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3 Words to Evoke Partnership and Transformation
Integrate Customer Payment Options on One Platform
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How to Streamline Check-Based Payments
Get Started on a Sustainable Communications Plan
Bridge the Gap Between Digital and Traditional Channels
Define Your Roadmap to Digital Transformation
Omnichannel marketing is the holy grail for most businesses. But it’s not as simple as running campaigns on different channels. Customers expect a consistent experience and coordinated messaging across channels. In order to achieve effective omnichannel marketing, consider how your channels interact in conjunction with your buying cycle.
Eighty-five percent of Americans now own a smartphone, and 15% are “smartphone-only” internet users with no home Internet. Fifty-eight percent spend more than three hours on their phone each day. This means mobile presents a huge opportunity to influence the customer journey as part of an omnichannel marketing strategy. When you consider that consumers also use their mobile devices to consume social media content and check email, which we’ll get into more below, mobile becomes even more critical. Two-thirds of Americans say they sleep with their phone, presenting a unique opportunity to even reach users when they are going to bed or if they wake up at night.
Mobile marketing is more than just static display ads. The use of video advertising gets your message across, especially in the early awareness stage of a campaign. Consider factors like sound off, video length, screen size and aspect ratio when designing mobile video ads.
In 2020, the pandemic forced almost all of our social interactions to go online. In 2022, there are a whopping 302 million U.S. social media users. The advent of social commerce has helped cut down the length of the purchase cycle on this channel. Now, a social media user can effectively move from awareness through to purchase in a matter of minutes simply from watching a livestream product demo or video.
Insights from Pew Research show the breakdown of social media use by demographics. Women are more likely than men to use platforms like Facebook and Instagram, but the opposite is true for Twitter. Facebook’s highest penetration is among those ages 30-49 while Instagram’s and Twitter’s is Gen Z and young millennials. These, in addition to past engagement with marketing channels, are factors you must take into consideration when crafting social media messaging.
What’s more, consumers spent over a quarter of mobile app time on social media in 2021, meaning there is an opportunity to reach users via both channels at the same time. So if a customer shows interest in moving to digital adoption on mobile, you can follow up with messaging on social media to nurture them through the buyer journey. The key is to track their response across these channels and continually update your message to nurture them through the funnel.
Email is among the top marketing channels for every industry due to its fast setup/execution and cost-effectiveness. With 80% of the US population using email, it’s easy to reach a large majority of your audience and also segment them into appropriate buckets. Therefore, email is a channel that should be used throughout the buyer journey, allowing you to send a variety of offers that map to each funnel stage.
Marketers however, must consider both a mobile and desktop format. Ninety-eight percent of US consumers toggle between devices at least once a day, including with email. In addition, 59% of millennials primarily use their smartphone to check email, and 67% of Generation Z scans their inbox on mobile. To reach these different customer segments, utilize a platform that provides drag-and-drop templates for ease of use, and automate campaign sends using built-in predictive capabilities mapped to customer response.
Omnichannel marketing simply can’t be done well if you use multiple disparate systems with siloed data. A single platform that integrates with your other systems and unites all of your customer data will help you better understand not only your customers, but also which channels are working best and when to optimize them.
Pulling all the levers necessary to properly execute omnichannel marketing can be difficult to do in-house. Seek out a partner that can help you plan, execute and optimize marketing across mobile, social media and email based on individualized campaign needs and objectives. Consider outsourcing these tasks to free up time for core competencies that will drive competitive advantage and business growth.