3 Signs Your Omnichannel Strategy Is Working

The Gist

• Omnichannel insight. An effective omnichannel marketing strategy enables seamless and frictionless brand experience but many brands are still failing to approach it holistically.
• Measuring success. Regular performance measurements are vital to understand the success and areas for improvement within an omnichannel marketing strategy.
• Consistency key. Ensuring brand messaging is consistent across all channels is essential in delivering a unified brand experience to customers.

If anyone fits the profile of an omnichannel customer, it’s the post-pandemic shopper of 2023.

With the pandemic behind us, consumers are returning to in-store shopping while still engaging with retail brands via the web, mobile, social media, SMS and email.

Omnichannel retail refers to providing a consistent customer experience across different sales channels so that customers experience the channels as one seamless, frictionless brand. Yet despite the industry clarion call of “omnichannel,” brands are still not taking as well-rounded an approach to omnichannel marketing strategies as they should, says Paul do Forno, managing director of commerce practice at Deloitte Digital.

“One common pitfall is over-indexing on a single channel,” said do Forno. “The pandemic magnified this issue, with many direct-to-consumer brands struggling to sustain growth when heavily reliant on a singular channel. These days, a balanced approach that spans multiple channels is imperative for long-term success.”

When an omnichannel marketing strategy is well executed — Starbucks, Target and Nike are three omnichannel standard-bearers — brands see a lift in customer engagement, customer retention and sales. A 2019 study from Omnisend showed that when interacting with three or more channels, customers buy 250% more frequently than customers who only engaged with one channel.

From a marketer’s point of view, here are the tell-tale signs that you’re in the same omnichannel ballpark as a Starbucks or a Nike (or you’re getting there).

You Have Your Customer’s Journey Mapped Out

Starbucks knew most of its customers used smartphone apps and liked to visit stores for coffee, but that they didn’t want to wait in line. To ease this pain point, Starbucks added store locators and pre-order and payment features to its mobile app so busy customers could order their caffe lattes via the app and skip the line at stores. The strategy paid off as mobile payments now make up 29% of Starbucks’ total transactions.

“Investment in cross-channel execution such as BOPIS [buy online, pickup in-store] and BORIS [buy online, return in-store] is a major area of opportunity for retail brands in 2023,” said Sucharita Kodali, VP and principal retail analyst, Forrester Research.

Starbucks’ omnichannel approach is classic BOPIS and required that the company study its buyer journey data, map out how customers were interacting with the brand through mobile devices and in the stores, and then create a seamless omnichannel approach that made ordering and payment easier.

Brands with strong mobile app usage and heavily trafficked physical stores should follow Starbucks’ lead to, as do Forno puts it, “maintain strong customer connections through experiences that keep the brand top-of-mind.”

You analyze data and measure performance consistently

Without regular performance measurements, marketers will have an inaccurate picture of their omnichannel marketing strategy. While every retail brand is unique, there are common measurements that every omnichannel marketing strategy should include, such as:

• Customer conversion rates: To identify high-performing channels, measure how many website visitors complete purchases or sign up for newsletters.
• Shopping cart abandonment rates: A high percentage of users who add items to a cart but do not complete the purchase may indicate a communication (or technical) issue.
• Brand consistency: Monitor brand messaging language, design and UX across different channels to make sure your brand voice/tone is cohesive.
• Repeat purchase rates: A high rate of repeat buyers suggests solid customer satisfaction levels.
• Mobile app usage: Monitor the number of active mobile users and the percentage of users who complete purchases using the mobile app.
• Social media engagement: Analyze likes, shares and comments to gauge audience engagement on different social channels.
• Path-to-purchase analysis: Study the touchpoints a customer hits before making a purchase to understand common paths and possible bottlenecks.
• Customer Satisfaction: Gather customer feedback to measure how likely they are to recommend your brand (aka NPS – Net Promoter Score).

Your Brand Messaging Is Consistent, but Varied, Across Channels

Consumers should never feel like they’re engaging with channels. The experience should always feel like One Brand.

That’s why it’s so important to use consistent brand messaging language and visuals. Whether it’s a Facebook ad, Instagram post or a website landing page, the tone of voice, font and color scheme should be the same.

To achieve this consistency, brands should develop a brand voice that includes clear language, humor (if humor fits your brand personality), and imagery that matches your logo’s color scheme. This allows the brand to adapt similar content to different channels without looking inconsistent.