Why marketers need to move from multi-channel to omni-channel strategies in which every customer touchpoint is aligned. Essentially, “Omni-Channel” is to retail and commerce what “cross-channel” has been to marketing. Both terms center around creating a customer experience which truly and seamlessly is highly relevant across a growing spectrum of channels and mobile devices. In the early 2000-2005 period of online retail, a consumer's purchasing journey was a straightforward one. It entailed browsing a retailer’s website, deciding on a purchase and making it with a few swift clicks of the mouse.
Today in 2012, this method of online shopping is already antiquated – even boring, thanks to an increasing number of touchpoints that the consumer has access to within an exponentially growing SmartPhone ecosystem. A typical online retailer may now have a ‘traditional’ website, a mobile optimized site, and even a Facebook page with an integrated social commerce platform. They routinely may have this in addition to a brick-and-mortar store still to manage.
When the Web and email phenomenon took off in the late 1990s, brands embraced the term “multichannel”. In 2001 this meant to them their ability to market or sell via more than one channel. Some referred and still refer to multi-channels as verticals or silos. Eventually, brands did see the need—and benefits—of integrating those channels to ensure greater coordination and consistent brand messaging. Thus, the concept of cross-channel marketing was born to denote the ability to drive a single campaign with a consistent message that is coordinated across all channels. In the entertainment industry this is called a transmedia experience where the consumer has various integrated touchpoints around a brand and its content, offers and unique selling propositions utilizing a digital device chosen by that consumer.
In retail, it is now being heralded as an omni-channel consumer “experience”. An emphasis should be placed on the phrase “consumer experience”, because the consumer's expectation about what that experience should be at any given touchpoint must not be disappointed. While multi-channel meant simply having a presence in multiple channels, omni-channel marketing is the next evolution in engaging consumers. It creatively integrates the use of all of a retailer’s channels into a seamless and coherent presentation.
Effective omni-channel marketers can now track customer interaction simultaneously across a range of touchpoints including their physical stores, their online website, and their mobile website (including tablet optimized versions). This includes any activity implemented via social networks as well as the newly arrived connected TV platform (an internet ready TV). Here is the opportunity available to retailers in 2012. Imagine now being able to connect with a consumer in a store on their mobile device. It begins with a value offer made from a Smart Poster – defined as a decal or poster at a product display which offers a “value” (discount or coupon) to a customer who is in front of it in that store. The consumer has w“high purchase intent” in that moment.
Because of the value perceived by that customer in the Smart Poster offer, he or she responds to an SMS text opt-in by providing their phone number or email in exchange for receiving the discount coupon which they can redeem immediately in the store. This is step one, referred to as the pre-tail and retail experience. It is an experience enhanced by immediate gratification of the consumer on an emotional level. It is triggered and set by the fact they saved money. The experience and relationship with the brand does not end there. They take that experience with them into the post tail time frame. And there is now the opportunity to engage that same consumer during step two during this post-tail period which may last for the next 12 months or more.
It unfolds like this. With the original offer opt-in our customer agreed to receive from the retailer 2-3 messages per week. Those weekly messages can now be sent to the customer's phone wherever they are. These pushed messages can be timed on optimal shopping days triggered by events like “traditional pay day” cycles when consumers have more resources. More significantly, the retailer can now introduce the consumer seamlessly to a new branded channel which the retailer has developed in the connected TV space. It is an extension of their Branded Retail Ecosystem where a consumer (wherever they are) can be prompted via SMS to go home, turn on the TV, click through to a URL, and then participate further with the brand in the comfort of their living room while they are watching their “internet connected” TV. What's different about this TV? A lot. Connected TVs permit the consumer to engage with the brand, shop and order other items, participate in contests and branded gaming, learn about new offers, and engage in a rich media experience provided to them by the brand.
Brands who are looking to develop an omni-channel approach have two factors to consider to accomplish the seamless integration of their various channels. The first requirement involves data gathering and optimization. The challenge is “How does your brand not only manage the sheer volume of data that your integrated channels generate. As important is how do you manage it in a way that can effectively track the consumer's journey from one touchpoint to another? Successful omni-channel marketing demands effective processing of large data reservoirs. It is critical to make certain by identification tracking that this is the same customer on all touchpoints.
A second equally significant point to consider is the requirement of providing a coherent experience across all branded multiple touchpoints. It is not necessarily about creating an identical experience across each of your channels. That would be redundant and very boring. ,It is about making your customers emotionally feel comfortable with all the different ways in which they can interact with your brand. For example, a shoe retailer with sections such as ‘men's’ and ‘women's’ in their physical store should duplicate those sections in their online store. If discounted items are coded with a green symbol in your online store, use that same symbol in your physical store.
Of course, you cannot easily put all articles on multiple shelves in the physical store, as you can in the online store (online, a pair of trainers can fall into the categories 'shoes', However retailers are now widely endorsing the use of virtual shopping walls to add consumer choices in their physical store but without adding inventory. In a typical Virtual Shopping Store, consumers can look at some physical products, and other that are not in the store can be accessed by SMS opt-in offers or QR Codes which then take the consumer immediately to the on-line store where they can purchase that product on-line while they are in the bricks and mortar store. Having said that, there should be consistency in the messaging and presence of your brand across all multiple touchpoints.
In Europe, an increasing number of department stores are installing in-store touch screen terminals where customers can browse for items they may have already seen on a computer at home. On a best practices basis, graphics, fonts, logo images, the color palette, and the overall look of a retailer’s site should be consistent across all versions of an omni-channel strategy. Every touchpoint needs must appear and feel to the consumer like it is a fully integrated part of a retailer’s brand. This familiarity builds upon the consumer trust and loyalty relationship. Fundamentally, whether a customer chooses to look at a retailer’s goods using a computer, a smartphone, a tablet or in-store, they should have access to the same set of product information modules and in a format that they call for in that precise moment. They should also be able to log in and see what might have remained in their shopping cart or on their wish list – across the different devices and touchpoints. Omni-channel marketing is the 2012 “next generation” of multi-channel marketing.
The predicted growth in 2013-15 of the Smart Phone, tablet and connected TV industries will mandate retail integration of an omni-channel marketing strategy. It will be essential to have this omni-channel marketing strategy for brands to be competitive. The consumer is in charge of what they want and when they want it. Brands are well advised to seamlessly give them what they expect on the consumer's device of choice.
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ADDITIONAL READING:
Multiple Curated Articles by CityLife MOBILE, http://www.scoop.it/t/omnichannel-mobile-marketing
Drive Holiday Sales with Omni-Channel Retailing, http://www.i95dev.com/drive-holiday-sales-with-omni-channel-retailing
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