Omnichannel vs Multichannel Isn’t Important. It’s What You Do With It That Counts
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In this article, Philip Vyt, Founder of Shyft, explains how omnichannel strategies can truly connect businesses with their customers.
Weak Omichannel strategies are costlier for businesses than ignoring omnichannel completely. It leaves customers clicking repeatedly through ads to discontinued products, irrelevant resources or expired promotions, and calling through to sales reps only leads consumers to people who haven’t an idea about any live campaigns.
So, it’s no surprise that brilliantly executed omnichannel campaigns can outstrip single-channel campaign performance by multitudes (18.96% engagement vs 5.4% in one retail study).
In short, omnichannel is worth it, if you get it right. The obvious question is – how do you get it right? Well, speaking to an omnichannel expert is a good place to start.
That’s why we spoke to Philip Vyt, Founder of Shyft, an omnichannel engagement consultancy that specialises in the life sciences sector. We picked his brain to understand how marketers can drive go-to-market engagement models that truly connect with their customers. And to settle a long-standing marketing debate about the differences between multichannel and omnichannel strategy engagement.
Only 12% of global healthcare and life sciences organisations have fully realised their digital transformation goals.
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The big, outdated debate
Vyt explains: “The terms often get mixed up, so there’s value in demystifying the two concepts.” Multichannel involves “sharing the same message across different channels”, while omnichannel strategies provide “varied, relevant content across multiple channels in a highly personalised experience.”
Both strategies have their place. Yet, Vyt emphasises, “As a marketer, you have go-to-market challenges that define your commercial model. Your engagement model — whether multichannel or omnichannel — should solve these challenges.”
This omnichannel vs multichannel debate often overshadows a critical issue: Execution. As Vyt notes, “We often get caught up in building additional capabilities, understanding the latest tech, or debating the difference… but the actual doing is where many teams get stuck.”
Rather, the focus should be on crafting an engagement model that addresses specific market challenges. “You need an engagement strategy that works for your product maturity,” from early launches to end-of-life stages, ensuring effective outreach to health care professionals.
State of the Connected Customer Report
How to get in touch and engage your customers in the age of AI.
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“Many marketers still get hung up on the product and miss the more important factors involved in making campaigns work. In the pharma sector, for example, they excel in their therapeutic area, knowing everything about oncology, neurology, rheumatology, etc… but lack technical marketing skills such as audience segmentation and customer journey building,” Vyt says.
“They know the treatments, the landscape, but they don’t know how many healthcare professionals are in the market, nor do they have the technical marketing know-how to reach them.” He continues, “It’s like running a marathon. The big question is: how do I run my first kilometre? My first 5k?”
What you should do:
- Focus on a minimal viable campaign that addresses immediate market challenges
- Prioritise learning key marketing techniques (audience segmentation, customer journey mapping and retargeting strategies)
- Tailor your strategy to your product’s maturity (early-launch campaigns require broader awareness efforts, while end-of-life stages focus on retaining users)
Go beyond the debate and towards real engagement with omnichannel strategies
Making the first move in effective engagement is all about understanding what customers really want. The best place to start is gathering insights. As Vyt explains, “Everything starts with customer centricity — understanding the audience and where their knowledge gaps are.”
You need to identify what matters most to customers, such as real-world data on safety and efficacy while recognising the nuances of message delivery. “You need to know what your customer wants before you can tailor an engagement model to them,” Vyt emphasises, underscoring the importance of insight-driven, personalised strategies to convert the right audience.
Companies must commit to gathering insights from market research, social media and customer feedback. Vyt notes, “the next step is translating insights into key messaging that aligns with both customer challenges and key marketing objectives.”
Success comes from orchestrating insights, objectives, messaging, content, and activation channels. “The most important thing is to get started,” Vyt urges. “You don’t start learning to ride a bike by learning the theory. You must get on the bike first for any mechanisms to make sense. I call this principle ‘do now, train later’ — and the same goes for activating your engagement model.”
What you should do:
- Prioritise customer insights by identifying knowledge gaps and what real-world information they value
- Ensure your content is tailored, relevant and designed to resonate with your audience’s needs
- Don’t delay in activating your engagement model with a simple, actionable campaign (test, learn and refine as you go)
Healthcare and life sciences organisations globally use 46 different systems on average.
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Start small and build up
For businesses struggling with omnichannel execution, starting small is the smartest strategy. “Begin with a minimal viable campaign,” advises Vyt. Consider what can be achieved in the next three months and set realistic goals.
“Email is the first step,” says Vyt, using an automated nurture stream linked to your CRM. This could include follow-ups with resources, webinar invites, or links to relevant platforms. “This pulls them into different channels that build on that message. Anyone who jumps into the CRM system can see where the buyer is,” ensuring a cohesive and trackable experience across the decision-making journey.
For instance, for face-to-face models, “devise an online strategy that reaches and engages across multiple touchpoints” to keep physicians moving through the decision-making process after the initial meeting.
What you should do:
- Focus on what you can accomplish within three months and define small, achievable goals
- Use automated, personalised email follow-ups to share content and provide additional insights
- Integrate touchpoints into your CRM system to monitor where each customer is in their decision-making process and use this data to refine your approach and maintain engagement
Maximise engagement — whatever the model
Omnichannel vs multichannel: maximising engagement through either model is a journey, not a one-time effort. “After that first minimal viable campaign, you can start working up from 1km to 5km, then 10km,” says Vyt.
The key is to scale and refine your efforts with each step, “gaining momentum and more volume so you can explore technical automation and scale up into new areas and journeys,” Vyt advises.
By “using insights to guide content creation and messaging” and refining touchpoints based on feedback, you’ll develop a strategy that resonates with customers. Vyt concludes, “Start small, then scale up, using insights to guide your content creation and refine interactions based on feedback.” Let insight-driven engagement be your north star.
For more information on how Salesforce can help with omnichannel customer engagement, see here.
State of the Connected Customer Report
How to get in touch and engage your customers in the age of AI.
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![](https://www.salesforce.com/eu/blog/wp-content/themes/salesforce-blog/dist/images/offer-block/offer-accent-layout-one.png)
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