How to think about online to offline or multichannel shopping
As the name suggests, online to offline (O2O) marketing is the process of running online marketing campaigns designed to drive in-store foot traffic and offline sales.
The outcome is more targeted marketing and greater brand affinity by humanizing the sale at the point of purchase.
How does O2O marketing work?
There are four stages of the O2O process:
- Online discovery: 81% of shoppers do their product research and discovery online, so O2O marketing focuses on gaining exposure across top-searched channels to gather user data. These channels include:
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- SEO and content creation – driving SEO for keywords with high search volume within the target audience by creating high-quality content.
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- Email marketing – Inviting potential customers to subscribe for new products or sales alerts.
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- Location and preferred store data – As part of the email opt-in process, collect consumer zip codes, which can be correlated with their nearest store to be segmented and targeted accurately.
- Offline purchase: You can start driving them in-store for product launches, trials, or special promotions now that you’ve got an audience.
- Post-purchase feedback: Collecting customer feedback after they’ve made a purchase will help strengthen relationships, grow product launch sales and gather better insights about customer preferences. This feedback can be from product reviews or purchase drivers/intent. Feedback can be collected via an email campaign to consumers within a specific timeframe from the sale event, QR codes on packaging, or purchase receipts sent via email.
- Amplification and advocacy: This stage is about building community and encouraging word-of-mouth. This can be achieved through marketing activities like brand ambassador programs or influencer campaigns and social media campaigns asking people to tag friends that might be interested in the product. However, the most crucial factor for generating word-of-mouth and customer advocacy is building a product that your audience loves.
Why should CPG brands take O2O marketing seriously?
It’s hard to deny that O2O marketing provides an edge to CPG brands over eCommerce-only competitors. It offers the consumer the benefit of enabling their usual online research and discovery habits without disruption but adds “service with a smile” and injects a human element into the otherwise sterile eCommerce experience.
Research has shown that delivering an in-store experience helps to address customers’ emotional needs and reinforces brand affinity.
While measuring the post-COVID retail environment, there’s a noticeable shift from “O2O” to an “O+O” philosophy. CPG brands who integrate this school of thought into their marketing efforts will reap the rewards. Online marketing and eCommerce have been ingrained into every shopper journey, which means there’s renewed focus on delivering a better in-store experience.”
A brand’s online and offline marketing activities need to work perfectly to deliver a seamless, consistent customer experience to make the in-store visit a positive one.
If you’re ready to explore innovative ways of delivering a seamless purchase experience to your customers, contact Mobeo today.