Omni-channel: three obstacles to success

We all come across obstacles every day, and when possible we try and avoid them or find a way around the obstacle. When you’re building an omni-channel strategy for your brand, there are some obstacles your departments and the wider teams will have to conquer to ensure success.

Silo mentality

Silo mentality can become an obstacle in any marketing plan, but when it comes to trying to deliver a seamless experience regardless of device or channel, this mentality becomes even more of an issue. Communication and ideation form large parts of a successful omni-channel strategy, so the barrier of communication is one that needs to be broken before you start your journey toward becoming an omni-channel brand. It’s important you get everyone across departments involved in delivering your omni-channel plan, encouraging new ideas that are incentive-driven can be a great way to start the ball rolling – it’s important that you get everyone focused and working toward the same goal!

Use of data

Sometimes businesses just don’t have the correct data to help inform them of customer behaviour and touchpoints. Or it might be that you have hold of the data but you’re not using it to its full potential. Data is something that can be very costly to sift through and, quite frankly, a time-consuming exercise. But if your data has been gathered from reliable methods and techniques and has been taken from your target buyer personas, then it’s definitely worth refining it. Understanding exactly how your buyers think, react and then interact with your ecommerce site, is very valuable information, helping you shape your site, mirroring it to fit your audiences’ best needs.

Digital channel analysis

Digital channel analysis is an exercise that should be cyclical in process, however it is also an exercise that needs to be performed in-depth initially to ensure your omni-channel strategy is comprehensive and focusing on the most profitable channels. You need to eliminate or reassign priority to channels you feel your audience won’t engage or interact as much with compared to others. For example, Snapchat seems to be flourishing within the fashion industry, with the likes of Burberry and other giants harnessing its power of powerful brand storytelling.

Check out the section on channel analysis in Hit Search’s omni-channel eBook here.