As markets and consumer behavior evolve, the most successful businesses are those that constantly look to improve their strategies and processes to better meet changing demands. This especially holds true in today’s digital age where consumers are adopting new communication channels and devices at an unprecedented rate.

As marketers, it is our duty to help our companies evolve and adapt communications to enable improved customer engagement, purchasing behavior and loyalty. According to a recent Forrester Consulting study entitled: “The Multichannel Maturity Mandate,”

“The approach that marketers have adopted to manage and optimize customer engagement across the burgeoning landscape of customer touchpoints is generally referred to as multichannel marketing.” ¹

The study reports key findings and statistics reflecting 226 surveyed marketing professionals that represent various companies across a range of verticals. As a culmination of the research, Forrester analysts discovered that the majority of marketers consider multi-channel marketing an industry norm that, if executed effectively, garners considerable gains and, if not, devastating losses. Conversely, an ample portion of the survey participants also indicated that although they perceive multi-channel marketing as a definite opportunity for improvement, a full transition is not an immediate business priority.

In fact, many marketers view a transition into a fully integrated multi-channel marketing strategy as a daunting task that may even appear to be unattainable. Forrester categorizes companies into four levels of “multichannel maturity.” Experian Marketing Services has developed a similar identification model called “The Marketing Sophistication Curve℠.”

Forrester’s Levels of Multichannel Maturity                        Experian’s levels of Marketing Sophistication

Channel Entropy                                                                             Channel execution

Channel Independence                                                                  Channel optimization

Multichannel Integration                                                              Multi-channel marketing

Multichannel Engagement                                                            Cross-channel optimization

The Marketing Sophistication Curve serves as a starting point for organizations to first determine where they stand in today’s complex marketing ecosystem in order to glean insights and recommendations on how to best progress toward true “cross-channel optimization” – the equivalent to what Forrester describes as “Multichannel Engagement.”

With Forrester reporting that 40% of marketers indicate that they are in transition, The Marketing Sophistication Curve, paired with the industry guidance, becomes especially useful to organizations that realize the need to advance their multi-channel marketing efforts, but are unsure where exactly they stand and where to enhance their capabilities.

Although many multi-channel marketers may be just pushing off of the starting line, they should not feel as though they are running the race alone. It is a long journey to the finish line of cross-channel optimization – full of hurdles and pain points that everyone in the industry is tackling at their own pace.

“Even the most mature practitioners struggle to support integrated customer interactions across multiple channels. Our research indicates that there is a real opportunity to take multichannel marketing to the next level.”

 The fact is that marketers can never stop looking for ways to enhance and improve their strategies. Those that do will be faced with declining ROI, and diminishing revenues. Circling back to my opening proclamation about the importance of innovation, after only a few years of modernizing and manufacturing the automobile in the form of a Model T Ford, Henry Ford realized the true danger of complacency. This revelation in the face of declining demand eventually spurred Ford’s initiative to design new customized models available in a variety of different colors.

Businesses need to stay relevant to their core customer base. It is an absolute requirement for success. This entails a constant thirst for improved processes, strategies and ultimately for progression.

¹ “The Multichannel Maturity Mandate,” a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Sitecore, May 2012

The same concept also holds true for marketers. There are so many competing priorities that it can be difficult to determine what to do when, and to determine how to get the best return on the marketing investment. Marketers ask themselves what type of data to invest in, how to leverage social media channels, when to invest in new database technologies and infrastructures, how to use response attribution and analytics to be more customer centric, etc. CMOs are also challenging their teams to get it all done immediately. With all of that on your plate, how can any marketer be successful?

The answer is simple. Prioritize. Identify the low-hanging fruit so that you can start seeing benefits fast. Understand what to focus on now, what to focus on in the mid-term, what your long-term strategy is, and how to focus your efforts to get there. A well-planned roadmap provides alignment and focus in a challenging landscape and addresses the urgent and the important items for immediate action. This helps marketers align to their strategic objectives, maximize marketing spend and prove value to their CMO – and even better, to their customers. And sometimes it is hard to make the right short term choices and ensure they align with the long term vision.  This is where expert guidance can help.  So, just like on a vacation, you have to determine where you want to start. What activity do you want to do first? What are those activities that you absolutely have to do, and what activities can you put on the back burner until time or money permit? Finally, what are those filler activities that you could do if something takes less time than planned?

A road mapping exercise is a great way to identify the needs , priorities and wish lists of multiple stakeholders.

A road mapping exercise is a great way to identify the needs , priorities and wish lists of multiple stakeholders. When a reputable 3^rd party is brought in to help identify the components of the roadmap, marketers can be even more in tune with what other retailers are doing in the industry. Just think… why do many travelers turn to travel agencies for vacation planning? Because travel agencies know how to plan a vacation for all customer types… they have feedback from former travelers on what is fun and what isn’t, and can help you decide if you want an adventure vacation or to just relax on a beach.

If you are a marketer struggling to put the right roadmap in place, seek an industry “travel agent” who can help understand your goals and objectives, provide the response attribution and analytics, and develop a roadmap customized for your marketing “vacation.”

If you are interested, read how our customer intelligence platform can help provide the analytics you need to build the right roadmap.

What’s even more unfortunate is that this colleague is not an anonymous customer paying with cash. He happens to shop at this retailer regularly, using a credit card the majority of the time and he also frequents their website. He expects this retailer to know him: he has provided log-in information including his email address and mobile phone number, and has made purchases online. He loves his cell phone and texting so much that he has opted in to receive text messages from this retailer.

This is a common scenario for retailers because information is usually collected in silos and as a result retailers do not have a solid understanding of their customers’ purchasing behaviors. If the retailer was able to identify my colleague, they could have texted an offering that was relevant to him and his purchasing behaviors. My colleague would have responded much better to a text driving him to the store for the latest fishing equipment or sporting goods items. With a plethora of tools available, marketers can reach their customers through mobile, emails, mailing addresses, online profiles, loyalty programs, social network profiles and more. What hasn’t been readily available is the ability to link these various profiles together, giving marketers a clear understanding of who is buying from them, where they are shopping and how they want to be interacted with.

This retailer has a huge opportunity to connect with customers by providing an engaging and relevant experience through the mobile channel. A mobile strategy is a critical piece of today’s marketing mix. A mobile strategy can enable marketers to drive traffic to stores with text messaging and alerts, and can surprise and delight customers with the right message.

Solutions exist today that enable marketers to identify a customer with a single piece of personally identifiable information (PII). Matching on a mobile phone number alone is difficult, but if you have captured the customer’s name and address, email or simply a zip code during the opt-in process, you can build links across channels to understand how they shop with you and who they are. This cross-channel identity resolution helps marketers avoid blundering when they recognize a customer in one channel, but treat them as they don’t know them in other channels.

Instead of simply trying to sell more of “anything” to a consumer who signs up for mobile, email or social marketing, a retailer should look for opportunities to build an engaging relationship by making shopping with them more convenient and relevant. Is the customer male or female and what are the demographic and psychographic characteristics of his or her household? Does the customer shop in store, online or both? Use the information to build relevant offers so you don’t leave him thinking, “Lime green flip flops with a big pink flower?” Showing the customer you recognize him and how he shops will go a long ways towards building a two-way relationship where he wants to engage with you instead of giving him a reason to quickly search for your opt-out button.

So the next time that this retailer sends out a text to my colleague, I hope it is for a new rod and reel or tackle box. Personally, I would have loved the flowery flip flops… but I didn’t get the text.

For more information about cross-channel identity resolution, download our latest white paper, Crossing the great divide: Resolving customer identities across online and offline channels.