Omnichannel marketing is essential for running a retail business in today’s digital environment. Brands focused on delivering a seamless experience across multiple platforms are seeing greater returns.
But implementing an omnichannel marketing strategy can be daunting.
So, we’ve put together a short guide to help you get started. Learn more about omnichannel marketing and get some handy tips on developing a successful strategy.
What is an omnichannel strategy?
The rise in new technologies over the past decade has transformed retail. Harvard Business Review reports that 73% of customers use multiple channels during their shopping journey. These changes in consumer behavior are shaping the future of retail and demanding retailers shift their marketing efforts towards omnichannel.
An omnichannel marketing strategy helps retailers create a seamless experience for customers at every point of the buying experience. This holistic approach focuses on ensuring customers have a smooth experience in store, online and anywhere else they are likely to interact with your brand.
Omnichannel marketing also helps to drive more sales and traffic to your store. Companies with a strong omnichannel strategy see a 9.5% increase in annual revenue, according to Aberdeen Group.
2023 tips for retailers’ omnichannel strategy
Even if you already have an omnichannel strategy in place, it’s a good idea to refresh it. Regularly reviewing your strategy helps you keep up to date with the latest behaviours, needs, and expectations of your customers. Here are six simple ways you can improve your omnichannel marketing strategy:
1. Utilise SEO
As the retail landscape continues to expand online, SEO has become an important tool for retailers. SEO helps optimise the online experience and drive traffic to your store. Maximise your SEO efforts with these tips:
Optimise for keywords
Keywords are the phrases customers use to search for the products / services you offer. To ensure your products appear in the search engine results page it is important to use relevant keywords.
Make your URLs easy to crawl
URLs give search engines a snapshot of what your page is about. Creating short, concise, and relevant URLs will make it easier for the algorithm to rank your page in the search engine results.
Write relevant content
Quality content can improve your visibility in the search engine, drive traffic to your site and encourage customers to purchase your products. Content should be focused on the user, written in plain language by relevant experts, and free of errors.
2. Diversify sales channels
Today, consumers use an average of almost six touch points when completing a purchase. As customers bounce back and forth between your social media platforms and physical store, it is important you diversify your sales channels to create an integrated shopping experience.
Take time to evaluate what channels you currently use – this will help you determine your next steps. For example, if you have a shop selling laptops, you may want to consider allowing people to buy online. You can create a dedicated online store easily with Square. You should also explore any new and upcoming channels your customers are likely to engage with.
3. Inventory syncing
Keeping your inventory in sync is important as it shows you the number of items in stock. Knowing what products are available avoids the issue of customers buying out-of-stock items, which can cause shipping delays and customer dissatisfaction.
Managing your inventory can be hard, especially across multiple channels. To help simplify things, inventory syncing provides an accurate picture of your inventory across all channels in real time, as transactions happen. A quality inventory syncing system like Square’s Retail POS system will help you manage and oversee your inventory across multiple channels.
4. Consistent branding and pricing
There are likely to be multiple touchpoints at which customers will encounter your brand. So, having consistent branding helps to deliver a unified brand experience. Here are some ideas on how to make consistent branding part of your strategy:
Message
Your brand message should be consistent at every stage: from your strapline and USPs to your marketing emails and Facebook posts. If your actions fail to align with your brand values, customers may feel deceived and lose trust in your business.
Design
To remain true to your brand across all channels, you’ll need to ensure the design remains consistent. Develop a brand style guide to act as a rulebook. It should specify every aspect of the look and feel of your brand, from imagery to colour schemes.
Pricing
Pricing is usually the ultimate driving factor for many customers. That’s why it is important that prices remain consistent across all channels. Similarly, offering customers flexible payment options, like buy now pay later (BNPL), will increase the chances of customers taking the leap and buying your products.
5. Invest in loyalty marketing
You’ll need to think about expanding your loyalty programme to reward customers across all channels. With 65% of a company’s business coming from existing customers, it is often much cheaper to retain current customers than to acquire new ones.
An effective loyalty programme can help to enhance your current omnichannel strategy by creating a more customer-centric shopping experience. For example, you could develop a loyalty scheme that rewards customers with points for every £1 they spend in store, online or via the app. Once customers reach a certain number of points you can reward them with discount codes or special access to limited edition products.
6. Think big
Setting goals allows you to progress and avoids your business getting stagnant. Make sure your goals are realistic so you can meet them without burning out.
You may also want to think about how you can meet your goals without wasting a fortune. If your goal is to expand to social media, there are many cost-effective ways to do so. Spend time researching organic social media marketing tactics. As foot traffic patterns change, social media marketing is increasingly important, as it allows you to reach more customers online and expand your customer base.
Square can help to support your omnichannel strategy every step of the way. Gain access to expert advice and tools to help you expand your efforts across new channels and deliver the best experience for customers online and offline.
