When it comes to retail marketing, you have probably heard about "Omni-channel". It is not a new concept but bringing it to life is easier said than done for brands, even today. Omni-channel retail provides customers a unified commerce and fully integrated, seamless shopping experience across all touchpoints From the customer's perspective, omni-channel ensures that no matter when and where they encounter the brand, it always feels the same.

Having an omni-channel customer-centric experience helps retail marketing drive better sales conversion and loyalty. It is, however, not a magical model – when bringing omni-channel to life, brands may still encounter a few challenges:

• Target audience segmentation strategy is not precise
• Tagging and data taxonomy are not consistent across omni-channel
• Big data lives in different 'black holes'
• Multiple operation systems' architecture are not fully integrated

Below we dive into some considerations to better connect the dots between brands and customers.

Customer persona assumption and validation through tagging

We normally use consumer insights to define our target audiences, leveraging brand storytelling to identify their pain points or direct their attention towards the brand. When we map out an omni-channel experience, we essentially shift our strategic thinking away from pure brand storytelling and instead invite consumers to be part of the story. That is consumer-centric experience design.

To get a better understanding of each individual consumer, we need to rely on tagging, a critical component in data analysis to keep sharpening the consumer persona for precision marketing and 1-1 communication.

Segmentation

We generally use three kinds of segmentation strategies to achieve precise retail communications in the fields of Social CRM (SCRM), CRM, and eCommerce (ECRM).

1. WeChat Followers Segmentation for SCRM

For the most part, WeChat official account segmentation is implemented to deliver dynamic and customized content to the brand followers and members. It helps generate higher open rates for WeChat posts, higher engagement and higher sales conversion.

Below is an example of WeChat content segmentation we completed for an apparel brand:

2. Member Segmentation for CRM

In retail stores, POS machines tied with WeChat payment or Alipay are connected to the backend system, which usually leverages the brand's CDP (Customer Data Platform) or CRM database to enable member communications.

On the CRM front, we help brands improve their understanding of customers by utilizing data taxonomy and mini-directional data. Data collection, data cleansing and data classification come together to shape customer personas, which in turn are used in daily marketing operations. Members' personal information, consumption behavior, consumption habits, social preferences and tagging system offer a comprehensive view of the brand’s member base.

Based on the insights that different tags, the CRM system, and data offer us, we can assign members to specific groups and target them in a more accurate way.

Below is an example of member tier segmentation:

3. eCommerce Segmentation

eCommerce segmentation is usually closely linked with customer tags, including basic demographic profile and consumption data, product features, eCommerce behavior and content preferences. The taxonomy tagging framework needs to be well-integrated with all TA segmentation and the operation system; otherwise, this would only be considered as traditional eCommerce and not omni-channel.

Data Intelligence & Insights

Big data helps reflect the consumer journey and highlights different customer behaviors. Marketers are keen to deliver more customized content and offerings to drive higher conversion rates. How to read the data, display the data and convert the data into use case to fulfill marketing objectives is crucial.

System Architecture

The basic infrastructure starts from the omni-channel experience system architecture, including Channels, Business Management, CRM platform or CDP, the overall data flow, and data collection, to deliver personalized campaigns.

Once the foundations are in place, the approach to omni-channel experience communication also needs to evolve.

Lifecycle communication

Regarding lifecycle communications, we need to identify the timeframe when customers typically interact with the brand to select the right timing to push personalized content and activities to maximize sales.

Marketing Automation

By combining our existing segmentation strategy with marketing automation, we are then able to provide truly targeted and precise communications and engage with customers over time. Below is example of a customer lifecycle engagement solution we offer to some of our clients:

How Ogilvy Helps Brands Turbocharge their Omni-Channel Retail Experience

Below is a summary of some of the most common brand pain points and what can be achieved through omni-channel solutions.

From	To
One-way retail marketing	Omni-channel immersive experience that drives purchase
Isolated data without an in-depth or holistic view	Integrated customer data platform that reflects the customer consumption behavior using data insights
General target consumer definition	Data-backed customer user persona to achieve precise segmentation
Fragmented CRM system architecture	Fully interconnected and integrated system architecture
Mass communications	Lifecycle communications
Standalone marketing campaign	Full-cycle, personalized communications that revolve around key customer milestones