Contributions of omnichannel sales to digital marketing

Omnichannel communication makes a company, company or brand more attractive to its competitors in the eyes of consumers.
Omnichannel selling is the company's response to the changing infrastructure of today's consumers. Now, almost everyone can access the Internet at any time, no matter where they are. This way, consumers can stand next to a store shelf while using their smartphones to find better alternatives, compare prices elsewhere and make choices accordingly.
This article describes how companies should sell in such an environment.

What is omnichannel?

People are increasingly learning about and being influenced by brands through their mobile devices. Smartphone screens are also becoming a major showcase for offline shopping, especially when choosing products online.
Gadgets are becoming something akin to a personal advisor who makes decisions about consumers through reviews, recommendations from friends on social networks, special apps.
Research shows that seven in 10 shoppers use their phone at the point of sale to find a better deal, supporting this. More than 70% said they would be willing to walk into a store if they received an interesting offer on a nearby phone.

The importance of omnichannel

The great challenge of modern marketing lies not only in getting your content on as many channels as possible where your brand’s target group is located, but also in establishing unified end-to-end communication with your consumers, whether the medium is offline or offline to online , the devices and applications used.
In this context, the concept of omni-channel communication came into being. Its name is derived from the English word Omnichannel, where omni means coverage, universality and channel.
Therefore, omnichannel communication is a solution where the interaction between brands and consumers can take place through a large number of different channels without interruption. To do this, marketing departments must collect and consolidate data about users, identify them at every contact, and use their interaction history to make communication between customers and companies more enjoyable and effective for both parties.
In this case, the company's CRM system transforms customer relationship management into customer experience management.

Appears in all channels used by customers

Omnichannel communication makes a company or brand appear more popular than its competitors in the eyes of consumers. This means the following:
• Maintain smooth communication with consumers, regardless of the communication platform used and switching between them.
• Be personal and contextual when selling.
• Support pre-sale and post-sale communication with customers.
As mentioned earlier, consumers are increasingly demanding brands and services. But it's not just about creating a comfortable environment for them and communicating with them in their frame of reference.
An omnichannel marketing strategy allows you to stand out in the marketplace, sell more aggressively, build closer relationships with your target audience, and manage customer lifetime value expressed through the size and volume of repeat purchases.

How is omnichannel communication structured?

Today, consumers can interact with branded content before making a purchasing decision. Photos on Instagram, items in shopping carts, videos on YouTube, Facebook groups, email newsletters, ads, messaging, testimonials on forums, and more.
All of these and more, and in different orders, each user can take with them as they learn about the brand. Therefore, it becomes a huge challenge for companies to understand behind the numerous gadgets, apps and contacts and to establish smooth communication with people rather than their personal devices.
An omnichannel communication strategy involves synchronizing the work of at least two functions in a company: marketing and information technology. Collecting user data and creating personalized offers is impossible without implementing a technology platform for collecting, storing and analyzing customer data.
Beyond the actual software solution, there are many challenges at the interface between IT and marketing.
On the Internet, a user's uniqueness is determined by the devices and software used to connect to the network. Therefore, the first thing to do is to eliminate the number of devices and hand them over to people, each person's gadgets can be grouped into individual users and, moreover, can be identified offline.
To address this, businesses typically do one of the following: create an account and personal account for users to access the service, register on an open platform

(e.g. social networks) combine data left by users themselves into multiple contacts (e.g. phone numbers, email addresses, etc.).

Stages of omnichannel communication with customers

From a marketing perspective, the transition to omnichannel communication involves several stages, each more advanced than the previous one:

1. Convert accounting to identify different devices for each user.
2. End-to-end remarketing across all user devices.
3. Marketing multiple contacts across different channels in the customer journey
4. Assign users correctly throughout the purchase process.
5. Customer management based on LTV (Lifetime Value).
6. Predictive marketing.
   As can be seen from the previous evolutionary pyramid, omnichannel communication is unique in that it is data-driven. For each individual user, information needs to be collected about their connection and interaction with the brand.
   Subsequent analysis can divide the target group into micro-segments and identify their differences and the most likely scenarios for purchasing decisions and subsequent customer behavior.
   Of course, in the final stages of evolution, with the right statistics, concepts like big data and artificial intelligence or machine learning emerge.