How To Choose The Right Mix Of Marketing Channels In A Multi-Channel World
This content was originally published on WebEngage.
In the era of smartphones, apps, online shopping and serious attention deficit, customers want brands to reach them via the channel of their preference. On the other end of the spectrum are marketers that have one too many channels to choose from to render their marketing communication.
The conundrum becomes intensive when you look at these stats:
- SMS — 90% of SMS are read within the first three minutes of delivery
- Email — Email has an average ROI of $38 for each $1 spent
- Push — Push notifications show up to 40% CTR, and the best perform 4x better than worse.
- In-app — Apps using in-app messaging average 21% more monthly app launches.
- Display Ad- Display ads attract less than 2 clicks for 1000 impressions (0.17% CTR).
- Web Message- Web Messages record average CTR of 3.7% globally.
The power lies with customers; marketing is no longer marketer-centric but customer-centric.
The performance of channels varies drastically, some attract good CTR’s, some are cost-effective, and some are easy to deploy. It is not like the old days where direct mail, newspaper ad, were enough to grab eyeballs.
Nowadays, marketers face the problem of too many to choose the right mix of channels.
Marketing by moments
82% of smartphone users turn to their phone to influence a purchase decision while in a store.
Moments are behaviors and psychological states exhibited by consumers as they interact with the internet to-search, to-do, to-buy, to-learn or to-discover something.
These are intent-rich moments when decisions are made, and preferences get shaped.
Thus, marketers need to influence customers across these critical moments of truth. And, using the right mix of marketing channels is the first step towards effectively influencing users during these moments of truth.
In 2005, A.G. Lafley the then CEO of Proctor & Gamble said –
“The best brands consistently win two moments of truth, the First Moment of Truth (FMOT) occurs at the store shelf, when a consumer decides whether to buy one brand or another. The second [SMOT] occurs at home, when she uses the brand — and is delighted, or isn’t.”
In 2011, the search engine giant Google, coined the term Zero Moment of Truth [ZMOT ~ Zee Mot], the moment where first impressions happen and the path to purchase often begins. It’s a moment where marketing happens, where information happens, and where consumers make choices that affect the success and failure of nearly every brand in the world.
Furthermore, there’s UMOT, the Ultimate Moment of Truth where experiences are shared to build impressions that later becomes ZMOT for new customers.
