Why Email is a Vital Part of Omnichannel Marketing

Brands rarely reach customers through just one channel. And in a world where lead nurturing and personalization are increasingly important, consumers want to feel like they are getting the same experience across brand interactions. 

A task like this is easier said than done. But, it’s one that omnichannel marketing is trying to fix, and email plays a significant role. 

Here’s a look at why email should be an important part of your omnichannel marketing strategy.

An omnichannel overview

In essence, omnichannel marketing is a strategic process in which brands use different digital and traditional marketing channels to give consumers a unified experience across interactions.

There are tons of moving parts with omnichannel marketing, including but not limited to:

• Email marketing
• Social media marketing
• Search engine optimization
• eCommerce platforms
• Re-targeting
• Sales outreach
• Customer service
• In-store experiences

You don’t want a customer to love your in-store experience and then open their email and get something that feels completely disconnected. It can turn them off. But, unfortunately, that’s still happening. And when personalization and targeted experiences matter more than ever, it sends the wrong message about your brand.

With the omnichannel experience, it’s all about interaction and engagement. So you want to boost that while, at the same time, making it easy for the customer. 

For retail brands, especially, nailing that omnichannel experience has a lot to it, but aligning your messaging and goals across platforms can pay off and give your customer exactly what they want.

How email marketing comes into play

When you take a step back and look, omnichannel marketing is a big machine with many key parts — email marketing is one of them. After all, it’s the marketing channel that still gets far more interaction and engagement than others. Because of that, it’s one of the most critical tools you have to unify your brand messaging and give your customers the experience they crave. 

Think about typical consumer behavior. Your standard customer, let’s call them Diego, will check out your brand from several angles. First, he saw a YouTube unboxing video that got them interested. Then Diego checked out your Instagram. Next, he went to your website to see the product offering. When they saw you offered a discount for getting on the email list, Diego signed up. 

Email gives your brand the chance to take every one of those different interactions the consumer had with your brand and help bring it together to nurture prospective customers.

With the right email marketing strategy, you can send targeted personalized emails to Diego showcasing you know exactly the type of products he’s interested in buying. You send emails featuring recommended products with ratings and reviews, and content that gets him excited. 

All of that will show Diego that your brand takes him seriously. You’re paying attention to what he likes and building your interactions around that; this type of approach will get him to click and convert. 

Email marketing in action

Are you starting to see why email marketing plays such an outsized role in an omnichannel strategy?

Here are a few more ways you can keep the omnichannel approach in mind when creating emails.

Go all-in on personalization. It’s more than just a hot trend. Personalization is here to stay for the long term, and the more you can feature it in your emails, the better. A perfectly personalized email will show customers they are getting targeted 1:1 content they can’t get anywhere else. They’ll start feeling like every email is meant just for them.

Also, retailers need to keep finding ways to tie email to the in-store experience. For example, dynamic emails with location data help turn what might be a blast ‘items back in stock’ email into something that’s more personalized to individual customers and gets them back in-store.

Don’t forget to get customer feedback and data too. A great way to learn more about what your customers like is to simply ask them. Then, you can turn around and create content targeted to what they are interested in, want, and like, giving them a better experience and boosting conversion.

Consumers are willing to give you personal information; they just want to feel like they’re getting a benefit out of it too. With personalized emails, you can start delivering a better customer experience.