The spread of online commerce has changed the whole scenario of the sales world. Consequently, it forced marketers to look for new strategies that would allow them to offer a good response to the new ways of selling and buying that came into existence. One of these responses seeks to understand the purchase from both the characteristics of those who buy online and those who still prefer the eye to eye of physical stores. And that’s where the multichannel retail comes in.
Multichannel marketing is the art of using a combination of direct and indirect communication channels to interact with customers. A strategy to serve the customer in several ways such as email marketing, websites, direct mail, mobile, mail order catalog, retail stores, events, videos, etc. In general, the idea is to reach consumers in a way that is most comfortable for them, whether through physical stores, online stores, applications, and marketplaces.
The goal is to take the product wherever the customer is. If your consumer is in the virtual world, your product must be there. If your consumer is at the mall, it is important that your product is also at the mall, for the customer to see, taste and approve. With this strategy, your store will have more opportunities to be seen by the customer. Therefore, marketing experts who want to leave their mark on this highly competitive industry will find it profitable to apply a multichannel strategy in the businesses.
However, implementing a multi-channel marketing strategy is not always a walk in the park. One of the first notions that can be raised is that, for a brand to be successful in multichannel sales, it is necessary that it is really configured to act in this way. Thus, we will address in this text some ideas for your brand to succeed in this increasingly competitive market.
Advantages of multi-channel Strategy
Understanding how working in multiple channels can increase your company’s performance is an important step in improving sales and increasing your credibility in the market. Therefore, having a presence is not enough. It is necessary that the various means of communication used are properly integrated to achieve the expected benefits. Here are some of the benefits you can get from investing in a multichannel strategy.
Bigger presence of the brand
One of the most logical conclusions in the retail sector is making your brand visible in multiple locations to increase your brand positioning. With this, you can keep your business in the consumer’s mind for a longer period of time, and eventually, your customers will get in touch with you instantly.
For example, a content channel (blog, portal) can ask customers to sign up for a newsletter (email), which can also involve different communication via SMS and social networks. It is important to remember that the engagement will be greater if the consumer finds different content in each channel, acting as a continuous complement of information.
Reflection on the Conversion rate
Using multichannel can have a positive impact on your conversions. After all, the modern consumer does not have the same buying process as the traditional consumer used to do. A strong indication of this change is the recent research on micro-moments, in which 33% of consumers reported making online purchases in their kitchen and another 28% in the car. These data show us the impossibility of assuming that your customer will make a scheduled purchase in front of a desktop. In addition, you can also offer discounts via email marketing.
Ease of receiving feedback
The opinion of customers is very important to guarantee the quality of a service or product. That is why it is necessary to ensure that as many people as possible respond to the surveys.
As we just mentioned, a multichannel strategy can redirect your leads from one channel to another, maximizing the effect of each one. This allows for broadening the feedback provided by customers in three ways:
- Leaving an open channel for active communication by the public.
- Redirecting customers to opinion collection forms and give their feedback
- Offering alternative means of collecting feedback.
They are simple, practical and low-cost ways to keep the company always focused on the opinion of its public. And they are already integrated into this strategy!
Increased Credibility with the Customer
The more a company communicates, the greater the respect that the general public has for it. After all, this is a clear sign that the brand is concerned with investing in communication with its base. Most retail customers prefer messages transmitted through a multichannel strategy, as they feel better informed before and after closing a purchase on all channels of their choice (whether via Facebook or email).
For Example, The more dialogue and information that is offered, the more prepared the customer will be to purchase a new product or repurchase. A good tip for using this strategy is to inform via SMS.
How to execute a multichannel strategy
Like business people who record video tutorials creating successful multichannel marketing strategies is not easy, but there are a number of considerations that come into play and several ways to get started:
Integrate the marketing Department
As mentioned in the understanding of Multichannel Marketing, to run a truly successful multichannel program, departments must be aligned. Destroy the existing silos to create an integrated marketing team.
Understand your buyer
To create a multichannel strategy, you must first understand your buyers. Create a persona, talk to actual customers, and make tests on various platforms such as test messaging, time, sequence, etc.
Building a multichannel Platform
The goal of your program is to create an evolving customer outlook based on campaign data and testing. To do this, you must have a platform that combines data and allows you to create a one-to-one marketing program based on that data.
Maintain the quality of the product or service
Last but not least, there is the service, the company’s core business. Some entrepreneurs, in an attempt to attract more customers, end up dropping the quality of the main product a little or generate unrealistic expectations in their leads. This type of attitude is very harmful because it takes away the brand credibility. So, be careful with the material published and always pay attention to everything being properly aligned.
Conclusion
In other words, multichannel sales are the future of retail. Thanks to this new model, retailers now can impact more consumers and close more sales.Â
