Retailers today are grappling with challenging consumer spending. In this climate of ongoing economic uncertainty and heightened competition, marketing – and driving customer acquisition and retention – is more important than ever.
Every customer, every interaction, and every channel matters. To reach and engage with more customers while driving higher revenue, retailers must adopt a multichannel marketing strategy. But what does that mean? And how can retailers use it in their mission to drive return on investment (ROI) and boost customer engagement? Here’s how it can help you.
Reach multichannel customers through multichannel marketing
Multichannel marketing allows you to connect with your customers through various channels, from email, social media and your eCommerce store, to mobile apps and even physical stores. Different demographics favour different channels. So if you sell a product popular among Gen Z, you might prioritise TikTok or Instagram, whereas if your offering is suited to older demographics, you might focus on email or Facebook. An effective multichannel approach can enhance customer engagement and loyalty, by delivering the right message, to the right shopper, at the right time and on the right channel.
Personalisation is key
Personalisation is critical, irrespective of channel. Meeting customers where they are with tailored experiences suited to their habits can, when successful, increase conversions, resulting in higher sales and revenue. Multichannel marketing enables you to create and utilise actionable insights from customer data like their social media handles and their shopping habits, and uses that to connect with them and sell more effectively. Accurate customer data is essential and gives you an edge in reaching the right customers at the right time in their purchasing journey.
Targeted marketing
While every shopper is unique, they can be segmented based on similar traits and characteristics, for example how much they spend or whether they shop via social media or your store. This helps you understand who your target market is and what their specific wants, needs and habits are. Once the group is defined, use consumer data to craft the right message for them. For example, the communications you might send to your high spending social media customers might differ in language – and channel – to the communications you’d send to promote an in-store flash sale on out-of-season items. Through multichannel marketing, both can run simultaneously.
The power of automation
Rolling out a multichannel strategy might sound like a time-consuming prospect, especially with so many retailers grappling with staff shortages and rising business costs in recent years. Through automation – which can alleviate both – you can still set, launch, and monitor campaigns with minimal input, and reach and engage your shoppers whilst working on other parts of your business.
Monitor, analyse, adapt
Different audiences will respond differently to marketing campaigns, just as people will respond differently depending on what channel they’re using to engage with your brand. That’s why it’s important to monitor and analyse the effectiveness of all campaigns. If a campaign is effective, how can it be replicated or, better still, enhanced? And if something didn’t work, how can you roll-out something that will be more impactful, based on those learnings? By continuously monitoring, analysing and comparing campaigns you can drive incremental gains.
ROI has always been a key success factor for retail marketing, but perhaps even more so today as businesses are scrutinising their spend more forensically than ever. When optimised, multichannel marketing can increase both the quantity and quality of engagements you can enjoy with your customers.
Through Lightspeed, and our integrations with the likes of Marsello, Podium and Mailchimp, you can deploy a multichannel marketing strategy that enables you to reach more customers, with more effective communications, on the channels that drive more impact and loyalty. The benefit, ultimately, is enhanced customer engagement and brand visibility, all of which can help boost conversions, sales and return on investment.
Simon Le Grand is senior director of marketing at Lightspeed.