Right Customer, Right Message, Right Time, Right Channel

Digital marketing – really, consumer marketing – is about reaching the right customer with the right message at the right time using the channel that customer prefers.

A multichannel strategy needs to be about those channels working in synch, not as separate tactics but as a unified whole. Content is key, so having the right message is important, but sending that message through the right channel is just as important or your targeted consumer might easily hit the DELETE button.

Some consumers might prefer SMS messages. Others might prefer a quick message over Facebook. Most like the convenience of email, but the message needs to be tailored to them in order to stay out of the SPAM or Trash folder.

Email can easily become a silo, so it is best to reach consumers across ALL channels – email, SMS, video, social – but the key is in knowing when to use which channel and with which message to keep that consumer engaged.

“Enhancing the multichannel experience for consumers can be a powerful driver of sales, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. Retailers can use big data to integrate promotions and pricing for shoppers seamlessly, whether those consumers are online, in-store, or perusing a catalog. Williams-Sonoma, for example, has integrated customer databases with information on some 60 million households, tracking such things as their income, housing values, and number of children. Targeted e-mails based on this information obtain ten to 18 times the response rate of e-mails that are not targeted, and the company is able to create different versions of its catalogs attuned to the behavior and preferences of different groups of customers.”

READ MORE, McKinsey Global Institute

Retailers across every industry are learning how to use big data to better target their campaigns, which better ensures that the right message goes out at the right time, to the right person, and through the right channel.

How are you targeting your campaigns?