The virtual world is nothing short of dynamic. With the virtual landscape fast evolving, it comes as no surprise that innovations in terms of marketing strategies have become a necessity for businesses to survive the sea of competition. Now, more than ever, sales and marketing are hot topics as businesses compete for the best leads and increased conversion rates. But with all your competitors vying for the same thing—a good sales figure—how can you hope to thrive? This is where Omni-Channel comes in. But before we consider what Omni-Channel is and how you could maximize its potentials for you to gain an edge over your competitors, let us first go back to the importance of generating leads. Understanding this basic marketing concept will help us appreciate the value of using Omni-Channel when developing your marketing strategy.
Omni-channel -- Your Portal to Maximum Lead
Why Should Leads Matter?
Simply put, sales leads refer to individuals who are most likely going to be interested in what you and your business has to offer—be it a product or a service. They matter because the number of leads you get and the quality of these leads will determine the figures you’ll get on your sales report.
Generating leads, however, is not an easy business. Lead generation strategies are a must if your business is to get the most profitable names in the industry. But there is a portal for maximizing the leads that your e-commerce business platform can get, and this is where the omni-channel approach comes in.
What is the Omni-channel Approach?
Does the word “omni” ring a bell in your mind? A word that comes from the Latin “omnis” which means “all” or “universal”, the term “omni-channel” could be crudely translated into “Universal Channel”. But what exactly does this channel do and how can your business benefit from it?
To best illustrate the omni-channel approach, let us have a theoretic business having both a website and a mobile app. Any marketing strategist would make sure that the theme of both the site and the mobile app match. But the omni-channel approach is not just about making sure that the responsive design of your site and your mobile app resonate the same theme. Its definition extends and encompasses beyond your online platform. In other words, the omni-channel approach is about raising the level of your customer’s shopping experience a notch higher by taking into consideration the various platforms and devices that your business uses to reach a buyer, including your brick-and-mortar store. The bottom line? Delivering a seamless and satisfying customer experience.
To ensure a seamless customer experience, you need to make sure that all of your business’ channels are in sync. If they don’t sync, then it’s not omni-channel; just multi-channel. And if it’s not omni-channel, then the customer experience will not be seamless and will most likely leave you with a disgruntled and dissatisfied customer on the other end.
Many businesses make the mistake of investing in multiple channels—websites, physical shops, blogs, social media accounts, and other platforms—and failing to make sure that all these channels are working together. This is something you would do well to avoid. Work on making sure that whether your customer is making a purchase from you online, via telephone or a mobile device, or from a physical store, the shopping experience is seamless and consistent. You can do this by keeping your goals, messaging, and design aligned across each of your channel and on all devices on which they function.
The Benefits of the Omni-channel Approach
The benefits of the omni-channel approach boils down to two things: customer loyalty and sales.
Customer Loyalty
Employing the omni-channel approach allows you to offer maximum convenience to your shoppers, subtly encouraging them to purchase more of your products and avail more of your services.
With the omni-channel approach working to give your customers a seamless and integrated shopping experience, customers have more reasons to patronize your brand and are less likely to head off to your competitor. Plus, happy and satisfied customers are most likely going to tell their friends about your business, which spells out additional sales for your company.
Sales
The best way to increase your sales is by working on building a loyal customer base. And how do you build a customer loyalty? By exceeding consumer expectations, especially in terms of their shopping experience with you. Providing shopping convenience to your target market, as we have discussed above, is very effective in promoting consumer loyalty. And you do know that customer loyalty works wonders on revenue. So don’t content yourself with having multiple channels for your business. Remember that multi-channels will not give you the sales boost that you need unless you continue to innovate and integrate them so that your consumers could have a satisfying shopping experience.
With the benefits of the omni-channel approach clearly outlined, let us now head on to the next part of our discussion: How exactly can you employ this omni-channel approach for your business? The next article will discuss these questions.
