Multichannel as seen by .....

Kathy Hecht, Vice President, Transformative Content, Acxiom

"Interacting and communicating with customers across multiple, siloed channels isn't multichannel. 'Multichannel' is channels working in tandem, seamlessly. It puts the customer at the center and provides one view. [So,] the trend that will make the biggest impact [in multichannel marketing] will be to integrate and link data that currently resides in various, single channels in order to create a 'logical' view of existing multichannel interactions. Since customers seek information and buy from several channels, companies should harness and coordinate the customer insights from all those channels in order to treat each customer as an individual across all channels, instead of having the fragmented, inconsistent view they have now. Once companies achieve this view, they will be able to deliver a better experience when they know who their customers are and can act accordingly. – Kathy Hecht, Vice President, Transformative Content, Acxiom

Richard Burdge, Chief Marketing Officer, Thunderhead

"First, we need to be clear what we mean by multichannel marketing. Many marketers don't fully appreciate what that means to the customer.
You may have multiple channels to serve customer, and you may send messages by direct mail, mobile, social, and email, but that doesn't make you multichannel. Interacting through multiple channels is not enough. True multichannel is using all channels seamlessly in one platform to create a multithreaded dialog that maps to customers' movement across channels…. It's easy to find technology today that integrates applications and closes communication gaps. Even if companies have silos – CRM is separate from email, for example – they can layer technology over the top that closes the gaps. These open standards are allowing companies to hand control to business users. This will move responsibility closer to the front line and empower customer-facing staff to become customer heroes." – Richard Burdge, Chief Marketing Officer, Thunderhead

Katy Keim, Chief Marketing Officer, Lithium

"Social has provoked an urgency of, 'How can we synchronize the relationship across channels?' I don't see functional gaps being bridged unless there is one person in charge of it.
Someone in the organization needs to be deputized to do it. Some companies have dabbled in having that role, [be it] chief customer officer or chief marketing officer or someone heading customer experience. And some existing CMOs or CCOs will seize that opportunity. The current disjointed approach to the customer will not scale and is not strategic. Customers have no patience for silos. Companies need to respond. In 2011 leading companies will respond, and in a big way." – Katy Keim, Chief Marketing Officer, Lithium

Rhonda Wunderlin, Director of Marketing Best Practices and Education, Eloqua

"A cutting edge trend for the more sophisticated marketer is to create one view of the customer. Organizations need to integrate social as part of that one view…. Social needs to become an integral part of a company's overall communications strategy versus a separate initiative.
Today, with marketing automation technology, companies are using digital body language to build customer profiles based on responses to outbound marketing, website activity, and sales interaction. As social channels become integrated into the overall marketing strategy, marketers need to map users' identities, along with those users' interactions on social sites, to the profiles created through more traditional marketing in order to get 'one view' of customer. This complete view will allow marketing and sales to connect in more relevant ways, increasing engagement and, ultimately, conversion. Prospects or customers who interact with brands socially, whether positive or negative, are engaged with those brands and you want to know that along with their previous interaction and purchase history. Having one view of the customer allows you to leverage and take advantage of that insight." – Rhonda Wunderlin, Director of Marketing Best Practices and Education, Eloqua

Lisa Arthur, CMO, Aprimo

"The first impetus for [marketing] integration is its sheer complexity. Twenty years ago marketers focused on just a few channels, but today there are dozens, with more likely to emerge.
Managing a dozen or so channels can be daunting for even the most seasoned marketer. And all too often the inability to manage complexity can lead to fewer leads and lost opportunity. The second, and perhaps most important, impetus for integration is the customer. Simply put, brands may segment their marketing activities and develop strategies by channel, but their customers must never see this. The enlightened approach puts customers at the center of marketing, thinking strategically about how each offer, message, or creative execution is perceived in context and timed effectively." – Lisa Arthur, CMO, Aprimo

( quotes gleaned from 1to1Media )

'This is not email''

Marketers should embrace Facebook’s ’’ this is not email ‘’ announcement

Does anyone remember Public Image Ltd’s 1983 single This Is Not A Love Song in 1983, the song's lyric lampooning the ire from some fans and the music press over the band's movement towards a more commercial style. The song's title was inspired by a line in the song "Her Story" (1979) by Virgin label stablemates the Flying Lizards, about bands 'selling out' their artistic principles for commercial success ("But you can still make money, by singing sweet songs of love... this is a love song"). Ironically, it gave the band their biggest international hit single, reaching #5 in the UK singles charts. ( source : wikipedia )

This seems to have some resonance with Facebook’s announcement  late last year (which we all knew was coming ) and has a massive impact on not just email marketers, but anyone that works in marketing, advertising, eCRM etc.

I ask again, what's your email ROI?

I wrote a few words in March last year on the ROI that organisations get from their email marketing - click here for the old post.

At that point the Adestra / eConsultancy report highlighted that 42% of organisations had no idea what their email ROI was!

Well a year on the Email Marketing Industry Census 2010 shows that figure to be still an amazing 39%.

To be honest, at the time of the original post I hadn't spent that much time working closely with clients on their email programmes to make a valued judgement on that number's veracity. So I read the figures and just went with them. But now I realise it is true and it's not because Marketers cant be bothered. They actually face some real challenges in getting the resource to follow through with their metrics ' after the click'.

Email is often used in isolation within the overall marketing mix and because it can be seen as a relatively cheap part of the mix, there often isn't the justification for that extra resource or budget to measure it properly.

Of course, if you don't measure a channels impact, you can't really begin to start to optimise it - well apart from optimising opens and clicks, but then that is just like getting prospects to look through your shop window, maybe come into the shop but not take any interest in if they buy or not!!

I've worked with clients who have assumed that because the sales focussed email goes out on a Tuesday and there is a spike in sales for the next 24 hours then that's good enough for them. Others have stated that because it would actually cost them money to optimise their email programmes they wont bother, so why measure?

I say to email marketers who stop at the click that when they next need to justify their email budget, the Finance Director won't stop at the click. In fact he won't even care what it is.

He will say 'Show me the money!! - cue Tom Cruise again

Conversation Planning..as easy as 1 2 3

The Starting Point has to be an understanding of the customer including their:

1 relationship with the brand ( defines what we can/need to say to them)

2 media consumption preferences ( defines how that message is delivered)

3 buying process ( helps to prioritise when we say what)

Email Knock Knock Part 2

I recently posted a piece on what was the best time of day to broadcast your emails at, Email Knock Knock where I mentioned some research by Pure360.

Well as everyone has an infographic these days, this piece of research is elegantly shown here...Click on it to make it bigger!

The Age of Mobile

We no longer contact you AT HOME

We no longer contact you AT WORK

We contact YOU



Wise words stolen from Rick Segal