Today’s customer is increasingly volatile. He receives information on the Internet through his smartphone, asks for some advice in the store, orders remotely and delivers it to the office. The same goes for customer service: why doesn’t the call center know I went to the store to complain and I wrote through the website twice?! The reality is simple, companies are facing a new reality today: a multi-channel customer, multi-channel strategy! It is becoming increasingly necessary to organize a coherent and relevant marketing strategy according to the communication channels used.
strategy and planning
Establishing your multi-channel marketing strategy is above all about taking stock of the vision and values ​​you want to convey to your customers. Whether it is the message to broadcast, the value to share or the level of quality of service to be adopted, everything needs to be in line with the vision of the company. The music settings for different channels should be set according to the goals one wants to reach. At this stage of planning, it is particularly interesting to draw inspiration from the traditional QQOQCP method used by journalists. This makes it possible to establish the circumstances of the situation that one wishes to provoke.
What ? What is my message, my intention.
Who ? What are the customer segments that I want to address.
Where ? Which channels will allow me to get my message across to the target audience effectively.
When ? What is the best time to deliver your message? This may vary depending on the medium, calendar, time of day, interlocutor.
How ? How do I present my message? What adaptations are necessary depending on the medium to maximize its effect.
Why ? What is my goal and how do I measure the results.
to bring consistency
Consistency is the key to the success of a multi-channel marketing strategy. A customer doesn’t understand — well — that a salesperson in a store can give a speech and a different response than a website or call center. It is very important to ensure that the information is disseminated very quickly without distortion, through the organization of the company and its equipment. With this in mind, we see more and more CRM tools that offer a 360° view of the customer: What data do I have? What message was given to him? What was the last conversation? How did he react?
It simplifies delivering a coherent and relevant message. Such a system also makes it possible to work more effectively to improve satisfaction and loyalty. However, this is one of the major difficulties for companies as different channels are often intertwined.
actions to be taken
Like any project, it is essential to measure the impact of its actions. Key performance indicators should be set against what you want to learn. We should be wary of “vanity metrics” that bring personal satisfaction, but should not highlight impacts and areas for improvement. How does the number of visitors to the Internet have a real impact on my business? It is more effective to know the revenue generated by the customer according to the acquisition channel. It improves messaging and allocates resources in the right place. Customers are more and more multi-channel. Companies must very quickly adapt to the use of their customers by delivering the right message through the right channel, at the right time. Planning, consistency and measurement are the keys to the success of a good multi-channel marketing strategy.
So the big challenge for the coming years will be to find means of communication between different channels as different solutions implemented in different channels do not always communicate with each other.