How to Increase Engagement in Your Omnichannel Campaigns

Brands today are becoming increasingly more innovative. By adopting new, cutting-edge techniques for connecting with their audiences, and experimenting outside conventional marketing channels, companies are exposing their message to more prospects than ever before.

However, there’s a caveat: More marketing isn’t always better marketing. To successfully and seamlessly launch a campaign spanning multiple channels, you need adequate planning, preparation and plenty of strategizing. The lasting impact of a well-crafted omnichannel campaign, however, is well worth the effort.

Below are our top three tips to increase engagement through omnichannel campaigns:

1. Use Personalization to Build Relevancy

The more you know about your audience, the more you can target their specific needs, concerns and desires. Fortunately, access to in-depth customer information is almost always at your fingertips. The amount of data available is practically limitless, but basic demographics is a good place to start. Once you know customers’ age group and geographical location, build upon your customer profiles with more in-depth data points.

If you can identify such defining characteristics as your customers’ purchase history, hobbies and interests, you’ll get a clearer image of the individuals who make up your audience. Then, leverage this insight to create more impactful and consistent messaging across all channels.

Often, personalization is a cumulative process. As you use your initial data to begin to create personalized content, you receive even more valuable data in return. Pay close attention to who responds to which offers, what messaging spurs the most interaction and the general preferences of each customer. You can then build on your insight to send even more relevant offers.

In other words, personalization begets more personalization, creating a cycle of ever-deepening relevancy and better engagement.

2. Use Rewards Programs to Encourage Loyalty

Last year, Cognizant Business Consulting compiled survey results of 2,500 consumers in the U.S. and Canada to determine the impact of omnichannel marketing in the retail environment. According to the results, customers seek greater personalization above every other experience, and the personalized action consumers desire most is special treatment based on loyalty. In fact, respondents cited loyalty tracking numbers as the top piece of information they would share in order to gain a more personalized experience.

Psychology tells us the best way to encourage a desired behavior is to provide a reward. By providing accolades for loyalty, in the form of discounts, VIP offers and other special treatment, customers are more likely to continue down the path to brand ambassador.

To achieve this objective, you first need to properly define the behavior you want to encourage across the entire loyalty lifecycle, from acquisition to advocacy. Second, ensure you have the technology in place to properly track your customer behavior and the ability to respond in real-time. By engaging customers in conversation immediately, and providing the right offers, through the right channels, at the right time, you’ll ensure a positive experience and make a lasting impression.

3. Use Messaging to Create Consistency

Omnichannel marketing isn’t just about putting your marketing message on as many platforms as possible. Successful omnichannel marketing means integrating all of your strategies, determining the best way to present a unified identify, and sharing that message in a way that makes sense for each individual channel. The goal is to develop a customer-centered approach aligning the needs of your customers with the needs of your business.

In other words, focus on the customer first and the channel second. Offers should look and behave the same whether they are viewed on an app, a social network, in an email, on a postcard or in the store. According to a recent article in TeleTech, consumers need to be exposed to a marketing message between four and seven times before it is encoded into memory. If the message you’re sending is not consistent, it makes it tough for the consumer to decipher what you’re trying to achieve.

The answer is often nothing less than a complete shift in perspective across your entire organization. Every touchpoint is an opportunity to market – from your email messages to your call center to the face-to-face in-store experience. Every employee who comes into contact with a customer needs to be educated and empowered to drive a consistent brand message. That sort of synergy can spark incredible outcomes.

Ultimately, omnichannel marketing is really just smarter marketing that resonates at every point along the customer journey. Engagement is merely a byproduct of this comprehensive, customer-focused strategy.

Interested in learning more about driving loyalty? See how one company used purchase data to drive personalization and witnessed a 13% increase in open rates!