The business and marketing world is currently undergoing a massive transformation, with businesses no longer having strict control over the customers’ purchasing journey and decision, but instead are required to work in a business environment that is determined by the customers’ wants and needs. A Salesforce and LinkedIn Marketing Leadership study shows that 86% of senior marketers agree that building a seamless customer experience across all touchpoints and channels are critical for the business. Moreover, a study from Silverpop shows that 81% percent of CxOs expect more digital customer engagement by 2020, and 66% expect more focus on customers as individuals.

Companies need to move rapidly and introduce communication channels that can satisfy the customer demand, enabling them to communicate with customers across various channels, while at the same time allowing their customers to have different ways to connect with the companies. One of the most used terms in the digital marketing world nowadays is multichannel and omnichannel communications. What do these terms mean? What will be the differences? And why does it matter? To answer those questions, it is important to compare and contrast multichannel and omnichannel communications by assessing their definition, objectives, and features.

Multichannel starts with the company, omnichannel starts with the customers

Multichannel communication is a technique in which businesses rely on a blend of channels and methods of distribution to reach their target customers. The channel can range from a brick-and-mortar storefront to emails to text messaging. Typically it begins with the company’s objectives which will then be converted into the communications strategy. Meanwhile, omnichannel communications is a strategy that offers customers with a completely seamless experience from the first touchpoint to the last.  It means that no matter what channel the customer uses to communicate with a band, that particular customer will receive a personalized message from the company. As the client goes on their buying journey, these channels will work side-by-side to update customer data. Omnichannel always begins with the needs of the consumers and focuses on delivering a customer experience that is comprehensive and integrated.

Multichannel offers various independent channels, omnichannel offers integrated seamless experience across multiple touchpoints

The ultimate goal of multichannel communications is to create a multiple funnel for customers to purchase directly from all the independent channels that they use. Think of it as a large octopus, with the head as the brand and the tentacles reach out to several different channels to get the message out. However, most of the time, none of those tentacles communicate with each other. In contrast, omnichannel marketing looks like an interlocking web, in which each channel responds to the way that a customer engages and allows the rest of the channel to adapt accordingly. It works under the assumption that most customers will use multiple channels to engage with a brand before making a purchasing decision, therefore an integrated seamless experience across multiple touchpoints has become more important than ever.

Multichannel is great for business expansion, omnichannel retain customers and grow your business

A study by Gartner Research shows that campaigns integrating four or more digital channels will outperform single- or dual-channel campaigns by 300%. This shows that having multichannel communications are great for business expansion. However, based on the research by Aberdeen Group, companies with extremely strong omnichannel customer engagement see a 9.5% year-over-year increase in annual revenue and 7.5% year-over-year decrease in cost per contact. Not only that, based on a study by IDC, omnichannel shoppers have 30% higher lifetime value than those who shop using only one channel. This shows that omnichannel can help your business not only to expand, but also to retain your customers and grow your business in a more sustainable manner.

Understanding the difference between multichannel and omnichannel communications can help businesses to prioritize their investment and choose the technology that will bring more return for the companies depending on their business needs. Implementing CPaaS Indonesia can help your company to drive business success with accessible options for omnichannel communications.