CHAPTER 4· INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGY
Decision 6: Multi-channel communications strategy
As part of creating an Internet marketing strategy, it is vital to define how the Internet
integrates with other inbound communications channels used to process customer
enquiries and orders and outbound channels which use direct marketing to encourage
retention and growth or deliver customer service messages. For a retailer, these channels
include in-store, contact-centre, web and outbound direct messaging used to communi-
cate with prospects and customers. Some of these channels may be broken down further
into different media – for example, the contact-centre may involve inbound phone
enquiries, e-mail enquiries or real-time chat. Outbound direct messaging may involve
direct mail, e-mail media or web-based personalisation. Mini Case Study 2.2 ‘Lexus
assesses multi-channel experience consistency’ in Chapter 2 shows the importance of
the quality of multiple channels in influencing customer experiences.
The multi-channel communications strategy must review different types of customer con-
tact with the company and then determine how online channels will best support these
channels. The main types of customer contact and corresponding strategies will typically be:
Inbound sales-related enquiries (customer acquisition or conversion strategy);
Inbound customer-support enquiries (customer service strategy);
Outbound contact strategy (customer retention and development strategy).For each of these strategies, the most efficient mix and sequence of media to support
the business objectives must be determined. Typically the short-term objective will be
conversion to outcome such as sale or satisfactorily resolved service enquiry in the short-
est possible time with the minimum cost. However, longer-term objectives of customer
loyalty and growth also need to be considered. If the initial experience is efficient, but
unsatisfactory to the customer, then they may not remain a customer!
The multi-channel communications strategy must assess the balance between:
customer channel preferences– some customers will prefer online channels for product
selection or making enquiries while others will prefer traditional channels;
organisation channel preferences– traditional channels tend to be more expensive to
service than digital channels for the company; however, they may not be as effective
in converting the customer to sale (for example, a customer who responds to a TV ad
to buy car insurance may be more likely to purchase if they enquire by phone in com-
parison to web enquiry) or in developing customer loyalty (the personal touch
available through face-to-face or phone contact may result in a better experience for
some customers which engenders loyalty).Myers et al. (2004) say:customers may always be right, but allowing them to follow their own preferences often
increases a company’s costs while leaving untapped opportunities to boost revenues.
Instead customers [segments with different characteristics and value] must be guided to
the right mix of channels for each product or service.They suggest companies need to use data to assess a mismatch between the company’s
actual customer channel preferences and those of the market at large. Thomas and
Sullivan (2005) give the example of a US multi-channel retailer that used cross-channel
tracking of purchases through assigning each customer a unique identifier to calculate
channel preferences as follow: 63% bricks-and-mortar store-only customers, 12.4%
Internet-only customers, 11.9% catalogue-only customers, 11.9% dual-channel customers
and 1% three-channel customers. This analysis shows the potential for multi-channel sales
since Myers et al. (2004) state that these multi-channelcustomers spend 20 to 30% more.