“Omni-channel is an approach to trading that involves the simultaneous use of all physical (offline) and digital (online) communication channels and involves the innovative ability to fully trace the customer's journey. “Omni” comes from the Latin “omnibus” (“for everyone”), and channels in this case refers to all the ways consumers interact with the brand.” Wikipedia

Every minute, 360 lightning strikes on Earth and at least one idea is born in the head of a marketer. The most tenacious of them acquire names that fly like ringing words all over the ball. So the language of marketing is not a language at all, but a real professional pidgin, which is actively expanding the lexicon of very different national origins.

The Russian marketing community, of course, also thinks, speaks and works on it. And he immediately grasps what is behind the new "arrived" words and what practical benefits can be derived from this. Well, almost always. There are times when things don't go so smoothly. This is when marketers are not morally ready to accept new tools and solutions.

Just like that on Russian market there was a case about two years ago with an approach that came to us from the European west under the name omni-channel. It was then that it was accepted by the most advanced part of the marketing community, having comprehended it in translation into Russian as “end-to-end analytics”. At the same time, by the way, it appeared - as the first domestic tool for end-to-end business intelligence, able to independently collect and link together statistics on all communication channels of the company with customers. Since then, by joining forces with partner advertising agencies, the service has been trying to methodically convey the value of end-to-end analytics to the end consumer marketer.

However, new ideas do not take root quickly. Therefore, only now, a couple of years and a couple of global conferences of Google and Yandex later, the end-to-end analytics trend has begun to be truly deeply realized. And we warmly rejoice that a growing number of marketers are ready to take it on board.

However, one should not think that only we here in Russia are “slowing down”. The end-to-end analytics trend is young and fresh for the rest of the world as well. Here, for example, are interesting data from a study conducted in early 2015 by Econsultancy.com. The guys started an online survey and, among other things, asked 2,000 English marketers from e-commerce and advertising agencies: “How strongly are the points of contact between the client and the brand within various communication channels connected in your company into a single management system?” And here's what they found out:

Just think about it: only 5% of companies in the UK have started to practice end-to-end analytics so far. And these data can be quite legitimately extrapolated to all European countries. This, on the one hand, means that the market niche for this kind of toolkit is very extensive, and on the other hand, it means that quite a lot of efforts need to be made to convey its value to the end marketer.

End-to-End Analytics Insights: Think Like a Customer

What is this omni-channel anyway? Now let's say loud, but nonetheless. As we see it, behind this is a change in marketing thinking in general. We are moving to a model of the world revolving around the client, and not channels of communication with him. Hence the direct consequence - the realization that customers interact with the company not within the framework of any particular channel, but use a variety of them on their "path".

Accordingly, it is necessary to collect statistics on the behavior of customers across all channels of their requests, combining data into a single report (in fact, this is the meaning that the term “end-to-end analytics” that has taken root in our country reflected). Only then can we put forward working hypotheses and understand with maximum accuracy where and how to influence a potential client in order to bring him to the goal we need - say, a purchase or a call. So, consciously, systematically and effectively increase the conversion.

In fact, win-win in its purest form. You coordinate all communications with clients and achieve a guaranteed synergistic effect. For example, a site visitor who has spent a significant amount of time on the site or abandoned the cart is sent a push notification with a reminder of the viewed product when they open the company's mobile application a few days later. If, of course, the accumulated statistics approve this :)

And here's what actually happens. End-to-end real-time analytics track absolutely all the actions of customers and encourage you (as a marketer) to take a closer look at the interconnection of various communication channels. Regardless of how mature or prioritized they are in your eyes. You begin to look at what is happening through the eyes of the client. The picture of the world becomes clearer and corrected. And you are getting closer to the truth that, from the point of view of the end consumer, both e-commerce and retail are, in essence, now the same thing: just shopping. The last thought, by the way, was expressed by John Donahue (CEO eBay).

How do experts see it?

In order for the indifferent theory to gain warmth, in the end we decided to ask Russian marketing experts about end-to-end analytics. How do they see it today in Russia? What is she to them? And in general, are they ready, in their opinion, Russian companies put this approach into practice?

Konstantin Bayandin, head of digital marketing at Ozon.ru:

“We are already working with end-to-end analytics on a regular basis. This is important to do in order to first understand the value of buyers throughout the life cycle, as well as to calculate the return on investment in marketing and in improving the site and logistics.

End-to-end analytics for Ozon.ru is an analysis of the actions of buyers from the moment they are initially attracted to coming to the site within audience segments, as well as during the selection of purchases and their completion. In addition, it is the study of conversion to paid orders during delivery and the analysis of return to new purchases within long-term cohorts. The organization of end-to-end analytics is a rather lengthy and painstaking work of linking data in different systems. This requires the integration of online advertising systems, web analytics, transactional systems and business analysis systems. We do not have full integration for all four stages at once, but we have the ability to conveniently analyze the behavior of buyers in pairs and triplets of these stages. We do a full bundle of four stages for a single analysis by ad hoc queries to the systems and “gluing” the data.”

Vsevolod Baev, CEO marketing agency Media108:

“End-to-end analytics is data that can describe maximum amount processes in the company in real time, so that it is possible to influence them. In the field of marketing, it is especially important to have a perfect analytics system in order to track the effect of the marketing and promotional activities carried out, as well as the market's reaction to external factors.

Now we, like most of our partners, use an analogue of end-to-end analytics, but we have to collect data manually from different sources. Of course, this is additional labor costs and lost time. Therefore, we at Media108 are now developing a product that allows you to see the entire cut of analytical data on advertising campaigns.”

Egor Kozhevnikov, head of the contextual advertising department at Ashmanov & Partners:

“End-to-end analytics is tracking the funnel from the initial user acquisition to the paid order. That is, this is analytics for users, not visits, where the final result is not just a completed form on the site or a call, but the fact of ordering a product or service. And absolutely all the channels and tools with which the user interacted pass through this funnel. In fact, the "life cycle" of the customer continues in CRM: from the realization of the need to the act of payment, and even after it. End-to-end analytics is something like nerve fibers that permeate the entire ecosystem of your business, connecting the most remote areas with each other and knowing exactly where it hurts. Marketers seem to have already experienced and put in their minds the fact of the existence of associated conversions and the need to take them into account. Now a new round is the same end-to-end analytics that allows you to analyze not only Internet data, but also connect it with offline data (and thus understand the time it takes to make a purchase decision or customer lifetime value (LTV).

We want to work with it! The problem is that many are afraid to let the agency inside their CRM so that they “dig something in our sales”. It's a pity, because the promotion of the project is a full-fledged bilateral work, and by not allowing the agency to dive further than Analytics, customers lose significant budgets on this, because. decisions are made not on the basis of real data, but on assumptions about what “may work this season”. We are now working in a similar direction, but we are going in a slightly different direction.”

Pavel Ryskov, Executive Director digital agencies "World of Advertising":

“End-to-end business analytics, in our understanding, is the analytical service that fully satisfies the needs of the client in increasing the profitability of the business from the use of advertising and slightly exceeds them so that you can keep the client in lung condition astonishment. Of course, at the same time, this should ensure the maximum effect of the agency's work in attracting clients to the customer. Some clients are not ready to talk about the cost of sale (CPS) and ROI right away. Someone wants to work for the sale, but is not ready to share data from their system. Therefore, for each client, "end-to-end business intelligence" is an individually customized product. In our opinion, it depends, on the one hand, on the ability of the agency to fully track the entire sales funnel, offering effective solutions on its expansion, and on the other hand, on the ability to understand the features of the customer's business processes, offering a product taking into account its specifics.

Yuri Rybakov, head of web analytics at performance marketing agency iConText:

“A certain request for omni-channel analytics has been on the market for a long time, but with the upgrade of Google Analytics to Universal Analytics, this approach has become popular, and the demand for it is only growing. No wonder, because this tool was sharpened specifically for the convergence of data from different sources, and this is exactly the kind of analytics that Google is now actively promoting.

In daily practice advertising agency this means that for many clients we now aggregate data about interactions with the site, data from CRM, from call tracking systems and sometimes from applications - we need this for a better analysis of client advertising campaigns. In some cases, we also try to associate this data with views media advertising. It's certainly not a complete omni-channel, but it's something that's simple enough, not too expensive, and still gives a good result for the client. That is a real gain in money and placement efficiency. From interesting single experiences: I had to help with setting up specially created systems for collecting such data, avoiding the technical limitations of the Google product. Also was interesting job with a telecom operator that really knows a lot about its users. Now we are better able to analyze and relate to other data the results of TV activities. In general, businesses are not yet able to fully consolidate and analyze data on all their online and offline interactions with each person. We do not know exactly, for example, who sees our billboard. But if a certain person contacts the advertiser (calls, leaves a request, etc.), then these data can and should be brought together: where he called from, whether there were other contacts with him and where, what he did before. This makes it possible to better analyze not only advertising activity, but also other business performance issues.”

Sergey Pankov, CEO:

“The end-to-end analytics approach is one of the most effective approaches in web analytics. When conducting advertising campaigns, we analyze all possible channels of client communications. This is done taking into account offline activity and using the tools offered by Google Analytics and CoMagic. This approach allows us to comprehensively and with the greatest possible accuracy determine the effectiveness of each advertising campaign and ensure the maximum financial return from online advertising for each of our clients.”

Vadim Buyanov, Development Director of Webtrend:

“The path of the Webtrend team to realizing the importance of working with end-to-end analytics took more than one year. Each new site that we launched, of course, needed promotion: be it contextual advertising, SEO-promotion or work with social networks. Advertising campaigns launched by us, as a rule, had formal estimates: positions in the TOP-10, cost per click and CTR, number of subscribers in a group, etc.

The mentioned metrics did not answer the main questions: do the ongoing advertising campaigns really generate profit for the customer? Which advertising campaigns are the most profitable, and which only burn advertising budgets? And much more. The complexity was added by the fact that most of the ongoing advertising campaigns were converted through phone calls, which also needed to be tracked both at the level of the source of the appeal and keyword. For some time, we managed with classic analytics tools, such as Google Analytics / Yandex Metrica + Yandex Target Call, however, this approach did not provide 100% data accuracy for making weighted management decisions: control of the marketing department, the quality of the work of operators, the efficiency of spending advertising budgets and the presentation of a complete sales funnel based on a single CRM with the calculation of the corresponding KPIs.

Combining all parts of the management mosaic together, and on the basis of a single platform, allowed us the solution of CoMagic, which already has integrations with third-party web analytics and lead management services, while being a very powerful analytical tool in itself. Obviously, end-to-end analytics at the level of each campaign and key query in conjunction with a customized CRM-based sales funnel is a new trend that will allow an Internet marketing company to stay ahead of the competition.”

Artem Kazakov, Marketing Director, Retail Rocket:

“The very concept of “end-to-end analytics” implies an analysis of consumer interaction through (“through”) all communication channels. Among the community today there is no consensus regarding the choice of one or another attribution model for channels that provide modern systems web analytics. The only generally accepted axiom in the industry is that for each task you need to use your own individual attribution model.

Omni-channel for us is not just a fashionable business philosophy, which is to provide "seamless" trade integration across all available channels sales (online/offline). At Retail Rocket, through the integration of our technologies in e-commerce, we demonstrate in practice that the consumer really does not feel any difference in the channels, purchasing goods in a way that is comfortable for him at the moment. For example, together with Korablik, a children's goods store chain, we managed to build the country's first case for generating sales in e-commerce through personal product recommendations based on offline retail purchases. In the project, we connected several complex information systems (CRM, ERP, ESP and a personalization platform) and the results are available on the Retail Rocket blog.”

Ilya Sidorov, performance sales activation specialist, Google Russia :

“Of all sales influenced by the online channel, no more than 30% occur online. The rest is shopping in stores or offices, phone calls or online sales, but from other devices. Most businesses still only take into account the result obtained on the Internet, on the same device, in the same browser. This significantly limits the ability to correctly assess the effectiveness of marketing and further optimize advertising. In 2013, we launched Universal Analytics, which allows you to track sales to one user on different devices and offline - by phone or in stores. The technology is free and available even for small companies, but requires configuration and integration with CRM. There are still not enough specialists who could do this. This leads to the fact that, despite the availability of tools, cases of full-fledged integration of end-to-end analytics are still rare and are the exception rather than the rule.

However, given the fact that end-to-end analytics can improve the effectiveness of advertising investments and optimize it more correctly, more companies are starting to implement such analytics. In a year or two successful business without end-to-end analytics it will be as difficult to imagine how successful company without standard online analytics today.”

Dmitry Kudinov, CEO and Founder:

“Omni-channel for us is the basis of the ideology of the service, this, one might say, is the meaning of our life :)

Being the pioneers of “end-to-end analytics” in Russia, we at CoMagic today have the most functional technological platform that allows us to automatically combine all types of conversions and requests from site visitors in a single analytical space, regardless of the communication channel (online orders, phone calls , chats in an online consultant, applications, leads or letters). Add tags

If you look at the history of any innovation in marketing or technology, as a rule, you can see that at first there is no unanimous and unanimous opinion and understanding of this innovation. Let's take a step back a decade and remember how in every analytical review, at every industry conference, everyone talked and talked a lot about online commerce, electronic commerce, e-commerce as a new line of business. Did everyone understand by this exactly what we have on the market today? How much has she changed electronic commerce and to what extent does it correspond to the understanding and the prospects that we predicted for it 10 years ago?

And what is happening today? From every “gateway” they shout to us about some kind of omni-channels and scare them with the imminent coming. Like, whoever is not ready, to that - "cover"! The entire retail industry is overflowing with news and predictions about the future of omni-channel commerce. And instead of looking for the right interpretation this term and the concept that lies behind it, we make hasty decisions, "throw into the pool" and feverishly try to implement some ideas that we already a priori consider correct and promising. We do not think that something in these ideas has not yet been tested by anyone in practice, and the concept is not complete and generally recognized. Nevertheless, as with any new and interesting idea, a rich fantasy wakes up in the minds, a lot of “promising” startups are born, which are taken feverishly to develop something and, without any preparation, introduce it to the masses and “train on nesting dolls”.

It cannot be said that such behavior is illogical - some (if only due to the theory of probability) can indeed be lucky and they will be at the forefront of the development of the industry at the right time and already prepared. But sometimes it is worth waiting and only then "slowly descend the mountain and go around the whole herd." But waiting does not mean not preparing. And for proper preparation, you still need to carefully monitor what is happening on the market, and realistically assess your current and future opportunities, and slowly transform your business processes and infrastructure for future changes. In this context, the perception of the topic of omni-channels changes from enthusiastically positive to wary and curious, associated with the desire to deeply understand and try to impose new trends and ideas on your specific business, imagining in detail all the consequences of such an overlay.

First, let's try to understand the terminology itself. The word "omni" comes from the Latin omnis - whole, total, which also means universal or general. In turn, "multi" - from multus - numerous, many. And finally, "cross" - from crux - a cross or movement through / across. So the terms “omni-channel”, “multi-channel” and “cross-channel” sales then arose on their basis. Hence the definition of omni-channels, which is quite popular today.

(omnichannel) are a logical extension of the concept of "multi-channel retailing" (multi-channel retailing). Multichannel means that trade enterprises operate through multiple sales channels. At the same time, it is assumed that each channel has its own product catalog, delivery methods, service centers, and mobile solutions. All these objects in different channels can be built and function independently of each other. In the omni-channel model, buyers (customers) are not tied to a sales channel (store, service center, etc.) even within a single transaction. They have the opportunity to buy online and receive the goods directly in trading floor(store), or they can pay in the store and ask questions about the delivery of the order to a single service center, tracking their delivery through a mobile application, etc.

That is, omni-channels, in the first approximation, can be understood as a qualitative implementation of multi-channel, in which the entire user interaction environment, on the one hand, is very adaptive to the capabilities of various devices and communication channels, and on the other hand, is subject to some uniformity and creates for client a single and indivisible space of interaction with the chosen brand (business). But this will be only the first, rather rough, understanding of those ideas and trends that are now increasingly capturing the industry and leading to its transformation. The second most important change that the concept of omni-channels introduces is putting the client himself in the first place and working with him in different channels precisely on the basis of this knowledge, as opposed to a purely channel approach, when you actually work with different traffic sources and channels without personalizing data about the client. But that's not all either.

Looking further, we can say that omni-channel forces, in principle, to change the attitude towards the client and stop offering him his specific "microcosm", being in which he can only fully interact with a particular brand. In order to gain access to the entire volume of accumulated personalized customer data, the brand (trading or manufacturing company) will have to “open up” and understand that it is not the only brand in the world with which this customer interacts. At one time, the revolution of social networks led to the fact that businesses around the world became more open to dialogue with consumers. themselves social networks and become a place where consumers can initiate such a dialogue and their voice can be heard by other consumers. After some time, we can expect the gradual socialization of shopping itself. A collaborative public environment will be in demand not only for discussing news and products, but also for direct selection, search, payment transactions and even delivery. Today we are seeing only the first sprouts of such an approach, but events can also take on an avalanche-like character, since the market, in general, already has all the necessary technical tools and a huge number of ideas of varying degrees of “madness”. The implementation of these ideas in life can very quickly "break" the traditional well-established retail models.

Of course, the real implementation of the omni-channel approach raises many technological questions and, above all, it is the task of recognizing the client in all channels and then personalizing the service based on the history of previous contacts with him. It is impossible to cross out all the existing infrastructure in one fell swoop and transfer everyone urgently, for example, to Apple Pay. This means that companies from the trade and services sector need to develop their own omni-channel strategies and strategies for the development of their IT infrastructure. The implementation of such strategies will make it possible to prepare for any possible transformations in the market and ensure the sustainability of the business in the medium and long term.

New technologies will make it possible to earn more through the intensive and comprehensive use of information. Proponents of an approach called omni-channel believe that they can extract the maximum benefit from working with data for the company. Is this really so and is there a practice of applying such an approach in Russia?

Omni-channel as an approach to customer service

Omni-channel has been talked about for several years. It is believed that this is a logical product of the evolution of electronic retail. The main message of this approach is to put the client at the forefront and build the infrastructure of interaction with him. This is very similar to how we build relationships with other people in life. For example, on the way to creating an alliance with the person of our dreams, we successively go through three stages:

1. we search for a suitable partner (search stage);
2. collect information about him (recognition stage);
3. make an offer that is difficult to refuse (offer stage).

And if everything works out, we live in union with this person happily ever after ...

When meeting a potential partner, we try to present ourselves with better side showing off their positive qualities. Also, the business is engaged in advertising and other information that can attract a client.

The stage of recognition, i.e. obtaining information involves collecting information from the very first contact. In Internet marketing, from the very first contact with advertising, if we are allowed to put our pixel in advertising medium(banner or article), we immediately begin to collect information about a potential client, and this process continues throughout the subsequent interaction with him. Even in case of refusal to work with us, we ask him to tell us why this happened. As in real life, an offer that is difficult to refuse, we make our potential partner more than once, but over and over again we go back a step and present a new version of it. Moving iteratively, we make a large number of small, but carefully thought-out proposals. In ordinary life, this allows us to extend the relationship with a potential partner, and in business - to sell more goods to the client.

With all the simplicity of such a scheme, a poorly thought out proposal will certainly return us to the first stage - the search for a suitable partner. At the same time, we will have to spend significant resources on building new relationships.

Thus, in the chain of establishing productive relationships, the process of collecting information becomes the most important link, on which, in fact, the desired result depends.

The evolution of communications

With the development of technology, the process of obtaining data is evolving.

At the single-channel stage, one communication channel is used for interaction between two subjects, for example, e-mail, within which correspondence takes place. In this case, if necessary, you can always raise the history of relationships by returning to earlier letters, i.e. information is contained within one branch, which greatly simplifies working with it.

With the development of communication methods, the communication model moves to the multi-channel stage, which is characterized by the use of a large number communication channels, but within this model, communication is also conducted between two subjects. For example, communicating with his wife on the phone, through instant messengers and email, you easily keep in mind what you agreed with her. However, as the number of transmitting and receiving entities increases, problems inevitably begin to arise in the multi-channel model. The main one - the impossibility of disseminating information between different subjects - gives rise to the prerequisites for the transition to the next stage with a more effective communication model.

At the omni-channel stage, the information received is used by different subjects. In this case, the transfer of data from one to another should be carried out quite simply. If, within the multi-channel, information is processed by one person without much difficulty and its constant updating is available for analysis, then at the omni-channel stage, some external data storage device is needed, access to which must be provided to a large number of subjects. In the future, they will become consumers of this information.

So, let's define what omnichannel is. This is an individual approach to the client, regardless of the channel of appeals and the employee with whom he interacts in the company. The trend for building relationships in the omnichannel format is quite young. In 2015, Econsultancy conducted an online survey of 2,000 UK e-commerce firms. As a result, it turned out that only 5% of respondents have fully integrated channel management, and this is what allows them to systematically influence the behavior of their customers (Fig. 1).

Figure 1 UK internet companies survey data, 2015

During the implementation of total work with clients in the omni-channel format, significant difficulties are encountered with the processing of information, the use of communication channels and work with data.

Handling incoming calls

The first difficulty lies in the processing of incoming calls. A study conducted for Google3 examined 500 online stores from an existing customer base. At the same time, companies selling goods and services were considered using their website as a virtual storefront. On such a "showcase", the client of the online store can select the goods or services he needs, move them to the electronic shopping cart and pay.

In the course of the study, the websites of companies operating in the field of construction and repair, household appliances, beauty and health, clothing and accessories, tourism and recreation, computers and office equipment (Fig. 2).

Figure 2 Specialization of online stores

The study showed that in order to attract new customers, the owners of Runet sites most often use four advertising sources: Yandex.Direct is in the first place, and Yandex.Direct is in the second place. Google AdWords, the third place is occupied by search engine optimization (SEO), equally distributed among the main search services, the fourth - "Yandex.Market" (Fig. 3). At the same time, the latter service is only slightly ahead of social networks in terms of frequency of use.

This distribution reflects the focus of online stores to a greater extent on attracting new customers, and not on using existing base for its consistent development (for example, the use YAN networks and GDN for retargeting and remarketing). Very few companies use these technologies to consistently develop customer relationships from stage to stage.

Four advertising sources provide an average of 980 visits to the online store. Moreover, these are only those visitors who have reached the product selection form. Often, most of the traffic falls on promo pages, which is typical for information sites that include an online store. Subsequently, 980 visits are converted into eight targeted calls. Such calls are received in one working day, and only two of them are processed qualitatively (they are answered, and the data is recorded during internal systems). The remaining six calls are not processed the first time and fall into the missed list. Their subsequent processing is most often inefficient, since clients who have not received a response, as a rule, solve their problems by turning to other sites that are more efficient in their work.

The lack of 100% call processing does not allow you to collect the maximum possible customer base and build customer identification. So, along with missed incoming calls from new customers, incoming calls from existing customers are often ignored. Waiting for an answer in the general queue of calls makes them feel dissatisfied with the service and significantly reduces loyalty to the company.

Communication channels

Another difficulty arises with communication channels. In the process of communication, the client goes through different stages:

need formation - the client develops a need for a particular product or service;

search for a solution - the client is looking for a solution that would best satisfy his need;

collecting information - the client collects information about a product or service;

initial acquaintance - the client gets acquainted with the product / service;

acquisitions - the client purchases a product / service;

use - the client uses the purchased product / service;

forming a positive impression - the client successfully satisfies his need with the help of the purchased product / service;

At the stages of initial acquaintance, acquisition and use, the client communicates with the supplier company in various ways: through a phone call, chat on the site, an application from the site, a callback form. All of the above communication methods make it possible to significantly approach the omni-channel format in terms of client identification. At the same time, it is important to understand that identification is necessary not only for direct access. It is also important if the client suddenly visits the "Tariffs" section on the supplier's website. Such a visit may indicate that he is comparing prices in the market, i.e. considers an alternative supplier of goods / services.

The main problem is to identify the client physically interacting with the company representatives during the visit outlet or in the course of communication with the courier upon delivery of the goods. Many people think that such communication is beyond Internet marketing, and they are wrong. At each point of contact, it is necessary to collect Additional information, which allows you to more accurately configure the Internet tools used, i.e. better define your audience segment.

For example, data about interaction with a customer through a delivery service can be digitized based on electronic reports or questionnaires. And how to collect information about the client when he visits the outlet? Now such information is available to those companies that work with discount cards linked to bank card client in CRM. All information obtained in this way can be used for further work.

The question arises: what to do if the client visited the outlet, but did not purchase anything? So far, there is no clear answer. But there are positive changes in the world of mobile gadgets, which in the foreseeable future may help to cope with this problem. So, during the last Apple conference, where the model of the second generation of watches produced by it was presented, the function of user authorization in a personal computer without using a password has so far remained outside the scope of discussion. However, developments in this direction are underway, because it is this function that can provide the collection of information about a user's physical visit to a real outlet.

So, in order to serve clients in the omni-channel format, physical interaction with them must be added to the standard communication channels. Unified communication channels allow you to identify the client, regardless of how he contacted the company.

Working with data

Each movement of the client according to the specified scheme is associated with the receipt of new data. They accumulate in different information systems and, as a rule, are not consolidated. Potentially, this information can be used to build forecasts and identify customer preferences, and therefore to fine-tune communication messages.

Currently, there are positive changes in terms of data collection and processing. There are already examples of companies using information about their customers to organize work with them. Yes, very interesting example is the case of the Healthy Water company - a manufacturer and supplier drinking water. The company has more than 10 thousand clients. All advertising used by it to promote the product is posted on the Internet. As a result, 95% of sales are made through calls. At the same time, there is a product catalog on the site, from which you can select the product you are interested in and send it to the electronic shopping cart.

The implementation of this project implied the solution of three main tasks:

linking customer experience with sales;

acquisition by the company of the skill to calculate the cost of each appeal (CPA) and customer acquisition (CPO);

gaining access to customer data in real time.

To solve the first problem based on "CoMagic. Analytics” was combined information about callback, an online consultant, a phone number on the site, an electronic shopping cart and a lead generator. The collection of this data began to be carried out automatically and within the framework of the report, which made it possible to analyze requests in the context of advertising channels and campaigns. Moreover, it is possible to analyze both all calls as a whole, and for each channel in the context of the generation source. Within one report, you can see the conversion for each advertising channel or advertising campaign.

This information is supplemented by information on the costs of advertising campaigns and the receipt of transaction data from the 1C database (preliminarily transferred to it). All this provides the ability to design expense reports for each advertising campaign to the keyword. In addition to expenses, you can also track the cost of circulation (CPA) in similar sections. The final touch was getting the opportunity to calculate the return on investment (ROI).

To build forecasts and apply deeper analytics, it was decided to integrate visitor data into the BI (Business Intelligence) system. Such integration made it possible to build analytical forecasts in different planes, including forecasting sales taking into account a large amount of data about each client.

The result of the project was the automatic linking of customer requests with ongoing sales. You can also instantly calculate customer acquisition cost (CAC) at any level. Now you can calculate how much customers are attracted by each campaign, ad group, or individual requests that generate targeted requests to the company. A great contribution to analytics, of course, was made by the integration of data with the BI system. Thanks to this, it became possible to predict sales and work with analytics in real time.

Thus, the collection and processing of customer data at all stages of its life cycle are a critical element of internet marketing. Providing rich customer interaction data, being able to trigger events in other services based on the data, and managing communications based on upcoming events and the customer's progression through lifecycle stages opens up a wide range of opportunities for marketers. And this is not at all a distant future - you just need to collect the considered elements of the system and integrate them into the company's activities.

Summarizing

Moving to omni-channel requires a critical approach to three key issues.

First, it is necessary to focus on 100% processing of requests from both existing and potential customers.

Secondly, it is necessary to combine communication channels with customers online and offline. This is critical to building relationships with them in online marketing. Information about offline actions can significantly transform a marketer's communication messages and significantly increase the effectiveness of the use of existing tools.

Thirdly, it is necessary to organize the collection and processing of data at all stages of the customer's life cycle. Unfortunately, the available information is often not used. This requires a revision of the methods of not only its collection, storage and processing, but also its further use, as well as attachment to the current status of the client. Such data must be constantly updated and corrected. The availability of complete and reliable information about customers will allow building closer relationships with them through targeted communication messages, thereby increasing the company's profits.

Pashchenko Valery Gennadievich
Director of Marketing and PR at CoMagic
The main field of activity is marketing of SaaS services (Moscow)

Simon Hathaway, Cheil Worldwide

Today everyone is talking about transformation retail and are actively discussing the "omni-channel" strategy of multi-channel sales. This term has already become so popular that its meaning is a little blurred.

For example, this year in Paris at the World Retail Congress, a whole range of different methods were described to them, while each speaker understood it in his own way, depending on the type of retail he was talking about.

We can speculate endlessly on the meaning of "omni-channel" in commercial activities, but for those of us who are into retail every day, there's no doubt that a successful omni-channel strategy puts the consumer at the center of attention, providing the perfect shopping experience across any channel, platform, place or device.

However, for us marketers and advertisers, this problem is much wider than retail. Technology has forever changed the way we work, shop and play. It is enough to remove the word “shopping” from the usual context in which the term “omni-channel” is used, and we will see what expectations the consumer places today on their relationship with brands.

These expectations are the driving force behind the evolution of retail and a key driver of change in marketing. Previously, the process was linear: it was necessary to build brand knowledge, communicate its benefits to the consumer and ensure sales in the field. Today, an integrated approach is needed, when all the stages described above occur simultaneously, and retail is just one of the tasks that need to be focused on in order to influence the purchase decision.

In an omni-channel-dominated world, brands must reinvent themselves. Their relationship with target markets(and not only) start with the process of buying in a store, while social media marketing helps to maintain these relationships, and a video clip effectively fills them with meaningful emotional content.

The best proof of this is Apple - the most valuable company in the world. She transformed her business through retail, democratizing herself by creating points of sale where people could feel the brand. However, most people remember TV ads that were only aired once.

No one can predict the future, but I would like to talk about three things that I think will significantly change the retail industry and beyond.

hyperactive shopper

It's time for hyperactive buyers. There are more and more people who are ready to make a purchase, wherever they are. In this case, everything should happen immediately and as personalized as possible. A key tool for this new type of shopper is the smartphone, which enables shopping in the store, at home, and on the go.

A study we recently conducted in the UK found that around half of our 1,000+ respondents need a mobile device to shop; 7 out of 10 shoppers (70%) use their phone to search and compare prices outside of the store, and about 3/4 of shoppers (72%) would go to the store if they personally received a special offer on their mobile. Obviously, there are even more such people, but this data allows you to get a basic understanding of the needs of the "hyperactive buyer".

Not so long ago, TV was the “first screen,” a key marketing driver through which brands could create what they understood as consumer impact, increasing brand awareness and driving sales growth.

However, everything is changing. Television and 30-second TV commercials are losing their paramount importance due to a change in consumer behavior, because when the “Hyperactive Shopper” watches TV, he always has a smartphone or tablet at hand.

I do not presume to assert that TV has become useless, but the time of communications according to the scheme “told, then sold” has irretrievably gone. Mobile devices are confidently shifting the TV from the “first screen” position.

More and more people are exposed to and influenced by brands through mobile devices. And even with online shopping, the main window through which they make purchases is the mobile screen.

The death of e-commerce and… the rebirth of commerce

The two phenomena I described above place all market players on an equal footing. At the International Retail Congress, the founder and CEO of the company "Vente-Prive" ("Vente-Privee") Jacques-Antoine Granjon(Jacques-Antoine Granjon) made a disturbing and, at the same time, rather obvious opinion. The e-commerce specialist believes that the heyday of online shopping is over, as shoppers believe that retail should be personalized, instantaneous and not dependent on location.

E-commerce is dead, now it's time to trade. Most importantly, Mr. Granjon repeatedly emphasized that the basis of future success is not just knowledge of the mechanics of the channel (although this is certainly necessary), but an understanding of the fundamental foundations of business as such.

And in conclusion, I will return to where I started. More than ever, retail success comes down to building a relationship with the consumer that will stand the test of change and generate value through sustained customer loyalty. And it doesn’t matter what we are talking about, about a regular store or online sales.

Text: Simon Hathaway, Head of Retail Marketing at Cheil Worldwide

Before talking about the role played by online stores and mobile applications in the field of retail in general and the business policy of OMNI-channel in particular, it is necessary to first clarify what an OMNI-channel is.

The dynamic development of Internet marketing has made possible the implementation of such a concept in business as an omnichannel way of attracting and retaining customers, contributing to the development of the brand and increasing the level of sales. is more of a social trend than a retail trend. Omnichannel retail is an integrated approach to the buyer. In this case, the buyer himself decides through which channel of the purchase and sale transaction he will purchase the goods. What is most interesting, in this way the client determines not the point of purchase, but the preferred brand. The point of purchase is any convenient way to purchase goods - a phone, a tablet computer, a boutique or any other way to sell goods.

On the other hand, the concept of OMNI-channel implies the unity of price and assortment in all channels. That is, it does not matter where and how the product is purchased, the main thing is to satisfy the desire of the consumer here and now.

Thus, a very serious remark can be made - modern business should use all available sales channels. And now online stores and mobile applications have become very effective and popular channels.

Companies that are active and keep up with the times have already taken the first steps towards implementing the OMNI-channel in their business area to increase sales and customer loyalty. It is worth mentioning here large companies like Amazon and Zappos. Also, if we talk about Russia, then here it is M-Video, Eldorado, OZON and other major market players. But here it is worth saying that although the first steps have been taken, there is still a lot to be done until the OMNI-channel concept is fully achieved.

To implement the concept of omnichannel sales will require a large investment. The main thing at the stage of compiling a blueprint in combination with a roadmap is not to make a mistake in the priorities, which should be implemented in the first place. If customers expect the business to create an online store, then order its creation, having previously completed the most accurate and detailed preparatory work.

It is very important to understand which channel is more priority - an offline store, an online store, a mobile website or a mobile application, or some other channel available for the current business area. The stage of analytics and research in the process of following and implementing the OMNI-channel concept cannot be avoided. This stage is one of the most costly, there are a lot of recommendations to perform it in parallel in several companies in order to get a broader and more complete picture of the market and the desires of buyers.

Another problem is the implementation of a single price and assortment in channels. Within the framework of Russia, and not only, such an implementation is more of a utopia than an opportunity, since it is an extremely complex and risky enterprise. Most often, business representatives who have several sales channels prefer to put a permanent discount on goods in online stores. For example, here you can look at M-Video and Eldorado.

The implementation of the OMNI-channel principle allows you to increase the level of income per client by 15-30%. Not to mention a completely new understanding of the “word of mouth” principle, each customer can put a popular “Like” in their favorite online store, thereby attracting the attention of new customers and strengthening the brand’s position in the understanding of old ones. Finally, there is a stable customer loyalty OMNI-channel.

So what role do online stores and mobile applications play for companies in the OMNI-channel area. These are undoubtedly two modern, most accessible and popular sales channels that are available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. With the help of these channels, the buyer can, while on the move, make purchases of goods of their favorite brands quickly and without special efforts. And to enhance the effect of a single whole, online stores, mobile applications and offline stores can use:

• Uniform prices
• Single range
• A single loyalty card across all channels
• The ability to pay in any way convenient for the buyer (electronic money, Visa and MasterCard, cash on delivery, etc.)

And also, in order not to destroy the pleasant impression of the client and increase his loyalty, an impeccable work of the logistics service and a single database of customers and their preferences are necessary.