The term “multichannel” is tossed around in direct response as a casual new buzzword that everyone claims to provide. However, there’s a difference between using multiple channels and truly having an integrated multichannel approach. The strength of a true multichannel approach is in the results that add up to more than just a sum of the various elements.

While you work with partners on different aspects of a campaign—creative, media, response/order take and fulfillment—you need to focus on the complete picture (and work with partners who allow you to do that!). Many marketers stick with what they know works and use traditional metrics to evaluate success. As media is expensive, it is understandable why that’s the case.

But, what happens when your customer sees that spot on TV and decides to purchase via mobile phone or web days after the airing? What about the customer who saw the ad, visited the site and did not buy? Or, what about the client who did not see the spot, but is a potential buyer because of his or her past history? Unless you have a plan to catch all of these opportunities you may not be using a big enough net—and you may not have the data you need to make decisions about how effective the media truly was. Take the multichannel integration test!

Consistency and Coordination
· Do you coordinate advertising events so all channels launch with the same message at the same time?

· Are changes to your DRTV offer or creative simultaneously reflected in online and mobile activities?

Analysis and Media ROI
· Do you view key metrics for all channels together to assess the full impact of your media, as well as the contribution from each channel?

· Do you know how buying patterns differ for customer purchasing via phone, online and mobile (upsell take rates, cross-sell success, etc.)?

· Can you identify how customers who purchase via the phone differ from those who purchase online or through mobile channels?

Revenue Opportunities
· Do you include a call-in option with online and mobile activities? (For example: We see lift of 10-30 percent in online conversion when we allow visitors the option to place orders by phone.)

· Do you tailor upsells to channel?

If you’re not answering YES to the above, you’re leaving sales on the table for someone else to pick up. So get a bigger net to capture ALL the sales generated by your advertising activities!

Mike Ferzacca is CEO of Advanced Interactive Sciences

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My piece of the new media landscape mainly involves mobile, so it is limited but definitely offers insight into something everyone is at least beginning to think about and many have started. I agree with a lot of the articles I’ve been reading toward embracing the rush to all these new emerging channels, but I’m concerned that something could get lost in the shuffle: the relevance to the customer. I’ll paraphrase a quote from a newsletter I get every week. The quote was about marketing to the customer as if you were the customer—i.e., “Let’s think, what entices us to buy?” It’s so simple, yet actually quite brilliant and extremely relevant, as we rush into these new media platforms.

What entices me to buy is different than what entices my kids to ask me to buy for them, and it is also different than what entices my wife to buy. Instead of breaking these enticements by offers, let’s look at them in regards to what actually cuts through the clutter and reaches us (offering the chance of enticing them to buy).

I have given up checking my personal e-mail. I know if someone needs me or if I want to hear from people, they have my cell or work e-mail. My wife, on the other hand, funnels all of her e-mails accounts into one master account and at least sees all of them. Unless I get home early, our direct mail is already in the recycle bin. That’s just my house as an example. Every house is different, which is what’s making our jobs increasingly tricky. (more…)

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