Power of Omnichannel Personalization: Enhance Your Customers' Shopping Experience

Are you familiar with the more, the merrier? Your customers are. That's why 76% of them prefer it if you engage with them on different channels. But simply throwing an "omnichannel net" of generic content your customers' way isn't enough.

Each interaction on each channel must be personalized and relevant to make sure your customer feels valued. This is where omnichannel personalization can help you enhance customers' shopping experience, drive customer loyalty, and boost sales.

What Is Omnichannel Personalization?

It's often confused with "multichannel personalization", which is typically disjointed and doesn't connect the whole experience into a single ecosystem across the various channels used.

Omnichannel personalization can help you provide personalized experiences to your customers at each point of contact, including:

• Brick-and-mortar stores
• Online marketplaces
• Social media platforms
• Private communications like chats and messaging

How Can You Achieve Omnichannel Personalization?

There are many types of omnichannel personalization methods you can start applying to your business. These include strategies like:

• Personalized product recommendations
• Custom content
• Targeted promotions
• Personalized pricing
• Tailored social media marketing

Timberland: Taking Personalization Up a Step

Brick-and-mortar locations are using technology to take omnichannel to a whole new level. For example, footwear brand Timberland uses in-store tablets and digital displays to let customers create favorite lists, learn about products in the store, and continue their shopping journey at home.



Bright Minds: Use Data to Increase Your Personalization Efforts

Like behavioral marketing, to succeed in omnichannel personalization, you must use customer data to create personalized experiences. This can include using a customer's purchase history, browsing history, and favorite lists to recommend relevant products or offer customized discounts.

As your company grows, use a central tracking and analytics system to keep track of all touchpoints. Incorporating AI systems into your store can supercharge these efforts.

For example, the educational toys online retailer BrightMinds leveraged advanced personalization technology to analyze customers' demographics, purchase history, and preferences.

With this data, BrightMinds could offer their customers tailor-made shopping experiences with highly relevant information. This led to a conversion rate of over 25% for personalized shoppers.



» Learn more about how personalized recommendations work

Benefits of Omnichannel Personalization

1. Increased Customer Satisfaction

Personalized experiences at different touchpoints can lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. This happens when you can meet customers' expectations and create a reliable, consistent, and more enjoyable shopping experience at each stage of the customer's shopping journey.

One simple way to do this is through a rewards system, like the one Starbucks has been using to keep tens of millions of customers happy. They make the program available on their site and through a mobile app. This rewards program drives half of all their sales—proof that customers who use the app are engaged and satisfied.



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2. Improved Brand Reputation and Differentiation

Integrating channels that deliver a consistent and positive experience helps develop a clear brand identity that customers can trust. A strong, identifiable, and unique brand identity is necessary to improve customer perception of your business. This, in turn, is necessary to ensure you stand out from the crowd and make an impact on the market.

3. Increased Sales and Conversions

Personalized experiences can lead to increased sales and revenue for businesses. Personalized experiences like targeted promotions and product recommendations, coupled with omnichannel integrations like cross-channel experiences and support, ultimately drive sales.

When customers can start engaging on one channel, move onto another, and then complete their purchase on another, they're much more likely to move forward with the purchase.

Challenges and Solutions for Omnichannel Personalization

While there are many benefits associated with personalization, you'll also face some omnichannel personalization challenges as you find your path to developing and implementing your strategies. For example, many businesses face obstacles around data integration, data interpretation, and customer privacy concerns.

Here are a few tips to help overcome common challenges:

• Don't skimp on the tools and tech you use to collect and manage data. For instance, consider a headless content management system (CMS) instead of a traditional CMS. Headless commerce offers maximum flexibility and capabilities.
• Get a 360-degree view of your customers to better track data across all channels.
• Clean and organize your data so it's easier to segment, analyze, and interpret.
• Get customers' permission to collect their data, and don't overcollect.
• Clearly communicate your privacy policy to customers so there are no gray areas.
• Ensure that all of your tools and tech are secure and compliant with data privacy regulations in all regions where your store does business.

Having a clear strategy and setting realistic goals for implementing omnichannel personalization are essential. As you get into the flow, be sure you're continually analyzing and adjusting personalized experiences to meet changing customer needs and preferences. A/B testing is a good way to try out different ideas at the same time and compare results afterward.

Fast-Track Your Business Growth With Omnichannel Personalization

When it comes to an enhanced shopping experience for your customers, an omnichannel personalization program can have incredible power. By implementing data tracking and analysis, interpreting the data into meaningful strategies, and incorporating those strategies into your company's foundations, you can drive growth and revenue for years to come.

Just keep in mind that it takes some experimentation—what works for one brand may not work for another. The next step is to get out there, do research, and try your own omnichannel personalization strategies. It'll help you continually adapt to changing customer needs and stay ahead in the market.

» The next step: Leverage omnichannel merchandising to accelerate your business growth