Utilizing Omnichannel to Move Products faster, lower, and seamlessly
Where iPaaS Software Truly Demonstrates Its Worth
Introduction
Today's complex business environment demands a lot from retailers and producers. Consumers have become accustomed to world-class service at the touch of a button. Delays in delivery, issues with payment, or any other problems can lead them to drift away from your service and try something else. After all, it's right there at the click of a competitor's button.
Businesses are judged, often unfairly, against the industry leaders such as Amazon and Google and if they are found to be lacking in any way, then there are always plenty of other options for consumers to consider.
But it's not all doom and gloom for smaller companies; far from it, actually. The good news is that there is a wealth of affordable digital products and services that make it easier than ever for companies to move products faster, keep prices low and seamlessly integrate data across various marketing channels in order to achieve dramatic results that please the consumer.
The giants with infinitely deep pockets are no longer the only ones who have access to affordable groundbreaking technology.
In this whitepaper, we'll explore how an omnichannel approach to sales and marketing can deliver a seamless and unified brand experience that will paint your brand in a positive light and build a loyal following.
First, let's define some terms. What do we mean by omnichannel? We're referring to a business approach that provides customers with a seamless and integrated shopping experience across multiple channels or touchpoints. That includes:
- Physical stores
- Websites
- Mobile apps
- Social media and other online platforms
The goal of omnichannel is to create a consistent and personalized experience for customers, regardless of how they choose to interact with the brand. What a strong omnichannel presence delivers for businesses is a more sophisticated understanding of their customers and their preferences, as well as the ability to track their behavior and purchase history across different channels.
This information can then be used to personalize marketing and promotions, optimize inventory management, and improve the overall customer experience.
Omnichannel In The Real World
Let's imagine a scenario where a potential customer is scrolling through their social media feed and sees an ad from your business. They like what they see, which leads them to click the link to a YouTube tutorial on how to use the product. Later that week, they log into your website to research prices and discover where the brick-and-mortar stores are located.
A few days later, they go into the store and log in to the in-store wi-fi which remembers their browsing history and offers them a discount on a few related items they may not have thought of purchasing. That kind of complex brand interaction would have sounded like science fiction a few years back, but today, anyone in digital marketing can totally imagine that kind of sales pipeline working.
One of the best-known brands that have mastered omnichannel is the makeup brand Sephora. How do they do it? Marketing blog MoEngage.com explains "While in a brick-and-mortar location, the brand experience is consistent with beauty tips, informed salespeople, free makeovers, and of course, products to try. Online, customers can use their Beauty Bag accounts to track purchases (“What color was that lipstick again?”), scan items while they are in the store, see tutorials, keep a wish list, and much more."
What omnichannel does is acknowledge the ways we use multiple devices and experiences as we go about our days, and try to make the interaction with the brand seamless across touchpoints. It's incredibly complex on the backend but it makes life easy for consumers.
Good omnichannel marketing makes the consumer feel seen and understood, and as if they are in a relationship with the brand. That's what builds loyalty.
Here's The Bottom Line
Great omnichannel marketing requires great data.
It's as simple as that.
How do you gather, store and integrate all that data in real time so that it provides an accurate picture of customer/brand engagement? The key lies in using Integration Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) technology that is suited to your needs. What is iPaaS? It's a cloud-based platform that enables organizations to integrate their various software applications and systems, both within and across organizational boundaries.
Using Omnichannel Alongside iPaaS
Let's take a closer look at the various ways that a cloud-based integration platform can help to facilitate a seamless and consistent customer experience across all digital and physical touch points.
This is where omnichannel meets iPaaS.
Expert Data Integration:
Omnichannel marketing relies heavily on data integration to provide a unified view of customer behavior across all channels. Good iPaaS software enables organizations to integrate customer data from various sources, including CRM systems, email marketing platforms, social media channels, and more. This integration delivers a single customer view to companies, which is essential for providing personalized experiences and targeted marketing messages.
Channel Integration:
As discussed, omnichannel marketing involves leveraging multiple channels to interact with customers. IPaaS software can integrate these channels into a single view, allowing organizations to manage and automate their marketing campaigns across multiple channels quickly and easily. This integration ensures that customers receive consistent messages and offers across all channels, improving the overall customer experience.
Automation:
IPaaS software enables organizations to automate their marketing campaigns across different channels based on customer behavior and preferences. Omnichannel marketing relies on automation to provide a seamless, blended experience for customers, working to ensure that they receive the right message at the right time. What can be automated? Tasks such as email campaigns and scheduled social media posts, as well as geo-location marketing, can enable organizations to reach their customers at scale.
Analytics:
IPaaS software provides organizations with the ability to track and analyze customer interactions across all channels. Omnichannel marketing relies on analytics to gain insights into how customers interact with the brand and identify areas for improvement. IPaaS provides organizations with detailed analytics and reporting that helps them optimize their marketing campaigns and improve the overall customer experience.
Lowering The Cost of Doing Business
Now that we understand how omnichannel and iPaaS can work together, it's worth asking the question "Will iPaaS lower the cost of running an omnichannel environment?"
The answer is a resounding yes. And it's a result of across-the-board simplification. IPaaS will reduce the complexity and cost of integrating various systems manually. Data integration, processing, and transformation can be slow and time-consuming when executed manually by staff members. These repetitive tasks also keep employees from executing more revenue-generating opportunities as well.
Furthermore, by eliminating data silos, organizations are placed in a position where they can make better-informed decisions about their marketing strategies, reduce manual errors, and improve overall efficiency on a day-to-day basis.
Finally, the introduction of lightning-fast scalability will result in meaningful cost reduction. Organizations can respond to a situation quickly. They can ramp up omnichannel marketing during busy seasons and holidays, and scale back campaigns that are not working, or regions where a particular marketing drive is having less of an impact.
These are the kinds of decisions with cost implications that can only be made using actionable data that is up-to-date, easy to access, and accurate. IPaaS delivers in that regard for omnichannel clients.
The Power of Lumino
Lumino is iPaaS at its best. The complexity of doing business in a multi-media, digital landscape is simply too much for any organization to handle on its own. Partnerships are required. That's why Ariox has taken the experience we've gained from working with dozens of clients over many years and put it to use to build a customizable iPaaS platform that will help solve your problems.
We work directly with our clients to build only the features that you need. The controls put in place are fully customizable, and only ever a click away. Waiting for data to come in and get integrated renders that data meaningless. We know you need it in real-time, and presented in a format that makes sense and that speaks to the goals of your business.
That's exactly why we built Lumino - our next-generation iPaaS software that alleviates the need for manual data entry, allows for quicker logistics and response times, and provides faster data transmission.
It's all geared toward providing increased efficiency for your business so that you can use omnichannel tools to provide a seamless marketing experience, lower the cost of doing business, and get your products and services to where they need to go.
If you're ready to see what cutting-edge cloud software can do for your business, reach out to one of our team members today. We'll be more than happy to provide you with a quote, give you a tour of our products and services and start working with you toward building the tools you need to thrive in 2023.
Ready? Let's get started.
Newsletter Sign-up
Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.