At Veriday, we recognize the value of an excellent customer experience. Our digital marketing platform, Digital Agent, helps financial agents offer an excellent, omnichannel experience to their customers and audience alike. Today, we will examine the three main elements of an omnichannel experience. An omnichannel experience means users can interact with your business however they want. This type of experience gives marketers in-depth insights on their customers, leading marketers to be more effective at content marketing.

1. Anytime, Anywhere, Any Device

The ability for the experience to take place on any device at any time is more important than ever. End-users should be able to access information at any time, using any channel. Users should be able to log in on their mobile device, browse content on their bus ride home and finish their tasks on their desktop when they get home.

This type of experience benefits customers by reducing inter-channel friction. If the user needs a login to access parts of the website, the information they provide allows them to pick up where they left off. 

The difference between omnichannel and multichannel experiences is that there is true back-end integration between channels. An omnichannel experience provides opportunities to track users across devices to get a holistic understanding of every interaction they have with your brand, adding vast quantities of data to your buyer profiles. The data will help your brand target relevant content to users because you will have more accurate insights.

2. Complete Buyer Profile

The second element that defines a true omnichannel experience is a complete, data-driven buyer profile. Having back-end integration between platforms provides data that will allow marketers to create more accurate buyer profiles.

A complete, data-driven buyer profile will include information such as:

• What article they read last
• What time of day do they visit the website
  • Also, what time-zone they are located
• What forms they have filled out
• Have they clicked any CTAs?
• Have they made any purchases?
• How did they get to your website?
  • Search engine, direct, social media?
• Whether they read emails and other communications
  • Do they do so in a timely manner?
• And much more.

This information can be elusive if the technology solution hosting your website (or portal, intranet, extranet or app), does not have the needed analytic capabilities built-in the solution. If you can access and analyze the rich data provided by multiple sources, your marketing team can create and target content at the right members of the audience.

3. Relevant Content

The final element of an omnichannel experience is targeted relevant content. Without content, you cannot add value to the conversation, provide important information to your audience, or influence purchase decisions. Content is the lifeblood of any marketing strategy.

An omnichannel experience provides marketers with insights, gleaned from customer data. Having a cross-section of what content a user has consumed, how long they stayed on particular pages, and how they access the content (e.g. what device? how did they get to that content? etc.) allows marketers to target relevant content to potentially interested audience members.

There are several content strategies that data can help inform:

• Create content that focuses on topics that your target audience has shown an interest in.
• Recommend video content to users who frequently access your website with a mobile device.
• Update content that frequently causes visitors to leave your site.
• Create demos, tours and other interactive content types with particular segments of your audience in mind.
  • Find common archetypes based on what content they have viewed, what forms have been filled out and whether newsletters have been signed up for.

An omnichannel experience lets marketers be more effective at creating content thanks to data-driven insights provided by cross-device integration.

Why Omnichannel?

Omnichannel experiences are so beneficial because it enables marketers to gain a better understanding of their audience and themselves. Firstly, omnichannel marketing is more successful than single-channel campaigns. In a survey of more than 1,000 businesses, InfoTrends documented that the more channels used in a given campaign, the more effective the message.

Secondly, it gives marketers the ability to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of their marketing channels. Do certain channels consistently provide more leads than others? Are your Youtube videos gaining more attention than posts on your blog? That type of information can help marketers make better decisions and create more effective content.

Thirdly, and most importantly, omnichannel experiences are so valuable because it lets your audience consume content in whatever fashion they want. This improves their experience and increases the likelihood that when that user is ready to make a purchase, they will make it through your business! 

Are you interested in providing your customers with an excellent omnichannel experience? Let us know on Twitter @VeridayHQ or on LinkedIn.