When does print perform best? Cross- vs. multi- vs. omni-channel
Retail store, online shop, blog, social media, email, marketplaces, apps, chat – a variety of touchpoints is the norm in today’s marketing. Customers expect a brand to offer experiences that are consistent and build on each other across all channels. However, this is not yet the case for many: 54 per cent of customers do not have the impression that the brands they buy from exchange information between sales, customer service and marketing.
Depending on how well your company succeeds in connecting its customer communication across touchpoints, we talk about cross-channel, multi-channel and omni-channel marketing. But what exactly is the difference?
Multi-Channel-Marketing
Several channels are used, but they are not connected to each other.
Example: Customer A buys a yellow T-shirt in a store and then calls customer service because there are no care instructions printed on the T-shirt. The shopper must provide the customer service team with the product details as accurately as possible so that the team can give them the correct information.
Cross-Channel-Marketing
Retail is connected, but communication is not.
Example: Customer B (female) orders a basketball from the online shop of a sporting goods chain with instore collection. The data about this purchase does not flow into marketing, so the customer is recommended products in the next email that do not match her last purchase.
Omni-Channel-Marketing
All channels are seamlessly connected to each other.
Example: Customer C (male) buys a necklace at a store in a shopping centre. At home, he realises that the clasp is defective. The customer calls customer service. The team knows exactly which necklace he bought and immediately sends him a new one – including an envelope for sending in the defective necklace free of charge. In the next email, customer C is recommended products that match his new necklace.
Omni-channel as the silver bullet
The three examples above show that omni-channel is the most attractive approach from the customer’s perspective. However, implementing this effectively requires more than standardised communication across different touchpoints. The groundwork for a marketing strategy that optimally links all channels starts with the organisational structure of the company.
Because a successful omni-channel strategy requires:
- … Chief Consumer Officers or similar roles that analyse and map out the entire customer journey and all customer experiences from the customer’s perspective.
- … a non-siloed collaboration and a lively exchange across traditional departmental boundaries.
- … agile processes that guarantee independent work and short time-to-market.
- … a central database in which all data is consolidated, analysed and distributed.
- … cooperation between experts from different teams, regardless of hierarchy.
A study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of our integration partner Emarsys also confirms that the omni-channel approach is the only way to achieve true customer centricity and, as such, increases company turnover and resilience:
- 62 per cent of companies with a strong customer focus were able to increase their profit margins thanks to omni-channel,
- 54 per cent of them felt that their omni-channel strategy contributed to better customer retention and loyalty, and
- 52 per cent stated that they were able to improve their customer interactions through their omni-channel approach.
Print as a successful channel in omni-channel marketing
When talking about omni-channel, most people think of the connection of digital communication channels such as email, social media, blogs and push notifications. While these are all important marketing channels through which you are likely to reach a large percentage of your customers, they are also fiercely competitive touchpoints in which brands can quickly become overlooked. And this is exactly where print can give you a competitive advantage.
For print to pay off, both targeting and personalisation are essential. And that’s exactly why you need the data from all your digital channels – which brings us back to the central data source (see above). Only if the MarTech setup is closely connected and the data from all customer interactions flows together centrally are you able to use a channel such as print in the marketing mix sensibly, efficiently and to boost sales.
After all, your digital touchpoints provide you with a wealth of data. And it is precisely this data that forms the perfect basis for the targeted segmentation and personalisation of your direct mail.
Wait a minute: personalisation in print?
Of course! “Programmatic Print” has made it possible. Print is no longer the outdated and expensive channel it used to be and impersonal mass mailings are a no-go in modern print marketing.
In modern direct mail, not only is the salutation personalised – we’re all familiar with the classic “Hello [first name]” or “Dear [Mr/Mrs] [surname]” – but also other elements such as product images and recommendations.
In addition, modern print technology makes it possible to utilise optimised segmentation to send even smaller print runs cost-effectively and, above all, automatically. The required tools turn print into a key element in your customer journey builder and therefore into a fully integrated touchpoint in your marketing mix.
Examples for direct mail use cases
There is a whole range of customer journey events that are well suited as triggers for print mailings:
- A customer made their first purchase 6 months ago, but has not made a second purchase since.
- A customer has viewed a certain category or product in the online shop several times and added items to their shopping basket, but never bought them (more on this in our webinar – german only though).
- A customer has installed the app on their mobile phone but hasn’t opened it for months.
And these are just three examples of many. Consider when you could positively surprise your customers with a print mailing and which content or offers are most likely to convince your target group in their respective stage of the customer journey.
Below you will find an example from one of our masterclasses (please note: the masterclass is in German only) for a fully personalised omni-channel media mix for two female customers. The first-time buyer is targeted differently to the long-term and loyal repeat buyer. Depending on the phase in the customer lifecycle, the timing for triggering communication can also vary.
In our example, the new collection has just arrived:
- The first-time buyer receives a 10 per cent discount from a purchase of 100 euros as an incentive to persuade her to buy and prevent her from shopping at the competition. The product images were customised based on her preferences (leather, accessories, brown > brown leather bag).
- We also show the loyal but currently inactive customer product images based on her preferences (red, accessories, wool > red wool dress), but offer her 20 per cent off the new collection. In this way, we want to convince her to take a look at our new collection and buy something again.
In terms of customer centricity, it is precisely this form of personalisation at customer level across all touchpoints (including print) that is the most direct route to successful omni-channel marketing, in which all channels – above all sales, customer service and marketing – are intertwined.
Conclusion: print scores highly in omni-channel marketing
If you want to use print effectively, it is good to utilise your data from digital touchpoints – the more, the better. This data allows you to optimally segment the target groups for direct mail campaigns and personalise the content as much as possible. This makes your messages more convincing, your customers more loyal and your sales higher.
