Multichannel Integration: A Systematic Approach

Multichannel integration refers to the practice of interacting with customers using a combination of indirect and direct communication channels – websites, retail stores, mail order catalogues, direct mail, email, mobile, etc. – and enabling customers to take action in response – preferably to buy your product or service – using the channel of their choice. In the most simplistic terms, multichannel marketing is all about choice.

Now, the question arises “Why do brands need multichannel integration approach to reach out to the customers when we already have traditional ways of marketing in place?”

Gone are the days when a single radio ad would send customers rushing to a nearby store. Instead, companies must compete with a million distractions before they can direct customers to their products. Luckily, companies also have more ways to contact customers, often called ‘channels’ in marketing, which have grown over the years. In addition to television and radio marketing, companies can now take advantage of contacting people online, such as email and messaging via social media.

The Importance of Multichannel Integration:

Multichannel marketing is important for a simple reason that you must be where your customers are. And they are everywhere. If you need another reason, consider this: Multichannel customers spend three to four times more than single-channel customers do.Today there are more ways to reach customers – both in terms of number and variety of channels – than we could have imagined before. And as the number of channels continue to rise, the need to embrace multichannel marketing is not only a good idea, but a need too.

Developing a Multi-Channel Strategy:

With so many channel options, businesses need to develop a multi-channel strategy.There are five challenges that companies have to face while developing a multi-channel campaign:

• Integrating data
• Understanding customer behaviour
• Evaluating channels
• Allocating resources across channels
• Coordinating strategies

Challenges Associated with Multichannel Integration:

• Targeted messaging. Thanks to the plethora of channels and choices facing customers, delivering the right message to the right audience isn’t enough.
• Highly choreographed campaigns. Expecting customers to change channel or device preferences is unrealistic.
• Marketing response attribution. It is increasingly difficult to know which channels, campaigns or sequence of touch points contributed to qualified conversions and sales.

Three Steps to Getting it Right:

So what does it take to do multichannel marketing right? Here are three keys to success:

Create and maintain a single view of the customer: Having a single view of the customer is critical. This is because today’s customers often interact with a brand in a variety of ways that involve more than one touch point.

• Establish a multichannel marketing platform: By establishing a multichannel marketing platform, the company will be able to integrate traditional and emerging channels. This will also simplify the creation and execution of cross-channel campaigns by enabling marketers to create, in essence, a single campaign that can be replicated across various channels.
• Create consistent customer experiences across all channels: Customer experience is one of the most powerful competitive differentiators. And while the quality of the customer experience is important, consistency is equally important.

So, we can conclude that the concept of multichannel integration is quite significant and can help brands and companies to provide an enhanced customer experience that results in higher customer satisfaction, and increased sales, profits, and share of wallet.

Khushboo Kumari, Ansh Sharma, PGDM I Year, GNIOT Institute of Management Studies, Greater Noida