The omnichannel checklist: 6 essential steps for omnichannel commerce

With the four omnichannel pillars in mind, it becomes clear that a seamless tech stack that ‘speaks fluently with each other will go a long way towards enabling success!

Not only will an integrated tech stack ensure that your customers’ experiences are smooth sailing, but you’ll also be able to make decisions based on reliable data and information. With all your data in one place, you can easily optimize every area of your business, from successful channel mixes and marketing campaigns to a perfectly managed shipments process. And if there’s a weak link in your tech stack, perhaps it’s time to pivot and try something that integrates better with your other tools.

While it may not be worth your while to sell on each and every sales channel that’s out there, if your customers are active on Instagram and you’re not using an Instagram sales channel integration, you’re probably missing out on sales! Do your research! Learn the trends and find out where stores like yours are selling. Learn who your ideal customers are and where they are most active. And if you do one thing at all, ensure your online presence is optimized for mobile!

With integrations that work together seamlessly, you’re able to keep all your sales channels up to date – even the slightly unconventional ones (like marketplaces). And since omnichannel is a customer-centric approach, you need to make the best use of these first two areas of our checklist and ensure that all your sales strategies are up to date – bonus points if they’re automated!

The benefits? Let’s say a customer sees one of your products on social media, so they come in-store to get that tactile experience only to find it’s out of stock – if your online listing had mentioned this, they’d have been able to request more info or perhaps even a restock.

Remove the guesswork and use the data at your disposal to make informed decisions.

With tools like customer segmentation, campaign results, product, and sales data and so much more, you can make informed decisions with confidence that they will benefit your business. It’s about tracking what works and what doesn’t work for your business and iterating on your success. With an integrated tech stack, this is much much easier as your data is all in one place!

All your sales channels operate as customer touchpoints; ensure that you’re keeping your customer’s experience of these touchpoints at the forefront of your plans by giving them easy access to contact and information. If they've just made a purchase with you, customers will expect real-time shipping information. If you have products listed that are out of stock, they will likely want product updates!

With integrated CRMs, marketing, fulfillment tools, and content delivery systems, you’ll be able to keep customers informed no matter where or how they’re connecting with you.

As we mentioned with the above example of out-of-stock updates enabling a seamless customer experience, automation is going to be your secret weapon at every step of the way. From customer segmentation that automatically organizes your customers into groups based on their sales data and information, to email campaigns designed to re-engage at-risk customers or delight loyal customers, you can rest easy knowing that much of your carefully planned marketing is landing in customers inboxes or to their phones (with SMS) at exactly the right time! Find a marketing software that works for you wherever you need it, and ensure it offers automations.

Did you know that Marsello is the only marketing software that integrates in-store and online for Shopify Plus retailers, no matter what POS system you use?

Our final piece of advice here is to ensure that every area of your business that’s customer-facing should feel like a seamless extension of your store, no matter if that’s marketing campaigns or in-store interactions. Ensure any automated processes reflect this!