A one-size fits all solution is perfect for many things.

Unfortunately, marketing isn’t one of them. The reason? The modern consumer uses a broad range of channels to interact with friends and engage with brands.

As such, meeting them in their most frequent channels is key to improving engagement and conversions. Brands worldwide are recognizing the importance of leveraging multiple channels of communication in their businesses.

According to a report from Digital Doughnut, 95% of marketers agree that running a multichannel marketing campaign is vital to their business.

And it makes sense! When you combine channels such as social media, email, and SMS into one cohesive marketing campaign, you can reach the right customer with the right message, and on the channels they prefer most.

Are you ready to implement a multichannel marketing strategy in your business? In this article, we’ll run you through the benefits of leveraging automated multichannel engagement to increase sales and achieve business growth.

What Is Multichannel Engagement?

Multichannel engagement is the practice of interacting with customers via a combination of direct and indirect channels.

Common channels used in multichannel communication include:

• Social media
• Email
• Text messages
• Push notifications (on mobile)
• Live chat
• Podcasts
• Radio
• Website
• Direct mail
• Billboards
• Television

For marketers, sending transactional messages to their customers on their preferred digital platforms is key to boosting engagement. Automated multichannel engagement is important for one primary reason; it gets you where customers are.

Benefits of Leveraging Automated Multichannel Engagement

Besides bringing you where the customers are, automated multichannel engagement brings a ton of benefits, including:

1. Increased Acquisition ROI

One of the biggest advantages of automated multichannel engagement is that it helps businesses achieve a better ROI.

Studies have shown that increasing customer retention by 5% can increase company revenue by 25 – 95%. Retaining existing customers is critical for any organization looking to improve ROI without spending much.

Customer retention is impacted by the number of customers acquired (customer acquisition) and the number of customers that leave (churn rate). Leveraging multichannel customer engagement can go a long way in boosting retention.

Today’s customers expect speedy responses.

In fact, new research published on Hubspot has shown that 82% of customers expect an immediate response from brands on marketing or sales questions. One way to deliver speedy responses is by being active on the many channels the customers use.

Engaging customers on multiple channels can help drive engagement and sales. Also, by examining multichannel data, marketers can determine which channels aren’t producing conversions and focus more resources on the high-performing channels.

The increase in retention across multiple channels can lead to more conversions and higher ROI. Studies have shown that marketers using at least three marketing channels for their campaigns have a 90% higher customer retention rate than those with fewer channels.

2. Increased Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

According to Google, companies that use multichannel marketing see a 30% increase in customer lifetime value.

Customer lifetime value (CLV) is a metric that indicates how much revenue a business can expect from a single customer throughout the business relationship.

The more a business interacts with a customer, the higher the chances they’ll remain loyal to the business over the long term. In other words, continuous engagement strengthens the client-business relationship.

The best way to strengthen this relationship is through multichannel engagement.

So, how do you increase CLV with multichannel engagement?

You begin by reviewing your current customer data to determine which channels will result in higher ROI based on previous activities. Also, consider the platforms your audience visits most. Next, seek the most appropriate channels for each audience segment.

For example, if you segment your audience by age, you can quickly determine which social media platforms are best for them. But don’t leverage social media alone.

Increasing your reach solely through social media doesn’t constitute a well-thought-out multichannel marketing strategy. Consider adding email, text messages, and personalized content on your website. If you’re considering using mobile marketing (SMS, push notifications), assess whether your target audience will actually read or disregard your texts.

According to Microsoft’s 2017 State of Global Customer Service Report, 66% of consumers have used at least three different communication channels. Your chances of retaining these customers long-term lie in your ability to reach and interact with them on multiple channels.

3. Lower Campaign Management Costs

Another advantage of leveraging automated multichannel engagement is saving on campaign setup and management costs.

While the old adage that “it costs five times more to acquire a customer than retain an existing one” may not be accurate in every case, it’s universally accepted that it’s more cost-effective to retain a customer than to bring in new ones.

As mentioned, multichannel engagement increases customer retention.

With the shortage of skilled labor in the industry, automating communication across channels allows you to increase engagement while reducing operating costs.

To Sum It Up

Automated multichannel marketing is a must-have for any organization looking to grow in a competitive market. When you combine channels such as social media, email, and SMS into one cohesive marketing campaign, you can reach the right customer with the right message at the right time on their preferred channel.

Done right, automated multichannel engagement brings many benefits, including increased acquisition ROI, increased customer lifetime value, and lower campaign setup and management costs.