In the era of rapid digitalisation, it has become imperative for businesses to reach their consumers through digital mediums across various platforms and media sites. This also calls for building a consistent and cohesive brand image across various digital mediums as well as physical points of contact such as storefronts, placards, and billboards. According to a research conducted by Comperemedia and Mintel Consulting, “The trend to watch for 2025 is ‘Personalization Renaissance.’ As AI and data analytics transform marketing, brands have unprecedented opportunities to create hyper-personalized experiences.”
Creating an omnichannel marketing strategy means a marketing plan that considers all the channels and enables the business to reach its prospects and customers at the right place and at the right time. Omnichannel marketing uses multiple channels to provide a seamless experience to the consumers whether they are interacting with the business online or offline. However, omnichannel marketing is more than just multichannel marketing, where businesses use different channels to reach customers. Omnichannel marketing focuses on the entire customer journey and provides a more holistic approach to marketing where the customer will have the same experience regardless of the platform they choose.
In this blog, we are going to take a detailed look at five technologies that are shaping the 2024 omnichannel marketing scenario: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning, Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), Marketing Automation Tools, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), and Advanced Analytics and Predictive Modeling.
Revolutionising Personalisation and Predictive Marketing
Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays a huge role in creating a personalised shopping experience for customers enhancing their overall brand experience. AI enables marketers to gather data, analyse them and create outputs based on the data gathered. This enables businesses to understand customer behaviour and optimise campaigns in real time. AI helps in optimising the entire consumer journey through analysis of customer interaction patterns, product views, and channels most used by the target customer. AI and Machine Learning enable us to predict consumer behaviour and their changing needs, creating a cohesive consumer journey that brings greater reach, and provides customers with a seamless experience that boosts customer satisfaction and loyalty.
According to Accenture’s omnichannel study, “89% of customers used at least one digital channel to interact with their favorite brands and just 13% found the digital-physical experiences well aligned”. This is where AI and Machine Learning come into play. They use various language learning models and algorithms to close the gaps between various channels and mediums of customer interaction with greater knowledge and intelligence.
AI-driven recommendation systems exemplify the practical application of this technology. Amazon and Netflix utilise these algorithms to monitor user actions, like browsing history or buying trends, in order to suggest items or materials on various platforms like websites, mobile applications, and email. This customised method aims to maintain user interest and boost conversion rates through the presentation of extremely pertinent recommendations.
Over time, the use of predictive analytics has enabled marketing teams to forecast probable outcomes by analysing data to uncover patterns and other indicators to analyse future actions. AI-powered predictive analysis helps marketers to make better decisions by providing valuable insights that help them to optimise campaigns, brand messaging and the use of channels. Furthermore, the development of AI has led to the integration of chatbots enabling a more interactive experience for consumers without the need for the availability of an actual human being. Chatbots are being increasingly trained to interact in a human-like way. AI has also enabled marketers to automate content creation to some extent, loosening the burden on marketing teams and content creators.
Building Unified Customer Profiles Across Channels
Successful omnichannel marketing efforts require a consolidated and comprehensive collation and analysis of customer data from across multiple channels, including third-party sites and channels, and providing real-time forecasts based on consumer behaviour. It is essential to have a system that enables the provision of hyper-personalised experience to customers through data analysis while at the same time meeting the mandates for data privacy and security checks.
This is where Customer Data Platforms (CPDs) play a significant role as they almost accurately gather customer information that enables businesses to reach their target audience through the right channels at the right time and with the right messaging. This is imperative for omnichannel marketing as this form of marketing completely relies on reaching the consumer at the place across multiple channels but with consistent brand messaging.
According to Gladly, “Almost three-fourths of all consumers – 71% – want a consistent experience across all channels, but only 29% say they actually get it.” Well-known CDP platforms like Salesforce CPD and Adobe Experience Cloud leverage machine learning to collect customer information from various channels and create a unified customer profile that helps in creating personalised experiences throughout their entire consumer journey. Creating consolidated customer bases is a key aspect of high-functioning CDPs as they form the basis for all marketing campaigns and brand interactions.
With the need for customer data for increased personalisation and stricter privacy policies being at loggerheads, customer data platforms are built to adhere to data policies such as the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). CDPs centralise data collected from various channels to create a single customer view (SCV), which is then used by marketers as their source of information. Having a unified, single platform for all data received and gathered makes it much easier for businesses to comply with data and privacy rules.
Streamlining Campaigns and Boosting ROI
As per Bloomreach, research and marketing trends suggest that omnichannel marketing automation aided through artificial intelligence is the ultimate powerhouse for creating hyper-personalised customer experience. Consumers today want seamless interaction at all times and wherever they choose. Businesses, without marketing automation and CRM platforms, will struggle to meet the increasing demand for two-way interactions at all times. Omnichannel marketing automation enables businesses to provide a consistent personalised and engaging customer experience across various online platforms such as websites, social media, and email. This uniformity not only enhances customer confidence in the brand but also strengthens loyalty and enhances competitive advantage.
Businesses need to properly invest resources to make a seamless integration of their marketing channels. CPDs help streamline marketing efforts across various media and channels to provide consistent brand messaging. Platforms like Hubspot and ActiveCampaign have enabled brands to build cohesive marketing strategies through the integration of multiple channels. They help brands automate promotional efforts across social media, websites, and email enabling brands to deliver engaging content and communications to their audience irrespective of the channels they wish to interact with.
Personalised emails are a great way to interact with consumers through their customer journey. Generally, audiences respond to a brand’s personalised interactions based on their previous communications. Adaptive email campaigns can be a great way to build rapport with the customers where the consumers receive automated personalised messages at each step of their journey. These emails are triggered based on their previous interactions and help them to move further in their consumer journey. Targeted emails lead to better open rates, click-through rates and conversion. They not only build customer reliability in the business but also strengthen loyalty towards the brand.
Omnichannel marketing automation platforms allow marketing teams to control several platforms and channels using a single dashboard. This simplifies the process of examining customer information and developing effective marketing strategies. Furthermore, marketing automation software can help streamline processes, enabling the team to prioritize delivering high-quality customer service.
Immersive Experiences Bridging Online and Offline Channels
Along with AI, businesses are now leveraging Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies to further their marketing efforts. Both AR and VR have become an essential element of brands opting for omnichannel marketing as they enable the creation of a more immersive and personalised experience for consumers. Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that “overlays digital elements onto the real world, enhancing what users see and experience.” Whereas Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that “creates a completely immersive digital environment that users can interact with using specialized VR headsets or devices”. Both these technologies are driving innovation and change in the realm of marketing and promotions and how brands interact with their audience.
According to Statista, “the number of AR & VR market users is expected to reach 3,728.0m users by 2029.” A knack for immersive and personalised experiences by consumers and unprecedented technological advancements in the last decade have propelled the growth of AR and VR technologies. Brands such as IKEA have been one of the pioneering players in implementing AR technology in their business. IKEA’s Place app enables customers to see how the furniture would look when physically placed in their desired place.
This has marked a great milestone in the digital transformation of IKEA and also aids customers in making more informed buying decisions. Along with IKEA, e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Nyka have also implemented augmented reality technologies in their business. Like IKEA, Amazon lets you see how furniture including sofas, beds, and cupboards would look through its shopping application. Nyka have enabled try-on features for cosmetics such as lipsticks which further aids the buyers in their purchasing decisions.
AR and VR technologies are changing omnichannel e-commerce experiences by allowing immersive and interactive engagement with products and brands. The effectiveness of AR and VR technologies lies in their capability to generate personalised and unforgettable experiences that connect with customers, enhancing customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately, business success. Utilizing AR and VR in marketing is more than just a passing fad; it is a strategic decision aimed at delivering outstanding customer experiences in the modern digital era.
Data-Driven Decisions for a Seamless Omnichannel Strategy
Analytics play a huge role in any successful marketing campaign since it is through analytics that we can gauge the effectiveness of all the marketing efforts. It enables marketers to analyse how audiences are engaging with their campaigns and communications. Analytics also helps to gather information on consumer behaviour that enables businesses to further strategise and devise their marketing plans. With the increasing use of marketing automation, AI and an emphasis on personalised consumer experience, predictive analytics have become an integral part of every omnichannel marketing effort.
Predictive analytics make use of various machine learning and modelling technologies to gather historical data and analyse them to further predict future occurrences. This can be used to analyse and determine future consumer behaviour based on their current patterns of engagement and interactions. “Predictive analytics helps marketers make better decisions today by providing insights into what’s likely to happen in the future.” Using predictive analytic techniques enables marketers to better forecast probable outcomes and aids them in better decision-making.
Advanced analytical technologies such as GA4 are making use of machine learning to integrate predictive analytics, enabling users to not only identify trends but also forecast future user actions using their data. Brands can tailor content, enhance ad spending efficiency, and allocate resources more effectively by utilizing these insights. By 2024, predictive modelling is expected to play a crucial role in marketing strategies, aiding companies in enhancing omnichannel initiatives to achieve higher ROI.
Wrapping Up
As it is seen, the future of marketing is going to be governed by personalisation through the utilisation of multiple channels. Looking forward, the effectiveness of omnichannel marketing will depend on utilising essential technologies that allow brands to provide uniform, customised, and immersive experiences through various touchpoints.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will keep transforming personalisation, as Customer Data Platforms will bring together data and improve optimisation. Utilising Marketing Automation Tools will enhance campaigns and increase ROI, while Augmented and Virtual Reality will generate immersive experiences that merge online and offline platforms. Ultimately, Advanced Analytics and Predictive Modeling will offer the necessary insights for making decisions based on data.
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Written By : Rajashree Dey
