Today, omnichannel marketing is largely accepted as a necessary and effective way of marketing and selling within many industries. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing, and shelter-in-place mandates, the use of digital channels has increased. In fact, online order volume from grocery merchants rose 210.1% from March 12 through March 15, 2020 compared with the same period a year earlier (per Rakuten Intelligence data).
Omnichannel marketing, which was first introduced around 2010, describes a shopping experience that engages customers across multiple touchpoints in an orchestrated and seamless way. The goal of omnichannel marketing is to provide a coordinated customer experience - one that is personalized, timely, and efficient.
Unlike omnichannel, multichannel marketing delivers promotions and communications across several channels without considering customer interactions and preferences. To a customer, multichannel marketing can feel like they are dealing with a different company on each channel. For example, a retail sales associate does not have access to a customer’s recent online purchase while they are assisting the customer in the store. Whereas in omnichannel marketing, the sales associate can look up the customer’s online activity, preferences, purchases, etc. to more quickly offer personalized suggestions. And, in-store purchases and notes are included in the customer’s profile to serve them better online.
If history is any indicator, we expect the digital trend to continue even after the coronavirus is under control. Following the 2003 SARS epidemic in China, business-to-business e-commerce sites (such as Alibaba) and brick-and-mortar stores (such as Jing Dong Trading) transformed into some of the largest e-commerce business in the world. Following the coronavirus pandemic, Omnichannel marketing and the customer experience will be more important than ever, and marketers will need to develop no-touch customer experiences with an emphasis on hygiene.
The following proof points support the theory that a cohesive omnichannel marketing strategy can significantly increase your customer experience ratings.
The adoption of omnichannel marketing within the life sciences industry has been slower, as the environment is regulated and more complicated with healthcare providers, patients, and payers playing a significant role in the purchase decision. However, pharma companies have come to recognize the value omnichannel marketing brings.
Pharma chief marketing officers (CMOs) who are not already on the omnichannel journey are interested in transitioning to this approach. And, in almost all cases, pharma CMOs are looking for ways to advance their omnichannel capabilities, leading to better and more effective customer experiences. Based on Axtria’s Omnichannel Marketing Maturity Survey4 of 35 leading pharma companies, it is apparent that omnichannel marketing has become a priority over the past two years.
While CMOs in pharma are determined to enable and advance omnichannel marketing, many are finding it difficult. Of the 35 companies surveyed, most cited organizational culture as the primary challenge (as depicted in Figure 1).
Figure 1: Findings from Axtria’s Omnichannel Marketing Maturity Survey
However, based on our experience, several factors are contributing to slow progress or, in some cases, the abandonment of the omnichannel journey.
Axtria has developed a maturity model (or framework) for life sciences companies looking to establish and advance omnichannel capabilities. Our framework improves the adoption of omnichannel marketing within life sciences. It helps companies realize the value while avoiding the pitfalls that can result due to slow progress, lack of organizational support, and abandonment. Before presenting our recommended approach, let’s address the top reasons companies struggle to adopt omnichannel marketing:
Now that we have a few examples of why life sciences pharma companies struggle to establish an omnichannel strategy let’s look at a proven maturity model. Axtria’s Omnichannel Maturity Model identifies eight key process areas (KPAs) that are important for creating the omnichannel customer experience. Each KPA or building block should be considered when striving to establish or improve omnichannel capabilities. An illustration of the building blocks are shown below.
Figure 2: Axtria’s Omnichannel Maturity Model
Our recommended approach is first to define the omnichannel capabilities required to support future campaigns. Leveraging the maturity model described, create a plan considering each of the above building blocks. In most cases, it will not be necessary to address each of the eight building blocks for each iteration.
For example, a company looking to plan, execute, and measure its first omnichannel campaign would likely want to establish necessary capabilities related to: (1) organizational desire and commitment, (2) data ingest and processing, (3) customer 360, (6) content, and (8) omnichannel planning. It may not be necessary to address other areas to support a simple omnichannel campaign.
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See the illustration below of an organization’s maturity post-investment for executing an omnichannel campaign without using all the building blocks.
Figure 3: One Company’s Journey to Enable Their First Set of Omnichannel Campaigns
A company interested in enabling next-best-actions to push suggestions to their sales force would likely need to facilitate some level of maturity in additional areas and extend capabilities for others. For example, to enable next-best-actions for the sales force, it would be necessary to include in your plan the following:
With COVID-19 creating uncertainly and disruption in the life sciences industry, it is imperative to have a well-orchestrated omnichannel strategy. Regardless of your company’s current level of omnichannel maturity, Axtria’s Omnichannel Maturity Model will help ensure your plan is built for success.
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