.
With that in mind, we’ll cover what this strategy involves and how you can use it to grow your business.
What is omnichannel personalization?
Simply put, omnichannel personalization creates a seamless and consistent customer experience across physical and digital touchpoints. It also involves tailoring interactions to each individual’s preferences and needs.
With omnichannel, you have a complete view of how customers interact with your business. It lets you give each shopper a hyper-personalized experience and makes it more likely for them to become loyal customers.
Let’s take a clothing store as an example.
A customer visits the company’s website and adds a few dresses to their shopping cart but needs to complete the purchase. Later that week, the shopper gets an email from the store with a limited-time discount offer. They also see an ad with the dresses while browsing on Facebook.
A few days later, the customer visits the physical store. After walking into the shop, they get a push notification from the store’s mobile app, reminding them of the dresses they chose online. The app also offers an exclusive in-store discount on those dresses.
While shopping in the store, the customer scans a QR code next to a dress using the app to get more details. At the checkout counter, a sales associate, aware of the customer’s online activity due to an integrated app, helps them find the right size and color based on their previous purchases.
This hyper-personalized approach gives customers a smooth shopping experience and helps them connect better with your brand.
Why you should use omnichannel personalization
As mentioned, customers have lots of choices when shopping online. That means you have to meet them where they are — whether in person, through SMS or an app, or on social media or a website.
An omnichannel marketing strategy helps you serve them the same way on all these platforms. But that’s just one benefit. Let’s look at some more advantages of this effective tactic.
It provides the ultimate customer experience
Most customers crave personalized experiences. They want to be treated as unique, not part of a mass audience.
That’s why 59% of customers think businesses should use the information they collect about them to make their experiences more personal. And 62% prefer personalized recommendations.
Omnichannel marketing gives these customers precisely what they want — customized and seamless experiences.
Whether they interact with your brand through your website, social networks, mobile app, or physical store, they get a consistent experience tailored to their preferences and past interactions.
It improves customer loyalty
A seamless, personalized customer experience eventually leads to loyalty.
Mastercard’s 2023 Retail Report shows 53% of companies increased customer loyalty and retention with personalization strategies. And 34% saw improved customer acquisition.
It increases revenue
An omnichannel approach directly affects your company’s ROI and bottom line. In fact, 77% of businesses that invest in immersive experiences see a positive ROI.
In an immersive experience, a customer can interact with your brand on one platform — say, your website — and instantly switch to another channel without a problem.
Through omnichannel, you can also tailor your product recommendations to specific customers and encourage them to buy more. For instance, 26% of shoppers bought something else while picking up an online purchase from a brick-and-mortar store.
How to create an effective omnichannel marketing strategy
Let’s now look at how to unify all your platforms to create an effective omnichannel strategy that boosts customer engagement and grows your business.
Identify your customer touchpoints
The first step is to identify the channels customers use to engage with your brand.
This may seem straightforward. However, the Mastercard report found that 71% of businesses struggle to maintain real-time consistency across multiple platforms. This difficulty is partly due to the rising number of touchpoints and sales channels.
To address this issue, identify the channels that impact the customer journey the most. Then, optimize and personalize interactions on those channels.
In addition, find out how customers move from one platform to another. For example, a customer can start their journey on Instagram, shift to your website, and finally buy a product in your physical store. Determine these cross-channel interactions and make the transitions seamless.
Invest in the right automation tools
After you determine your customers’ favorite platforms, the next step is to combine them. However, that’s easier said than done. Mastercard’s report shows that 68% of businesses struggle to integrate multiple channels to create a single customer view.
To help with this, invest in a customer data platform. It will help you track customer interactions across various channels to get a complete view of the buyer’s journey.
Then, use a marketing automation platform that seamlessly integrates with your customer data platform and other business systems to automate your workflows.
For example, an ecommerce business can use a tool like GetResponse MAX to automate its email marketing campaigns. The company can monitor how customers interact with its store and automatically send abandoned cart emails to those who don’t complete their purchases.
