7 Omnichannel Tactics to Drive BFCM Revenue
Need to Know
- Campaigns using three or more channels have a purchase rate 287% higher than single-channel campaigns, emphasizing the power of omnichannel strategies during peak holiday seasons.
- Omnichannel marketing strategies integrate key customer touchpoints across online and offline platforms, delivering a seamless experience that boosts conversion rates by aligning with customer preferences and behaviours.
- A unified omnichannel strategy creates a cohesive customer experience, ensuring it’s consistent across platforms and increasing the chances of turning holiday shoppers into loyal customers.
Did you know that campaigns using three or more channels have a purchase rate that’s 287% higher than single-channel campaigns?1
However, not all cross-channel campaigns are created equal. Though many brands use multiple channels like their website and social presence to communicate with their audience, without a comprehensive strategy and purpose for each, most retailers end up with a repetitive multi-channel experience that is unlikely to result in significant sales.
During peak holiday retail seasons, omnichannel marketing strategies do more than just facilitate cross-channel engagement.
They integrate key customer touchpoints across online and offline platforms, delivering a singular and seamless brand experience. Omnichannel marketing strategies consider customer preferences and behaviour and tailor their promotional content accordingly to increase its relevancy and chances of converting shoppers.
Keep reading to find out how to max out the effectiveness of your holiday marketing strategies with six of our experts’ top omnichannel marketing tactics.
1. Forge deeper customer connections using segmentation and personalization. During peak seasons, knowing your customers and how they interact with your brand can make the difference between a one-time shopper and a loyal customer.
By leveraging customer segmentation, you can sort your customers into groups based on common characteristics, like location, purchasing behaviour, or preferences.
This targeted approach will allow you to move beyond generic, one-size-fits-all marketing strategies to customize your experience and meet the unique needs of your customer segments. It’s an effective approach that doesn’t take long to build ROI — campaigns that include email segmentation in their strategy tend to receive order rates that are over 60% higher.2
Segmentation is the key that unlocks personalization. Once you’ve identified your customer segments, you can create tailored messaging, promotions, and journeys that appeal to each group.
Seventy-one percent of customers have come to expect personalized experiences, and 76% view the experience as negative if they do not receive them3. Consumers like personalization so much, 83% of them will even share their data in exchange for more personalized interactions with your brand!4
2. Refresh your email strategy ahead of the holidays. You may be surprised to read that consumers are three times more likely to purchase through email marketing than social media5, making email a non-negotiable when planning your marketing for peak shopping periods.
Over 40% of emails are read on mobile devices, so optimizing your emails and making sure that every element is accessible on mobile is essential.6
When paired with personalized messaging, emails can convert up to six times more effectively.7 A great way to take advantage of this is by creating automated email flows based on your customer segments.
You can base your email flows on filters and behavioural triggers, like welcoming customers for making an account on your site, or reminding them about items they left in their carts without making a purchase.
Abandoned cart emails are particularly effective, with an open rate of over 50%, 15% above the average for other types of emails, highlighting the impact of personalized reminders when it comes to connecting with customers.8
3. Use SMS strategically. Campaigns that have SMS as part of their overall strategy are almost 50% more likely to drive conversions.9 As a short-form channel, SMS works well when used sparingly — for example, as a reminder or follow-up to an email with more details about your holiday promotions.
Integrating SMS into your holiday strategy has many benefits, including decreasing time to purchase and reducing omnichannel sales friction, which can save crucial moments during busy holiday sales periods.
Similarly to email, segmentation can be a helpful way to parse out your messaging strategy for various audience groups. You can sort your customers by their engagement, intent, location, and preferences.
One in every three shoppers prefer text messages over communications on other channels, so rounding out your strategy with SMS is an excellent way to expand your reach and communicate with customers according to their preferences.
4. Drive in-store foot traffic using your social accounts. During peak seasons, your followers will expect you to offer some compelling deals and discounts on social.
You can use this heightened awareness to drive attention and traffic to your online promotions, but also to encourage foot traffic and sales in your brick-and-mortar locations.
Highlighting options like free shipping, curbside order pickup, and BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store) on social can help you make an initial sale and give your customers a second chance to peruse your products when they go to pick up their order in person.
Another way to do this is by promoting exclusive in-store promotions to incentivize in-person store visits.
5. Stay balanced on social. While your customers will be expecting you to promote your seasonal deals on social, it’s important not to let your accounts get overrun with promotional content.
We recommend planning out a balance of posts that provide value to your audience based on their seasonal needs and preferences.
When you do post promotional content, this is the time to break out your tried and true products, best-sellers, and most effective ad types to stand out from your competitors and drive curious new shoppers to explore your other offerings.
A great way to put together holiday ads is by reviewing your top-performing creative from throughout the year and repurposing it to capture your audience’s attention.
6. Use your knowledge of your audience to create seasonal promotions that will draw them in. Offering discounts on your most popular products is an effective strategy to attract customers to your site during peak periods.
Once there, they will likely discover additional items, creating opportunities for upselling. In some instances, the discounted product may act as a loss leader, with any profit loss being offset by customers making more purchases than they initially intended. Scarcity is another strategy that, when used in moderation, can drive even the most hesitant customers to purchase.
Some promotions you may want to experiment with during the holiday season to drive site traffic could include:
- Limited-time discounts
- Buy one, get one free (BOGO)
- Eliminating shipping fees
- Creating discounts on bundled or bulk items
7. Showcase your products using seasonal gift guides and landing pages. During the holidays of yesteryear, beautifully adorned shop windows that showcased timely and best-selling products enticed weary shoppers inside to explore more products to purchase. When it comes to eCommerce storefronts, landing pages and gift guides can serve a very similar purpose.
When they are informed by customer search data, product pages can be an integral piece of your holiday Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy.
This is the time to take advantage of searches for seasonal items and use your customer knowledge to create custom gift guides that highlight collections you want shoppers to see.
Building an effective omnichannel marketing strategy ahead of the holidays is an investment in your brand’s year-end and long-term revenue.
Partnering with industry experts who are well-versed in the retail landscape and understand how your customers' expectations can accelerate their path to brand loyalty. Connect with our eCommerce team today to get started.
Want to learn more about our approach to optimizing your eCommerce approach for increased sales and customer loyalty? Download our eBook of our experts’ eCommerce best practices to discover the proven strategies we've employed for our clients.
1 https://mailchimp.com/marketing-glossary/omnichannel-marketing/
2 https://mailchimp.com/marketing-glossary/omnichannel-marketing/
4 https://www.bigcommerce.com/articles/ecommerce/personalization/
5 https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/email-marketing-statis…
6 https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/email-marketing-statistics/
7 https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/email-marketing-statistics/
8 https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/email-marketing-statistics/
9 https://mailchimp.com/marketing-glossary/omnichannel-marketing/
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