What is omnichannel marketing?

Omnichannel marketing is the use of both digital and traditional marketing channels to deliver a seamless message and consistent brand experience. The experience adjusts to customers based on their journey, and is consistent regardless of the point of engagement.

The best way to understand omnichannel marketing is to break it down into smaller pieces. First, we have ‘omni’ meaning combining from or of all things. When we add in the channel piece to omnichannel, we are now referring to the concept of using all channels to create a single, unified, seamless experience for customers. This includes online and offline channels – websites, CRM, social media, mobile apps, physical stores, etc. – and all devices from desktop to mobile and all smart devices in between.

When planning for omnichannel marketing, it is important to think holistically about the customer journey, both in-store and online— all of the places where people interact with your brand. Having a strong understanding of customer engagement, and specifically, where customers engage will also help to inform how to collect unified customer data and ensure that your communication channels are designed to work in concert – not in contrast – to one another.

The key difference between multichannel marketing and omnichannel marketing is the ways in which systems work together to engage customers. While both approaches are similar in the sense that they aim to engage customers on various channels, omnichannel marketing focuses on the integrated and consistent nature of engagement on these channels and multichannel is a less-connected approach that is more focused on distribution across channels.

Examples of omnichannel marketing include a customer getting an SMS notification from a brand about a discount or special promotion while visiting their brick-and-mortar store in person. Another example is a brand sending a cart abandonment email marketing campaign to a customer who has added a product to their shopping cart during an online shopping session but has decided not to make a purchase.

There are several benefits to an omnichannel marketing approach that make the effort and planning that go into it worthwhile. The first, and most important benefit, is customer satisfaction. With the focus of omnichannel marketing being on the delivery of seamless information and experiences, brands are able to deliver exceptional unified experiences – which is the leading deciding factor for consumers when they are evaluating and choosing to work with a brand.

The benefit of customer satisfaction is also important from a business success and revenue standpoint. With satisfaction comes customer retention and loyalty which can have significant impacts on revenue – some studies showing that an increase in customer retention by just 5% can lead to profit increases between 25% to 95%.

In addition to customer satisfaction, additional benefits brands achieve when they shift to an omnichannel approach include:

Having a headless content management system (CMS) in place allows marketers and content teams to create content once and display it across all devices and channels.

Since the omnichannel experience is all about seamless distribution of messaging and information, a headless CMS helps teams efficiently and effectively distribute content across channels while also being able to collect customer data in real-time from those customer touchpoints that feed into the 360-degree customer view. Ultimately, this creates a consistent brand experience.

The modern consumer is impulsive and unpredictable – with infinite ways to shop but they have limited time and attention. As a result, a single task can take minutes or months. People bounce around among digital and real-world channels. They often begin a purchase in one place and finish it later, using a different device. All the while, customers expect brands to follow this journey as it unfolds, anticipating their needs, and providing a seamless experience every step of the way.

This is the new reality of omnichannel marketing. Already, brands are adapting to these changing consumer demands and expectations in different ways, from offering the option to place an order online and pick up in store to delivering increasingly relevant, personalized content at the right time on the right digital channel.

The short answer is yes. Any business that is trying to grab the attention of consumers in an age where personalized experience is a key influencer in decision making should have a plan to execute omnichannel marketing. That being said, it is important to have the right strategy and marketing and automation tools in place first to make sure that your experience executing omnichannel marketing is as seamless as the consistent experience you aim to deliver to your customers. By improving the buyer’s journey you can drive customer loyalty and achieve real results through your marketing efforts.

When you’re ready to begin planning an omnichannel marketing strategy, it’s best to set clear objectives and start with a small test project. Consider these five aspects to frame the initiative:

1. Journey mapping: How well do you understand customer personas and what customer behavior is typical on each different channel? Get a clear picture of how customer interactions work with the brand by observing the patterns, testing the process yourself, and inviting direct feedback.
2. Team: Omnichannel marketing is a transformative undertaking – one that requires significant cross-department coordination. Make sure to get your team aligned with executive buy-in from the start.
3. Data sharing: Breaking down silos is essential to successful omnichannel marketing. Talk to your peers across the company to plan how you will share customer information and insights.
4. Technology infrastructure: Do you have the right marketing providers and technology stack in place to gather and analyze data across channels and deliver personalized content at scale? A unified platform can introduce efficiency by managing the entire customer experience from end-to-end.
5. Audience segments: Identify key target audience segments for targeted brand messages and study their interests. Then prioritize a few channels and consider starting with a single campaign to test the process.

Finally, evaluation: Define and measure success metrics, then iterate continually to optimize results.

The stakes for embracing omnichannel marketing are high and climbing. “Today, consumers expect to buy on the computer, phone, or at the stand in the store and choose delivery at home, in the store, in a pre-set location, or in the trunk of their car. A retailer that cannot do this today loses out on around 10%-30% of sales,” writes Professor Carlos Cordon for executive education firm IMD.

You’ll know that the omnichannel marketing strategy is working its magic when you have visibility across channels, conversions start to climb, customer sentiment is positive, and repeat business becomes the norm.

Omnichannel success means your brand shows up consistently and intelligently across every channel your customer touches. It’s not just about being everywhere; it’s about making every interaction feel like part of one seamless journey. Customers can jump from one device to another, pause and resume their journey, and still feel like your brand knows exactly where they left off.

This kind of experience builds trust, reduces friction, and drives conversions. When a customer gets a personalized product recommendation in an email, clicks through to a perfectly matched landing page, and then sees that same product waiting in their app or in-store that's brand magic. Every touchpoint is connected, relevant, and purposeful. That’s omnichannel done right, and it’s how modern brands turn browsers into buyers and buyers into loyal fans.