With consumer’s expectations growing faster than ever, many brands are taking the steps of offering a consistent guest experiences between the digital and offline worlds. Thankfully enough, data and technology have today the power of helping marketers do that just right. Therefore, you can connect those two historically disjointed dots much faster than ever before.

We highlight below why synching digital data with the offline matters, what are the early requirements and main benefits of such vision.

The Challenge

The first and probably biggest challenge to solve for is that, often time, offline and digital touchpoints are seen as totally different channels. Above all, this leads to siloed data, resulting in fragmented in-store user experiences.

In addition, offline and online data is typically hard to combine due to a lack of shared identifier. Offline transactions tend to be recorded as anonymous leaving far behind any chances to connect both worlds.  

The Solution

Luckily, there is a simple solution to these challenges, namely using a Customer Data Platform (read the basics). Otherwise called CDP, this software platform allows brands to consolidate all of their customer data into one place, making that data actionable for the whole organisation. 

As a result, a CDP can create a bridge between both worlds, allowing your brand to really hone in on the customer and their journey, regardless of the channel. 

Now, and let’s be honest, it’s not as easy as just sending your data to the CDP. So, you need a data strategy that allow you to connect those dots properly, with the right data captured from the beginning. This will help form a unified profile and let your brand truly be customer-centric. 

What’s the trick you’ll ask? It can be as simple as encouraging your users to authenticate in any touchpoints they may have with your business. For instance, try to motivate your in-store customers to sign up for your loyalty program, newsletter or to receive their receipt via email when buying in your store.

Those easy steps will convert your prospects and anonymous buyers into identified buyers. Consequently, you will know who that customer is. You are getting closer to stitching together their online and offline behaviour right into the CDP.

The Benefits

There are many benefits to a single view of the customer that can create a true omnichannel strategy. As a result, it will translate into a more consistent customer experience and increase lifetime value down the line. 

In practice, there are also many valuable use cases for the staff standing behind your counters. Here are some easy, yet effective examples that show the importance of online data for a customer’s offline experience: 

Be personal	Greeting existing customers with their name when at the counter
Recommend the best product	Using AI to promote the recommend best product, based on online and offline, to someone browsing in your store
Invite them inside	Push mobile notifications whenever a customer acquired online comes close to one of your locations
Guide them through	Enable push notification to guide customer to the section of your stores that makes the most sense
Offer relevant incentive	Print relevant offer at the back of their ticket, based on their online and offline purchase history as well as propensity to buy

It is crucial that brands take the step to integrate their customer journey between digital and offline touchpoints. The challenges can be tackled with the help of a CDP and the right data strategy.  

In conclusion, aligning touchpoints will allow your brand to deliver on a more consistent and seamless user experience, leading to stronger retention, customer lifetime value and ultimately higher revenue.  

---

---