What Is Omnichannel and Why Does It Matter?

2025-02-03 21:26 Industry

At Solid Water Marketing Agency, we love unpacking the meaning behind marketing jargon. Like many other professions, marketers often overwhelm clients with complex terminology — sometimes because we think it makes us look sophisticated. But the reality? Clients struggle to appreciate the value of our work when they can’t make sense of our language.

Daria Partas, CEO & Co-Founder at Solid Water marketing agency:

I recently spoke with one of our devoted readers, a senior leader at a B2B tech company. While she enjoys our newsletters, she admitted, ‘You often write about omnichannel, but what is it? How do I implement this across the startups I mentor and invest in?

Since this question is floating around quite a bit, we decided it was time to tackle it head-on.

Omnichannel is a term that gets thrown around left, right, and center. But what does it truly mean, and — more importantly — how does it benefit businesses? Let’s break it down.

Omnichannel vs. Multichannel: what’s the difference?

"Omnichannel" has become a buzzword in marketing, but many brands that claim to be omnichannel are actually just multichannel. So, what’s the difference — and why should you care?

🔹 Multichannel means using multiple independent channels — email, social media, websites, physical stores — but they don’t communicate with each other.

🔹 Omnichannel ensures that all channels are connected, creating a seamless experience for customers at every touchpoint.

The goal of omnichannel marketing isn’t just to be everywhere — it’s to make every interaction feel effortless. Customers should be able to start their journey in one channel and continue in another without friction. And for your business this means higher conversion rates, reduced drop-offs, and stronger customer loyalty.

Example 1️⃣📧

🚫 Multichannel email: A fashion retail brand sends a mass promotional newsletter to all subscribers.

✅ Omnichannel email: A customer abandons their cart, and an automated email reminds them to complete the purchase.

Example 2️⃣🛒

🚫 Multichannel retail: A grocery shop offers products both online and in-store.

✅ Omnichannel retail: A customer can browse online, reserve items, try them in-store, and complete their purchase however they prefer.

A customer might research a product on a company’s website, receive a promotional email with a discount offer on the product they were browsing, and then come about the physical store to make a purchase after talking to the sales assistant.

Omnichannel marketing ensures that all these touchpoints are interconnected, creating a holistic experience.

That’s why this approach requires a deep understanding of your customers’ user behavior, pain points, and preferences at every stage — this is the only way to make each channel play a meaningful role in guiding customers toward conversions.

A few more examples of good omnichannel strategies.

🟣Emma, the budgeting app

Emma, a financial management app, delivers a seamless omnichannel experience by integrating its mobile platform, email, and social media channels. Users receive personalised spending insights directly in the app, complemented by budgeting tips sent via email. Emma’s social media presence further contributes to its omnichannel approach through interactive content, such as live Q&A sessions, which encourage users to return to the app for a deeper dive into their finances. This integration ensures a cohesive and engaging user journey.

🟢 VeloGo, the smart bike-sharing service

VeloGo connects its mobile app, website, customer support, and IoT-enabled bikes to create a frictionless omnichannel experience. Users can locate and unlock bikes via the app, receive real-time route suggestions through push notifications, and get ride summaries via email. If a customer encounters an issue, they can contact support via the app’s chatbot, Twitter DMs, or a 24/7 phone line, ensuring assistance is available through their preferred channel. This integration keeps users engaged across multiple touchpoints while maintaining a consistent experience.

What does Omnichannel look like for a B2B tech business?

As consumers, we intuitively understand the value of omnichannel marketing for businesses like fashion retail. However, B2B products also stand to gain significantly from this approach when building a sales funnel.

For the sake of argument, let’s consider Sintra.ai, a platform that uses AI to help businesses and small business owners complete tasks.

Here’s what an omnichannel marketing strategy could look like for Sintra.ai: 👇

Goal: Create a seamless AI assistant experience across multiple touchpoints.

Tactics:

💬 Consistent Messaging Across Platforms

Sintra’s tone and value proposition remain the same across social media, email, chatbots, and ads. Example: A user researching Sintra on LinkedIn sees the same messaging when they visit the website or receive an email.

🗺️ Seamless Customer Journey

A user who downloads a whitepaper on AI automation receives a personalized follow-up email with an invite to a live demo. If they engage with the email, Sintra’s chatbot (on the website or WhatsApp) assists with questions and smoothly transitions them into a trial.

🦾 AI-Driven Personalization

Users get tailored recommendations via website chat, email, and ads based on behavior. Example: If a visitor interacts with Sintra’s chatbot about customer service automation, the next touchpoint (email, LinkedIn ad, or chatbot follow-up) focuses on that specific use case.

📱 Cross-Device & Cross-Channel Engagement

A prospect can start a conversation on Instagram DMs and pick up the same conversation via email or LinkedIn messages later.

You may ask - what is the connection between Omnichannel Strategy & Growth Marketing?

Here is what a growth marketing sprint for Sintra.ai could look like: 👇

Goal: Rapidly test and optimize customer acquisition, activation, and retention.

Here are some of the tactics that can be included in their growth sprint:

📝 A/B Testing & Experimentation

Test different landing page headlines, call-to-action buttons, and pricing models. Example: A/B test a "Start Free Trial" vs. "Get a Free AI Consultation" CTA to see which converts better.

🔁 Referral & Viral Loops

Encourage users to invite friends or colleagues for additional features. Example: “Invite 3 team members and get 1 month free of premium AI automation.”

⚙️ Growth Hacking via Product-Led Acquisition

Offer a free AI-powered tool (e.g., an AI chatbot builder) to attract organic signups and upsell premium Sintra features. Example: Users get a free AI-powered email response generator but must upgrade for CRM integration.

✅ Optimize Retention & Expansion

Use data-driven onboarding to reduce churn. Example: If a user hasn’t engaged with Sintra in 7 days, send a personalized AI-driven tip via email or push notification to re-engage them.

Anastasia Dobronravova, Head of Strategic Marketing at Solid Water:

“Omnichannel is a sophisticated way to structure your communication strategy, particularly if you have the budget to create a meaningful impression at every user touchpoint. That’s why when we onboard a client, we always start with the assessment of the existing funnel (or absence thereof in multiple cases).

But let’s be clear: omnichannel does not equal growth marketing strategy, rather growth marketing relies on a smooth customer journey to fulfil its goal.

Growth marketing is all about experimental frameworks —constantly testing and iterating to accelerate your path to your North Star metric. Omnichannel, on the other hand, is simply a smart way of delivering your brand message across multiple touchpoints. It can be a part of your growth marketing playbook, but the two are not interchangeable.”

Daria Partas, CEO & Co-Founder at Solid Water marketing agency:

“At Solid Water Marketing Agency, we obsess about omnichannel because we understand that the marketing services industry is not fit for delivering omnichannel marketing strategies. This, in turn, really undermines the potential for building an impactful growth programme. The first thing we do when onboarding a client is assessing whether their existing funnel offers a smooth customer journey.”

Maria Tsarkova, co-founder of Solid Water and Head of Growth at Ooredoo Fintech:

“Today, most marketing service providers choose to specialise in particular channels. For example, in order to execute your omnichannel strategy you would need to procure services from 3 to 5 vendors - performance marketing, social media management, SEO, web development and PR. As a client of these agencies in my role at Ooredoo Fintech I need to manage all these vendors and create a seamless consumer experience, this takes a lot of effort."

At Solid Water Marketing Agency, on the other hand, we know this is one of the biggest pain points for companies, especially startups who don’t have the capacity and seniority of marketing expertise in house to build a holistic marketing infrastructure which will deliver to their customer the journey they have in mind. That’s why we are channel-agnostic ie we implement omnichannel strategies to deliver on our promise of helping our clients reach their North Star.

Anna Chernykh, Marketing Manager at Solid Water:

"Our recent project was to help an Australian premium skincare clinic expand to London. The client wanted to test the waters before committing to the fixed costs of a permanent clinic. We developed an omnichannel strategy for a pop-up launch that engaged consumers through influencers, PR, partner referrals, social media, and email marketing. Each channel played a distinct yet complementary role — nudging prospective clients toward a trial treatment and building anticipation for the clinic’s grand opening."

Which One Should You Use? 🤔

📌 If your goal is a unified customer experience across multiple touchpoints → Omnichannel Marketing.

📌 If you aim for rapid user acquisition, experimentation, and scaling growth → Growth Marketing.

📌 For the best results, combine both: Use growth marketing to identify winning strategies and omnichannel marketing to ensure a seamless experience across those channels.

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