What does omni-channel mean?
We’re starting to hear and see the word ‘omni-channel’ more in the digital marketing space. Heading into 2018, having an omni-channel strategy has become an industry standard for retailers operating across multiple sales channels. Most importantly, an omni-channel presence is now expected by customers.
What does omni-channel mean? Put simply, it’s a multi-channel approach to sales with the intent to provide your customer base with a seamless solution, regardless of the medium they’re engaging with your brand on.
Hubspot defines omni-channel retailing in more detail, stating that it’s not only the ability to deliver a seamless experience across various channels but also, a retailer’s ability to keep that experience as consistent as possible across all channels. Additionally, it involves being wary of the different devices that consumers are likely to use in order to interact.
Omni-channel in the Pronto space
Pronto’s ecosystem contains several modules that ensure the correct data is not only captured, but exposed to the various channels in order to cater for the necessity to have an omni-channel presence. A common method for implementing an integrated omni-channel approach for Woven customers can start fairly simply.
Key areas can include:
- Pronto Xi Avenue eCommerce
- Pronto Xi Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Pronto Xi Avenue Add-On integrations to MailChimp
- Pronto Xi Point of Sale (POS)
An omni-channel approach can be better explained using the following example:
- A customer registers an account via Pronto Avenue ecommerce and joins the loyalty program - thanks to Avenue’s native integration to Pronto Xi, this can trigger the creation of a Pronto CRM account, which stores key attributes for that user. This all takes place in the background, without additional effort from the customer.
- The key attributes stored in Pronto’s CRM (for example, the recording of interests/backgrounds such as furniture, DIY projects, pet food), can then feed into a marketing automation platform such as MailChimp. This information can also be used to form customer segments so that your mailing lists can be purpose-driven.
- You can then go ahead and set-up an automated email based on action criteria. One example is setting up an ‘Abandoned cart’ email, sent to users with a coupon code (created within Pronto Xi), that incentivises customers to make a purchase with a discount offer.
- When customers receive this coupon, they have the flexibility of using this coupon code online (accepted via Avenue), or heading down to their nearest physical retail store and using their coupon to make a purchase in-store (using Pronto Xi point of sale).
- Throughout the customer’s journey, all sales history (both online and offline), is tracked within Pronto Xi against the relevant customer. You can then draw reports as needed.
Various omni-channel solutions
This is just one example of an omni-channel customer journey but there are many more approaches. As you can see here, the key benefit is that with this integrated approach, data from every source is captured. This allows you to tailor your customer’s experience, assisting you to increase conversion rates for each specific channel.
There is no doubt that omni-channel marketing is the way of the future. Contact Woven for assistance with designing and implementing omni-channel sales conversional funnels for your business.
