Comment - Mar08

You are very important to us... now, who are you?

Why measurement of multi-channel marketing is just as important as it is difficult.

One step forward, two steps back. Many marketers today are heralding the dawn of multi-channel, integrated marketing - so many ways to ‘touch' the customer and corral them into a purchase. In an ideal world this is achieved through surrounding a consumer with personalised, cumulative and coherent messages over time, integrated into the channels they choose to engage. It is becoming difficult to even draw the line on where entertainment and information ends and advertisement and influencing messaging begin. We can't dispute the multi-channel assertion - note how your Coke can is probably directing you to a website to listen to a musical artist integrated with their brand (and might you download a song?).  But in the real world our ability as marketers to manage and measure this combination of channels in a consumer empowered environment is sorely lacking.

Yes it worked... don't worry about how

Over the past several years companies have been getting better at understanding the results of their marketing activities and demanding clear metrics and accountability on marketing initiatives.  Encouragingly this has been championed more often by marketers themselves. Now as we shift to a world where empowered customers are driving the equation, it is becoming more difficult to understand the impact or contribution of any single channel or activity to an eventual sale or to satisfaction and retention. Consider a customer that sees a mass market advertisement, receives a direct solicitation for a specific product, researches various products on your website and then makes a purchase of a similar product in a brick and mortar store. Maybe they bought your competitor's product after your marketing drove the demand to research online. Before we can even ask the question of which channel or interaction (or combination) influenced the sale, we first have to connect the dots and recognise this consumer across the various channels.

The realities of living in denial

One study conducted by Bain & Company revealed that, of over 350 firms surveyed, 80% claimed to deliver ‘Superior Experience' to their customers. However, when the customers in question were surveyed, they felt only 8% of firms actually provided that level of experience. The complexity of recognising a customer or prospect in various forms across multiple channels, over time and across different lines of business is growing exponentially. In contrast, the expectation by the customer that we will not only know who they are, but understand their complete relationship and history is growing just as fast as our inability to achieve this. This gap between the growing expectation and decreasing ability is the reality of poor recognition. Even when recognition is achieved, the information gleaned from each channel needs to come together into a coherent picture of the customer.  Imagine getting a random bit of information about a new executive from every person at an office party, then having to use all of those tidbits to write an accurate bio. 

Blinded by the hype!

The fast changing technology and ever growing access to relevant information makes this the most empowering time in history for consumers. For marketers, it is both very exciting and challenging. We must avoid the temptation to view integrated marketing as a ‘Brand' exercise and exempt these complex initiatives from the scrutiny and measurement that is the hallmark of personalised marketing. This scrutiny and measurement should be driven by marketers in a way that reflects the inherent challenges before it is pressed upon us by those who do not appreciate the difficulty or by consumers that vote with their wallets.

Will Bordelon

Business Development Leader

Acxiom Asia Pacific