Many businesses face the challenge of understanding customer insights when it comes to their customers’ behavior or sentiments. The truth is, it can be difficult to truly anticipate if and when a customer is going to make a purchase on their website via social media or direct visit their website, or some other means of getting to the purchase page. Fortunately, there are ways to better understand your customers’ behaviors. Today, now more than ever, it is critical that business owners know and understand their customers’ actions across various channels to increase their brand awareness.
While marketing strategies continue to evolve, we should consider the latest proven smart strategies when planning a marketing campaign. The most important strategies are multichannel marketing and omnichannel marketing. Not sure what the difference is? It may be confusing, but the end of this blog, you will be able to differentiate them easily.
Multichannel Marketing
Multichannel marketing involves utilizing several channels to communicate the same message or idea to consumers. This puts the brand or product at the center of the strategy, and each channel works independently to deliver that message to potential customers. The goal is to reach the target audience.
Example of Multichannel Marketing-
1) Suppose a customer visits Company A’s website, browses its products and prices, and then chooses a product to buy.
2) The customer then went to the company’s local physical store with the intention of buying that product in person.
3) Unfortunately, the customer is unable to find the item in the store.
4) After asking a service person for help, he discovers that the store doesn’t have the item in stock.
5) Customer leaves the store empty-handed, disappointed, and with a feeling of frustration.
So, from this example, we can see that the channels are not connected, and due to the lack of the interconnection between multiple channels the customer was faced with disappointment. This leads to complete loss of customers’ trust in that brand.
Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel marketing follows a different approach. The customer is at the center of the strategy with each channel adapting around the customer’s behavior. It focuses on providing a seamless buying experience to the customers regardless of the channel.
Example of Omnichannel Marketing-
1) The other customer visits company B’s website, browses products that she wants, and finds the exact item she is looking for.
2) That particular item is listed as in-stock, so customer B adds the item to her online wish list, and went to the retailer’s physical store.
3) Once she reached the store, the customer is greeted by a service person that uses a tablet to access the individual’s wish list and immediately locates the item in question.
4) The customer then finalizes her purchase and drives home happily after an overall satisfying experience.
5) Finally, she receives a thank you message on his mail and mobile phone because of proper interconnection between the physical store and online channels.
We can see that company A provides the ability for customers to engage with their brand through multiple channels. Unfortunately, this doesn’t add much value to their overall experience. In the case of omnichannel marketing example, full priority is given to the customer, and company B takes care of the customer’s needs. So, the customer can have a valuable experience.
Key Differences between Multichannel & Omnichannel Marketing
Focus Point – Customer or Channel:
In the case of multichannel marketing, the aim is to spread your brand’s message across all the available number of channels. It uses two or more channels to engage customers, with the most preferred being social media & email.
While omnichannel marketing aims at developing a stronger business-customer relationship by interconnecting each channel so that the brand engages with the consumers.
Level of Personalization:
The multichannel strategy simply spreads the message across different channels without paying much attention to customers’ experience and needs. It also encourages the customer to complete a call-to-action when required.
The omnichannel marketing method also does this, but with the added benefit of continuously getting to know the customer. It creates a personalized solution for the customer, resulting in a deep and strong connection between the consumers and the brand. It requires more effort to gather data of customers to provide them a seamless purchasing experience.
Consistency vs. Engagement:
We know that businesses with a presence on multiple channels operate each channel separately, which often results in a lack of integration causing confusion for the customers and unsatisfying customer experience. This is because the business may be so focused on exposure and brand-awareness on those channels, they forget to focus on the customer. The result is a lagging customer engagement experience.
Omnichannel marketing focuses on creating a consistent brand image through all physical or digital channels. Companies that use the omnichannel strategy ensures their customers receive the same personalized experience and message via every channel. This will build brand trust with the customers.
Conclusion-
When it comes to multichannel vs omnichannel marketing approach, omnichannel wins. Omnichannel marketing is a customer-centric strategy that aims to provide a holistic experience wherever the customer is, whether that is an offline or an online experience. It also makes it so much easier for brands to form deep, meaningful, and loyal relationships with their customers. Omnichannel marketing can give you unlimited benefits regarding the engagement of customers. Contact us for free consultation regarding Omnichannel marketing.
