Email, mobile, & social are becoming increasing relevant to consumers. Many businesses are beginning to leverage these mediums mostly because they offer an expedient way to communicate and the costs are relatively low. A few businesses take it a notch higher because they know that digital messages can be tracked, social media can be heard, & mobile can make things very personal.
Here are some some important things to consider as you create marketing programs around these three channels:
1) How do you measure the impact of each of these channels? You should have a starting point benchmark on where you are in each channel and also don’t forget to measure the impact as it relates to the consumer. So look at your messaging in unison and not just as separate messages that could influence their behaviour.
2) How should you make sure that your list is segmented correctly? How can you test your segmentation strategy? Do you test your segmentation strategy on a sample group before you try to influence your entire base?
3) How do you measure deliverability or sends or interest? Is your email getting through? Are your SMS messages bouncing? Is your consumer even paying attention to your social commentary? More importantly, are you responding to comments or questions from your consumer across email, mobile, or social?
4) How do you truly integrate different channels; where should you start? How should you combine the cross-channel data collected? How do you create a consumer interaction dashboard for cross channel messaging? Don’t forget to tie in your consumers email, mobile, & social media identities within preference centers.
5) How do you deal with those who want to get off your lists? Do you offer to reduce the messaging frequency? Do you offer them an incentive to stay? Are your benefits clearly stated? How can the consumer contact you when they want to reduce this frequency? How do you make sure that the consumer is truly taken off?
6) How do you explain your engagement strategy to your team? What information should you provide management? What information should be provided to consumer touch-points or the front line? What information should you share with your peers? How do you see if your consumer is in tune with your engagement strategy?
7) What can you automate in your digital marketing programs? What do your auto-replies say? Do you have a systematic approach for email, mobile, & social? Are your Tweets and Facebook updates tied into your other digital channels? Are these updates really relevant? How often should you test your automated messaging?
8) What is the best way to measure your results? Should you look at impressions? Should you look at clicks? Should you look at conversions? How should you measure conversions? Do you have an ROI formula defined? Do you have an ROE defined?
9) How should you survey the recipient? How should you ask questions? What questions should you ask? How often should you survey the recipient?
10) What is your plan on growing your list? Is your growth plan part of a comprehensive strategy to manage growth and churn? Is your team bought into your strategy? How are you measuring your list growth?
These 10 considerations are some of the things organizations should plan for as they put together their consumer interaction programs. A successful blueprint here is going to help put structure for your program and help you drive measurable success in consumer engagement.
We will be hosting a series of workshops in January & February 2011 on the best approach to engage consumers. These workshops will be peer discussions – online, & in person. To sign up for these events you can join the Service in Action Learning Network.
