It seems that everybody talks about multichannel marketing these days. But how many walk the talk? According to a study conducted by marketing solutions provider ExactTarget, UK marketers are walking the talk more than marketers in other countries.
The result: they're better connecting with their customers and that boosts the bottom line.
ExactTarget's study, the results of which are available in the company's 'Strategy Meets Customer Expectations Whitepaper', was conducted by Forrester Consulting and looked at the multichannel marketing efforts of 312 participating marketers. 68 of them worked for companies in the UK and of these:
- 93% run multichannel marketing campaigns.
- 90% believe multichannel campaigns are more effective than single channel campaigns.
- 80% want to improve their multichannel campaigns.
- 68% are segmenting their multichannel campaigns.
The benefits to these UK marketers: half are seeing better customer engagement and nearly half report higher conversions and a better understanding of their customers. Well over two-thirds (44%) indicate that their multichannel efforts drive greater overall revenue.
What about the channels themselves?
Over half of the UK marketers surveyed report using email in their campaigns, with email being used most extensively to provide alerts, customer service and promotions.
Mobile
According to ExactTarget, "UK marketers are well ahead of marketers in other countries when it comes to the adoption of mobile marketing". 35% of them are using text messaging and 22% employ mobile advertising. Not surprisingly, mobile is considered an effective channel for reaching youth demographics.
Social Media
46% of the UK marketers participating in the study are using social media but, not surprisingly, only 28% say they really know how. The future looks bright though: 75% of the marketers believe that social media is going to grow in importance and more than two-thirds think marketing messages distributed through social media will become more effective.
Putting it All Together
Perhaps the most interesting part of the ExactTarget study is the look at which channels are used in tandem. The most popular tandems may (or may not) surprise you:
- Email and direct mail (67%).
- Direct mail and print (52%).
- Email and print (51%).
The least popular tandems:
- Print and radio (25%).
- Email and social media (25%).
- Print and television (29%).
Opportunities
It's a multichannel world and UK marketers clearly know that. But there's plenty of work to be done. Only 29% of the UK marketers surveyed by ExactTarget agreed with the statement "We know how our customers behave across channels". And it's obvious that new channels such as social media, while appealing, are still largely a mystery.
All of this means that there's lots of opportunity for businesses and entrepreneurs who can help marketers collect the right data to manage and evaluate their multichannel marketing efforts and, even more importantly, to make sense of it all.
Learn more...
Econsultancy has published a CRM 2.0 Report which examines the extent to which organisations are able to integrate online and offline data to provide a more relevant and personalised customer experience, and drive better business performance.
Patricio Robles is a tech reporter at Econsultancy. Follow him on Twitter.
Posted 08 October 2009 11:01am by Patricio Robles with 3 comments
Tags: ExactTarget, UK, marketers, Strategy Meets Customer Expectations Whitepaper
Topics: Email Marketing, Mobile Internet, Multichannel Marketing, Online Advertising, Online Customer Service, Online PR & Social Media, Online Surveys & Research, Strategy & Planning
Sectors: Technology
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Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
8:32AM on 9th October 2009
It's sad to see that only 28% of those surveyed claim to really understand social media. As an agency, it's sobering to consider that this percentage of the market is participating but with little knowledge.
It's easy to understand why it's sometimes hard to prove our case, when the majority of the market is still uneducated. It's our job to bring social media to the mainstream by demystifying and continually providing good case studies.
3:31PM on 10th October 2009
The metrics revealed in the study are not surprising but rather refreshing. Everyone thinks that Print is dead and is not going anywhere. the top three uses of MCM utilize Print. Coming from the agency world it baffels me how many of my colleagues are ready to put the nails in Print's coffin. Multi Channel marketing as proven time and time again that it rely's heavily on print. With today's technology constantly changing it's nice to know some things stay the same. Print is still sexy and when used properly is still a far more powerful means of getting your message across. Social Media will gain more interest and appeal as the younger generations enter the market place. Text messaging, Tweet-ing, Facebook-ing... these can all be powerful tools but not when used as a stand alone option. Print is still and should remain at the core of message delivery. Tweets have a shelf life of a few moments, Facebook about the same with email offering a bit longer of a life but with the chance of getting "buried or lost" in an in-box. Make no doubt about it, Print is key and is no longer thought of as a commodity but rather a solution to a business problem. If you are going to be in the Washington DC area on October 20th, 2009, join us for an in-depth discussion on this topic. Visit www.productionclubdc.org for more details
4:30AM on 13th October 2009
I'd agree with the above and just add that mobile is clearly one of the most promising. Thanks to the BlackBerry and iPhone, meaningful mobile campaigns are a possibility and we've only cracked the surface. As a social media strategist here in the States, it's undeniable the lead the UK has on smart mobile marketing. Perhaps it's the popularity of mobile activities like Twitter and wired cities like London (the top Tweeting city in the world). Did the email statistic surprise anyone? We'll likely see that rise with the increase in social media campaigns and the reliance on our fingers to do the talking.