The B2C Brand Guide to Omnichannel Best Practices - Klaviyo UK
2026-03-10 23:31 Diff
https://www.klaviyo.com/uk/solutions/omnichannel/best-practices

In this guide

Single source for customer data
Multiple sign-up channels
Segmentation and personalisation
Optimal message frequency
Channel alignment
AI for reaching customers
Unified marketing and service

1. Maintain a single source of truth for customer data

Disjointed data is one of the biggest roadblocks standing in the way of omnichannel success. According to Klaviyo’s state of B2C marketing report, 60% of marketing teams use 6–15 different tools in their tech stack, leading to siloed systems and fragmented data.

Klaviyo’s future of consumer marketing report, meanwhile, found that 74% of consumers expect greater personalisation in 2025. But when customer data lives in different places and teams lack access to a single, up-to-date source, you lose the opportunity to create consistent, personalised experiences customers expect.

When your tools and data aren’t connected, neither are your teams. The state of B2C marketing report found that for almost 1 in 5 organisations, poor alignment across marketing, sales, and customer service is the biggest barrier to gaining a complete view of the customer.

How do you get that view? A B2C CRM unifies all your customer data from commerce, service, and marketing channels into a single, real-time source of truth. Using a single platform and an ecosystem of built-in integrations, your CRM pulls data on website behaviour, purchase history, in-store POS activity, app usage, social engagement, customer service interactions, and more into a unified profile for each customer.

With a complete, up-to-date view of each customer, you have access to the insights that fuel smarter decisions, faster growth, and more opportunities for personalisation at scale. When clean food brand Daily Harvest consolidated their CRM stack, they cut tech costs by 18% and saved over 50 developer hours per month—proof that a unified data foundation doesn’t just improve the customer experience. It makes your team more efficient, too.

2. Offer multiple channels for customers to stay connected

Effective omnichannel list growth depends on coordinating opt-in opportunities across digital and physical channels. In order to build meaningful connections no matter where customers interact with your brand, you need to first thoughtfully capture consent to communicate with them. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Use strategic cross-channel opt-in tactics

Smart cross-channel opt-in strategies help bridge the gap between digital and physical touchpoints while giving you greater control over your customer relationships. Here are a few ways to make it happen:

  • Launch multi-step sign-up forms to collect customer info and consent. Multi-step sign-up forms make it easier to collect information and consent across multiple channels—like email, text messaging, and WhatsApp—without overwhelming visitors. With smaller, focused steps, you can reduce friction, increase the likelihood that people will complete the form and subscribe, and build richer customer profiles right from the start.
  • Use in-store QR codes to bridge the online-offline gap. Turn foot traffic into digital relationships with QR codes that provide exclusive in-store offers in exchange for email, text message, and WhatsApp sign-ups.
  • Convert social media followers into contacts. Guide your followers to opt in to direct communication with your brand using contests, promotions, or giveaways that ask for contact information in exchange for entry.

Set up channel-specific welcome experiences

Every opt-in tells you something. Use that context to create welcome flows that feel personal from the start.

Whether someone opts in via an in-store QR code or a form on your website, tailor your welcome flows based on the opt-in source to make your first impression relevant and memorable.

Here’s what a great welcome experience might look like:

  • If someone signs up for email only: an email welcome series with an immediate email confirming their subscription, an email encouraging recipients to follow your brand on social after 2–3 days, and an email highlighting your bestselling products after a week
  • If someone signs up for text only: a text message welcome flow with an immediate message confirming their subscription, a welcome discount after 2–3 days, and a message sharing your virtual contact card for them to add you as a contact after a week
  • If someone signs up for multiple channels: a cross-channel welcome flow with immediate sign-up confirmations via each channel they subscribed to, followed by a welcome discount via text message after 2–3 days, followed by an email containing personalised product recommendations after a week

Apparel brand Marine Layer knows customers who shop on multiple channels are their “most valued customers,” says CMO Renee Halverson. That’s why it’s important to the team to create a cohesive brand experience no matter where people are shopping.

Now that Marine Layer tracks engagement across ecommerce, retail, email and SMS in a single platform, they can use customer data to better inform how they communicate with shoppers across channels. For example, the team launches distinct welcome flows for online subscribers and in-store sign-ups. Their in-person welcome flow showcases their online selection, free shipping, and returns policy, while their welcome flow for online shoppers focuses on boosting awareness for their retail stores and encouraging repeat online purchases.

3. Set up real-time segmentation that pulls from cross-channel data

Dynamic segmentation helps you deliver personalised messaging at scale by using real-time customer data to create segments that automatically update based on subscriber attributes or the actions they do or don’t take.

Demographic, technographic, psychographic, and behavioural segments draw on rich customer data points gathered in your B2C CRM, such as:

  • Product purchase history, like people who have made 3 or more purchases in a month or those who only buy during sales
  • Customer service inquiries, like those who have requested a refund or initiated a return
  • In-depth online browsing behaviour, like those who have visited a product page multiple times in a week
  • Customer lifecycle stage, like new visitors or first-time buyers
  • Interests, like subscribers who identify themselves as vegans or as parents
  • Customer satisfaction, like those who have left positive reviews
  • Omnichannel shoppers, like those who regularly purchase across multiple channels

These segments expand or contract as customer behaviour changes to make sure messaging stays relevant and personalised. Here are just a few ways you can pair segments with personalised messaging across channels:

  • Send exclusive text message discounts to VIP customers who abandon high-value carts, but simple email reminders to less frequent purchasers who abandon low-value carts.
  • Send flash sale or limited-time offer messages via push notification to those who frequently engage with your mobile app, and emails to those who regularly browse your website.
  • Send more frequent emails, texts, and WhatsApp messages to those who tend to engage on those channels, while reserving cross-channel communication with less-engaged segments for important updates.

4. Optimise message frequency and avoid over-communication

On that note: to find a balance between staying top of mind and overloading your audience, consider every channel that reaches subscribers holistically.

Avoid overwhelming your customers by managing all of your marketing and customer service together on a single platform, and setting up logic that prevents sending overlapping or conflicting messages that can cause fatigue and drive unsubscribes.

For example:

  • Use Smart Sending to limit the number of emails, texts, or push notifications each subscriber receives in a given period of time, except during sales and promotions when they may be particularly active.
  • Use AI-powered channel affinity to predict which channels subscribers are most likely to prefer and engage on first, second, and third, then plan your cross-channel message sequencing accordingly.
  • Suppress marketing promotions via email, text, or WhatsApp when customers have active customer support tickets open.
  • Consider timing on each channel. Don’t send mobile push notifications, in-app messages, texts, or WhatsApp messages in the early mornings, overnight, or late night hours, for example, since they may trigger an unwanted notification. But feel free to send emails at broader times, according to when customers are most likely to open them.

Specialty coffee and subscription brand Coffee Beanery struggled with sending too many messages, often sending emails and texts at the same time. It wasn’t working for their customers. They decided to make a change.

The team now uses hybrid, cross-channel flows to manage their messaging cadence for abandonment messaging, shipping alerts, and replenishment reminders, staggering emails and texts to dual subscribers—which helped contribute to 12% YoY growth in flow revenue in a single quarter.

Dive deeper into our recommended frequency for different types of flows, based on what works best for the average brand, and how to coordinate content, timing, and frequency for cross-channel campaigns and flows.

5. Align marketing content with channels

You wouldn’t want a lengthy product guide in 7 different text messages, and you also wouldn’t want a quippy one-liner via email. Here are a few ideas for making sure you’re aligning your marketing content with the channel you’re sending it on:

Use text messaging for urgent, time-sensitive messaging

Text message marketing across SMS, RCS, and MMS works particularly well for:

  • Flash sales, reminders, or alerts
  • Product sneak peeks or visual promotions
  • Product launches or holiday campaigns
  • Order confirmations or delivery updates
  • Back-in-stock notifications
  • Abandoned cart reminders

RCS messages have the most interactive options, like buttons, suggested replies, cards, and carousels, and both SMS and MMS messages can support images, audio, video, and GIFs. SMS messages are more limited, and can support text and emojis with up to 160 characters, but they’re the most universally available across device types.

Use email for richer storytelling

Email works best for richer content and longer narratives where you need space to tell a story, such as newsletters, product launches, and educational campaigns. It gives you the flexibility to engage customers with compelling visuals, in-depth copy, and layered messaging that can’t fit into shorter formats.

Use WhatsApp for real-time, two-way customer conversations

WhatsApp enables two-way conversations, providing a personal and interactive customer experience that builds stronger relationships. This type of real-time engagement allows customers to ask questions, get support, and receive personalised recommendations.

Use mobile app messaging to connect with your biggest fans

Both push notifications and in-app mobile messages are for reaching the people who love your brand enough to download your mobile app. Whereas push notifications require user consent and show up on someone’s phone when they’re not using the app, in-app messages do not require consent and only show up when someone is actively using the app.

Because of their audience, both in-app messaging and push notifications can be great for:

  • Product announcements
  • Limited-time offers
  • Reminders about loyalty, rewards, and other programs
  • Mobile app-specific sales targeting VIP customers
  • Mobile app education and guidance, like how-to tutorials
  • Feedback collection for improving the app

6. Use AI to reach customers more effectively

Why work harder than you have to? AI can help you meet customers with the right message, at the right time, on the right channel. Here’s how:

  • Timing optimisation: Use AI to predict when each customer is most likely to engage with a marketing message or web form, maximising open, click, and sign-up rates.
  • Content and channel optimisation: Use AI to analyse patterns and predict which email or text variant is most likely to convert, or which channel a customer is most likely to engage on.
  • Cross-channel product recommendations: Create AI-powered product feeds that recommend products a customer may like and add them to campaigns and automated flows, based on a customer’s previous purchases and their similarities to other customers.
  • Targeted messaging: Use generative AI to come up with email subject lines, email content, and text message campaigns more likely to appeal to specific key audiences.
  • AI-generated segments and flows: AI can save you time building segments and flows based on natural language prompts.
  • Predictive cross-channel journeys: Use predictive analytics to learn a customer’s projected CLV, likelihood to churn, expected next order date, and more, then tailor cross-channel messaging accordingly.
  • Customer sentiment analysis: Synthesise feedback from reviews and reach out to customers who have had positive or negative experiences.
  • AI-enhanced customer service: AI virtual assistants can help site visitors quickly get answers to their questions as they browse your website, while making recommendations to drive conversions (more on this next).

7. Manage marketing and customer service from a unified platform

Integrating customer service data directly into unified customer profiles gives every team access to the full picture. When everyone can see purchase history, marketing engagement, and past support interactions in a single view, they can:

  • Quickly respond to customer questions sent via marketing channels. Both teams have visibility into every customer’s recent purchases, marketing comms, and support interactions in one place. That means faster resolutions and fewer frustrating handoffs.
  • Follow up after negative reviews with special offers or discounts. If a customer leaves a negative review, your marketing team or support team can reach out with a free item, discount on their next purchase, or feedback survey to learn more.
  • Send educational resources to customers who open product care instructions multiple times. Ask if customers need any support and share additional product guides or instructional videos via email.

Operating marketing and customer service from the same platform also makes it easier to set up self-service systems that handle more customer requests, more efficiently—without expanding your team. This approach empowers your customers to:

  • Track orders, initiate returns, update subscriptions, and set up profile information with just a few clicks.
  • Chat with an AI service agent for instant answers to common pre- and post-purchase questions and personalised, real-time responses about products and store policies.
  • Automatically escalate complex or high-impact issues to human representatives.

Apparel brand Ministry of Supply set up a customer hub that included customers’ recently viewed items, order history, product page links for quick repurchasing, order tracking information, and product recommendations. They drove over 650 self-serve interactions in under 4 months, reducing the burden on their team while still delivering timely support.

Your path to omnichannel excellence

Omnichannel marketing isn’t about being everywhere. It’s about making every interaction count. And as customer journeys grow more unpredictable, that’s getting harder if you’re not using omnichannel best practices that today’s consumers expect.

Klaviyo changes all of that. Klaviyo, the B2C CRM, gives you a view of your customers across channels—what they’ve bought, where they’ve been, how they’ve interacted.

With Klaviyo B2C CRM, you can deliver personalised, omnichannel customer experiences by:

  • Connecting every channel in one place and building multi-segment, multi-message campaigns across email, SMS, mobile app messaging, and WhatsApp
  • Learning how customers engage, and automatically reaching out to them on their preferred channels
  • Having interactive conversations with customers built to convert
  • Measuring attribution across a customer’s journey and seeing the full revenue story

Deepen relationships, grow LTV, and turn every interaction into measurable impact.