What are omnichannel experiences? Benefits, trends, and examples

What is omnichannel content?

Omnichannel content is about blending all channels together into one seamless brand experience. It’s about allowing the customer to move from one channel to another with ease and without losing any of their information or context.

So going omnichannel doesn’t mean you have to greet someone on every channel and convince them that you’re everywhere. Instead, it’s about meeting your customers where they already are, on whichever channel is most convenient for them, and providing them with a consistent experience across those channels.

How omnichannel works

The main idea behind omnichannel is to blend all the different shopping channels—like physical stores, online shops, mobile apps, social media, and customer service—so that a business can interact with customers in a unified way across all these platforms.

Here’s what makes omnichannel work:

• Companies need to gather and integrate customer information from every touchpoint. This means combining Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, analytics, and databases to build a complete profile of each customer. Doing so helps businesses get a clear picture of their customers’ actions and choices, no matter how they interact with the company.
• It’s essential to use tech that brings channels together. This often involves using a central content management system (CMS) that lets you create content once and share it across different platforms, keeping your brand and messages consistent.
• Customizing experiences is also key. With all the customer data in one place, companies can make shopping feel more personal for each customer. This includes tailored suggestions, deals, and messages that are the same across all touchpoints.
• Having strong customer support is vital for an omnichannel approach, too. It should be easy for customers to get help through any channel, like starting a chat on social media and then moving to email or a call without any hassle or repeating information.

Every interaction and channel should operate independently but also link together to create an excellent customer journey. Each touchpoint should connect to the next, guiding the customer as they make their purchase.

What are the benefits of omnichannel?

If you decide to go omnichannel, these are the benefits you'll be able to enjoy:

• Increased sales – Shoppers spend more money when they can shop both online and offline. Omnichannel retailers also see higher conversion rates than those who only sell online or in brick-and-mortar stores.
• Higher customer satisfaction levels – Customers are happier when they have more options for making purchases and interacting with businesses. According to an enVista Retail Market Research report, 72% of consumers tend to shop retail brands that allow them to purchase and return across channels.
• Improved brand recognition – Omnichannel marketing helps you expand your reach, so more people are exposed to your brand and what it has to offer. 
• Enhanced targeting capabilities – You can use information collected from various platforms and channels to gain a better understanding of what makes your customers tick, allowing you to better tailor your offerings.
• Improved customer service – When you're accessible via multiple platforms and channels, it becomes easier for customers to reach out when they have questions or concerns.

Now, let’s take a look at three trends we’re seeing in today’s consumer world:

Trend #1: Consumers want omnichannel convenience

The rise of social media and customer service tools has changed the way customers communicate with brands. Having a website or mobile app (or both) is no longer enough. Today, customers want to use new, modern channels to communicate with brands and buy products as easily as possible.

According to The 2021 Omnichannel Report by Digital Commerce 360, retail chains that were most successful during the pandemic were those that quickly embraced or expanded omnichannel services such as curbside pickup, on-demand local delivery, Buy Online Pick Up in Store (BOPIS). Chains reporting sales growth included Target, Walmart, or electronics retailer Best Buy Co.—all of which embraced omnichannel in high-profile ways.

Trend #2: Emerging channels change the way we communicate

Imagine you’re busy cooking in the kitchen with messy fingers, and you realize you really need to consult the recipe. Voice-enabled digital assistants, such as Amazon Echo or Google Home, are always on and ready to answer your questions or take your orders. 

Perhaps you’re refurbishing and want to see what a new bookcase will look like in your living room. No problem, not only will an augmented reality app show you what it would look like in situ, but it will even measure the size of the space to make sure it fits.

And these are just a small sample of the fun our customers are in store for. We find ourselves using more channels than ever before, including virtual reality, wearables, connected cars, and smart home appliances, among others.

Trend #3: Marketers need to manage more and more channels

All these new channels create great opportunities for marketers to engage their customers in new ways. If your customers are not talking to your chatbot, it’s likely they’re talking to one of your competitors.

Now you may be thinking, “Do I really need to support all these new channels?” Well, no, not really. Some of them may not be relevant to your particular audience. And, quite frankly, some of these new channels may not stick in the market after the initial hype. 

One thing is clear, though: The number of channels will continue to grow, and you can’t know now which channels will be the next big thing for your business even one year from now. You don’t want your content efforts today to be wasted by having a use-by date—you want it to be able to adapt to any new (even yet-to-be-conceived) channel, meaning your investment today is still relevant tomorrow. The only way to ride the wave of the omnichannel storm is by creating future-proof content.

Adding new channels can create a multichannel nightmare

With so many touchpoints for customers to interact with a brand, both online and offline, it's important for businesses to have a consistent message across all platforms. The problem is that some teams may not be ready for this. The tools they use often reflect the organizational silos they work in: 

• Their digital team is managing the content in a Web Content Management (WCM) system and Digital Asset Management (DAM) system. 
• Their social media team prepares messages in tools like Buffer or Hootsuite. 
• Their ecommerce team manages product details in their commerce platform, ERP, or Product Information Management (PIM) system. 

What will happen when they suddenly have to start supporting even more channels?

What we get is a complete multichannel nightmare: large inefficiencies, duplication of work, and inconsistent experiences for customers.

As Monica Raszyk, Director of Product Marketing at Kontent.ai, notes: “Channel availability alone isn’t a guaranteed positive for consumers and customers. If the quality of the experience on one channel isn’t comparable to another, it can actually be more frustrating.

Many organizations can benefit from conducting regular digital experience audits. Stepping into consumers’ shoes, some things become hard to ignore: inconsistent information across channels, weaknesses of specific channels, or the repetitive hassle that comes with siloed customer data. Audits don’t necessarily have to be this huge undertaking; incremental improvements can still make an impact.

All in all, improving how internal teams—content teams, marketing teams, commerce teams, care teams, etc—communicate, share insights, and work together is key to an omnichannel strategy that truly delivers.”

An omnichannel approach makes your content flow more smoothly

What if all content was created and stored in just one place? That way, all teams in an organization could all create and access content easily. Not only would each channel be able to see what the other channel is doing, but each channel would always have the most up-to-date version, and brand messages would be much better aligned to ensure a better customer experience. 

What if instead of entering content manually into multiple tools, we could produce the content just once and it could then be pushed directly to all our channels? The various teams wouldn't need to download and upload the content or create new content specifically for their channel.

Instead of thinking and operating in silos, you need a single repository—a single source of truth for your content.

To give you a real-world example, we can take a look at healthylife, an Australian digital startup. They wanted a platform consisting of three pillars: a hub of content focused on healthy lifestyles, an e-shop full of great products, and a booking platform for services like massage, yoga, fitness classes, and more. These individual channels all have one source of truth, Kontent.ai, so healthylife’s content is always consistent, up-to-date, and error-free.

Think strategically about your content

By creating an omnichannel content strategy, organizations can deliver a more consistent customer experience across channels, as well as increase their ROI on content creation. You should ask yourself:

• What content do we create?
• Who owns the content?
• How do we structure it for reuse across channels?
• Where do we store it?
• How do we publish it through the right channels?
• How do we know it was successful?

Omnichannel strategy

An omnichannel content strategy focuses on creating and delivering content that is tailored to suit various channels while maintaining a unified brand message and experience. Let’s take a look at the questions above and how to approach them.

1. What content do we create?

The first step in building an effective omnichannel strategy is to define the type of content that aligns with your brand identity and resonates with your target audience across different channels. Understanding your audience’s preferences and platform-specific content consumption patterns will allow you to create content that converts.

2. Who owns the content?

Assigning clear ownership of the content creation process is crucial for ensuring consistency and quality. Establishing a dedicated team responsible for content creation, curation, and distribution can help streamline the workflow and maintain a cohesive brand voice.

3. How do we structure it for reuse across channels?

Efficiency is key to a successful omnichannel content strategy. By structuring content for reuse across multiple channels, you can save time, effort, and resources. This involves repurposing core content and adapting it to suit the unique requirements and nuances of each platform. For instance, a blog post can be transformed into a series of social media posts, a podcast episode, or even an infographic.

4. Where do we store it?

Having a centralized content repository is essential for managing and organizing content efficiently. This allows teams to access, modify, and repurpose content easily, fostering collaboration and ensuring consistent messaging.

5. How do we publish it through the right channels?

Choosing the right channels for content distribution is vital to reaching your target audience effectively. Whether it’s through your website, social media platforms, email newsletters, mobile apps, or even offline channels, each distribution channel should complement and reinforce the overall brand experience.

6. How do we know it was successful?

Measuring the success of your omnichannel content strategy is essential for continuous improvement. Key performance indicators should be defined for each channel to track engagement, conversions, and overall ROI. Analytical tools and customer feedback can provide valuable insights into which channels and content types are driving the most significant impact and help you optimize your strategy accordingly.

An effective omnichannel content strategy is a powerful tool for delivering consistent and seamless customer experiences. By asking critical questions about content creation, ownership, structuring, storage, distribution, and performance measurement, your organization can create an interconnected web of content that strengthens the brand presence and fosters long-lasting customer relationships across various touchpoints.

A headless CMS is the core of an omnichannel content management solution

The concept of having one cloud-based hub for all your content that can be managed, structured, and reused across all channels, creates win-win situations for all teams involved.

Because the headless concept puts content at the core of all processes and separates it from any presentational elements, it allows you to distribute it anywhere via its API—yes, even to technology not on the market yet.

Its cloud-based nature enables easy collaboration with people both within and outside your organization and ensures everybody has the latest version of content. 

It also means that you can start building your omnichannel architecture today, without waiting for any complex setup.

Want to learn more? Start your free trial or schedule a free Kontent.ai demo to discuss your needs.