Omnichannel marketing: from segmentation to individual relevance
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2025 10:52 am
Segmentation is a magic word in marketing, but you could say it is already outdated. Current technologies offer numerous possibilities to not only divide your target group into certain segments, but to address people individually, based on their characteristics and their behavior. However, this is not a trick that is reserved for one channel. It must be carried across all channels, from an omnichannel perspective. From segmentation to relevance per individual.
What do the approaches entail? It has been written about before , but here it is again briefly to refresh:
Single channel : customers can purchase or use services through one channel.
Multichannel : customers can buy or use services via multiple channels, compare store and webshop, but the channels operate independently of each other.
Cross-channel : customers can buy products or services and switch between different channels during this process, after which the purchase takes place on one of these channels.
Omnichannel : customers switch between various channels in their search for products or services and are recognized by the organization everywhere. They can complete a panama telegram number list purchase process via a different channel than where they started. In addition, the same brand experience is provided on every channel.
Converting weaknesses into strengths
Technology is developing incredibly fast. The diversity of channels, resources and devices that customers use to contact an organisation or that consumers use to orient themselves, ensures that companies can no longer keep up. And despite this technology, we still want to communicate personally with our target group . How do we do that? By making this technology work for us too.
Omnichannel CRM
Customer Relationship Management is more important than ever. We see that the customer increasingly chooses the channels on which they are active and that companies and brands only follow afterwards. With the rapid switching behavior of people, both on devices (tablet, desktop, smartphones), as well as via communication channels (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, e-mail, WhatsApp) and even between payment methods (Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, Alipay), the expectation also arises that brands and organizations have all of this mapped out.
During Marketing Technology 2015, Will Dongleur of Selligent talked about the possibilities offered by marketing technology solutions, which focus on identifying the consumer and ensuring appropriate individual communication. The message here is simple:
Sending the right message, to the right person, at the right moment.
An example that Will mentioned is of the fictional young woman Julie. Julie is known by her email address to a specific car brand, who knows from sales data that she bought a compact car six years ago. She recently clicked on a more expensive model in the newsletter. The next time she visits the website of the car brand, the image of the more expensive car is shown on the homepage with associated content. And this is completely tailored to Julie's data and behavior and unique to her situation.
Behavioral Targeting
Example from Will's presentation
From personalization to agile and interest profiling
The time when people found personalization in emails ('Dear Bart,') and a birthday email surprising is long gone. As a brand, you no longer win with that. But for existing customers, email marketing offers a great opportunity to automatically enrich profiles. Based on clicking on images and links in emails, an interest profile is automatically built in the database, so that the target group only receives relevant and personalized content via the same channel (email) or other channels (website, SMS, direct mail ).
Current content in an email
Agile e-mailing is another development that ensures current and relevant content in an e-mail. This shows information in the e-mail that is current at the moment the e-mail is opened, not when the e-mail is sent. Is a certain product sold out in the time between sending and opening the e-mail by the recipient? Then this content will be adjusted. External factors such as time of day (a different text/colour scheme in the morning than when opening the e-mail in the evening) and the current weather situation are also used to make content in e-mails even more dynamic, current and therefore more relevant.
Based on the geolocation where the email is opened, the route description within the email is constructed.
Based on the place of residence or even the geo-location of the place where the email is opened, the route description is built within the email.
From marketing automation to 360-degree customer views
Mapping your target audience, current customers, the various channels and communication between customer and brand is a process that does not happen overnight. Once the foundation is there, there is a need for tools and technology that ensure personalization, segmentation and an omnichannel approach to the target audience. Tools that enable marketing automation and behavioral targeting , but also offer space for the personal touch .
During the first presentation at Marketing Technology 2015 last Tuesday, an overview sheet was shown with all the tools per trend that are important around marketing and technology. At that moment, many smartphones and tablets went up in the air to record the tools and systems that offer solutions for the complex digital landscape.
But whether it is social CRM, marketing automation, behavioral targeting or 360-degree customer views; omnichannel marketing starts with insights into the way the (potential) customer moves and which touchpoints can be defined in the entire consumer journey . And that alone is quite a challenge.
What do the approaches entail? It has been written about before , but here it is again briefly to refresh:
Single channel : customers can purchase or use services through one channel.
Multichannel : customers can buy or use services via multiple channels, compare store and webshop, but the channels operate independently of each other.
Cross-channel : customers can buy products or services and switch between different channels during this process, after which the purchase takes place on one of these channels.
Omnichannel : customers switch between various channels in their search for products or services and are recognized by the organization everywhere. They can complete a panama telegram number list purchase process via a different channel than where they started. In addition, the same brand experience is provided on every channel.
Converting weaknesses into strengths
Technology is developing incredibly fast. The diversity of channels, resources and devices that customers use to contact an organisation or that consumers use to orient themselves, ensures that companies can no longer keep up. And despite this technology, we still want to communicate personally with our target group . How do we do that? By making this technology work for us too.
Omnichannel CRM
Customer Relationship Management is more important than ever. We see that the customer increasingly chooses the channels on which they are active and that companies and brands only follow afterwards. With the rapid switching behavior of people, both on devices (tablet, desktop, smartphones), as well as via communication channels (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, e-mail, WhatsApp) and even between payment methods (Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, Alipay), the expectation also arises that brands and organizations have all of this mapped out.
During Marketing Technology 2015, Will Dongleur of Selligent talked about the possibilities offered by marketing technology solutions, which focus on identifying the consumer and ensuring appropriate individual communication. The message here is simple:
Sending the right message, to the right person, at the right moment.
An example that Will mentioned is of the fictional young woman Julie. Julie is known by her email address to a specific car brand, who knows from sales data that she bought a compact car six years ago. She recently clicked on a more expensive model in the newsletter. The next time she visits the website of the car brand, the image of the more expensive car is shown on the homepage with associated content. And this is completely tailored to Julie's data and behavior and unique to her situation.
Behavioral Targeting
Example from Will's presentation
From personalization to agile and interest profiling
The time when people found personalization in emails ('Dear Bart,') and a birthday email surprising is long gone. As a brand, you no longer win with that. But for existing customers, email marketing offers a great opportunity to automatically enrich profiles. Based on clicking on images and links in emails, an interest profile is automatically built in the database, so that the target group only receives relevant and personalized content via the same channel (email) or other channels (website, SMS, direct mail ).
Current content in an email
Agile e-mailing is another development that ensures current and relevant content in an e-mail. This shows information in the e-mail that is current at the moment the e-mail is opened, not when the e-mail is sent. Is a certain product sold out in the time between sending and opening the e-mail by the recipient? Then this content will be adjusted. External factors such as time of day (a different text/colour scheme in the morning than when opening the e-mail in the evening) and the current weather situation are also used to make content in e-mails even more dynamic, current and therefore more relevant.
Based on the geolocation where the email is opened, the route description within the email is constructed.
Based on the place of residence or even the geo-location of the place where the email is opened, the route description is built within the email.
From marketing automation to 360-degree customer views
Mapping your target audience, current customers, the various channels and communication between customer and brand is a process that does not happen overnight. Once the foundation is there, there is a need for tools and technology that ensure personalization, segmentation and an omnichannel approach to the target audience. Tools that enable marketing automation and behavioral targeting , but also offer space for the personal touch .
During the first presentation at Marketing Technology 2015 last Tuesday, an overview sheet was shown with all the tools per trend that are important around marketing and technology. At that moment, many smartphones and tablets went up in the air to record the tools and systems that offer solutions for the complex digital landscape.
But whether it is social CRM, marketing automation, behavioral targeting or 360-degree customer views; omnichannel marketing starts with insights into the way the (potential) customer moves and which touchpoints can be defined in the entire consumer journey . And that alone is quite a challenge.