Make It Your MISSION

Multichannel integration — the combining of multiple selling channels and multiple marketing media — is on everyone’s minds these days. And if it isn’t, it should be.

Research and statistics prove multichannel integration can drive revenue and increase profits, and lead to greater customer value and loyalty. A Shop.org survey conducted by J.C. Williams Group and BizRate.com showed that store shoppers who bought online from the same retailer spent an average of $600 more annually in-store from that retailer than other shoppers. The survey also found that multichannel shoppers buy four times more frequently online than the average online shopper, buy from a retailer’s store 70% more often than the average store patron and shop from a retailer’s catalog 110% more frequently than the typical catalog buyer.

But knowing that integrating multiple channels and media makes sense and actually doing it are two different things.

Integration requires teamwork and coordination across the entire organization, often between departments that seldom talk to each other. This is especially true of companies that have separate divisions for each channel and where sales, service and marketing are managed within each division, or where sales, service and marketing are three distinct departments that work independently from one another. Additionally, buy-in and support from senior management is critical to ensure people work together and the right resources are mobilized to support these efforts.

The most effective way to implement a successful (that is, profitable) multichannel integration effort is to manage it the way you would any other significant and complex effort — launch it as a real project, with a mission, a cross-functional team and a set of specific objectives and activities. Your plan should incorporate a phased approach, with each phase having specific timelines and objectives. This allows you to implement some quick ideas early on, while providing the team time to plan a longer-term approach for other aspects of the integration.

The most important activity in phase one is establishing your team. Your team should consist of people from each distribution channel and all areas within marketing, as well as representatives from the sales and service teams. You want a mix of visionary individuals (to push the team forward with new ideas, out of the box thinking, and relevant input on what competitors are doing) along with the hands-on, detail-oriented individuals who know how to make things happen. Once your team is established, work to set a mission and objectives for your multichannel integration efforts. Sample objectives might include “provide a consistent customer experience across all interaction points” and “increase overall revenue 3% based on multichannel activities.” In your mission it needs to be clear that it is the customer and the company that will be successful as a result of the team’s work, not any specific department.

Now the real work begins. Your team’s assignment for the rest this phase is to create a multiyear project plan and related budget for the integration effort. Developing the plan should involve brainstorming about what can be accomplished, what are the priorities, how quickly activities can be accomplished and what resources will be needed. Phase I is complete when the team has reached agreement on a project plan that includes prioritized activities for each phase, related budgets, a timeline and assigned responsibilities. Assigning responsibilities is a key item as most of the activities that need to be accomplished are above and beyond everyone’s daily job. Make sure there is complete buy-in on completing the assigned activities within the established timeline and budget. As you begin to outline phases within the project plan, consider the following ideas and best practices.

Develop a consistent brand strategy and conduct a channel and media audit to ensure compliance. For example, if your store is well known for its customer service, your online store and catalog order/service center should be just as focused on service. If your company differentiates itself on price, then competitive pricing should be positioned in all channels. If your company is focused on quality, don’t sell less than first-rate merchandise over the Internet.

One of the major goals of integration is to ensure consistency for your customers. Channels and media should reinforce the brand, not distract from it. The best way to do this is to have a brand steward that educates the team on the brand strategy and how it can best be conveyed in the various channels.

A critical component of multichannel integration is the development of a customer contact strategy. This sets the foundation for all customer contacts and includes all contacts, regardless of the channel. One example is if the company has decided to recognize all frequent purchasers in a particular manner, make sure all channels support this objective.

If your company is still new to e-commerce, investigate opportunities for the Web to enhance and support your existing channels rather than trying to develop something totally new. For example, offer product and store location information online even if you can’t sell your products online.

Merchandise layout and photos should be similar across channels, although you may need to adjust for the uniqueness of each medium. You can utilize the same photography as a way to manage expenses, but if you have the opportunity, you’ll want to take advantage of different visual techniques for each channel. For example, your Web site can offer more information with your products displayed in motion or in 3-D.

You should also:

• Print your Web address on all store and catalog materials, store receipts and shopping bags.

• Likewise, print the nearest store location on all direct mail and catalogs, and reference store sales and amenities in e-mails and catalogs.

• Display catalog and Web information visibly in your store.

• Encourage customers to provide their name, address and e-mail address by providing incentives such as special offers, discounts or invitations to private events.

• Provide incentives and develop contests for the store associates and telephone representatives to encourage quality name and address capture. Sometimes all it takes is publishing a list of each location along with the percentage of quality data captured.

• Audit name, address and email address data to ensure valid data is being input.

• Understand customers by channel. While your customer base might be similar, you need to know that differences in needs and purchasing behaviors do exist. For example, a suburban female may be your best customer at your garden store while your best online customer might be a 25-year-old male buying Mother’s Day gardening gifts. And keep in mind that in general, online customers expect more information and want a quick shopping experience, retail customers want to be able to talk to knowledgeable sales people, and catalogue shoppers expect round-the-clock access to shopping and customer service representatives.

• Understand your competitors by channel. For example, your brick-and-mortar competitor might be a major department store, but your competitor online might be a discounter/wholesaler.

Multichannel integration requires significant infrastructure changes to be successful. Aspects to consider in your project plan include:

• Development of an integrated, centralized database to bring all marketing and channel information into one source.

• Modification of existing reporting and analysis capabilities to encompass all channels and media.

• Training of sales and service staff so they are able to provide information on, and potentially sell via, all channels.

• Design of more sophisticated testing programs to determine what works most effectively in each channel and across channels.

• Development of additional sales and marketing expertise. For example, your marketing team needs to be schooled in all marketing media and channels, not just those with which they are most comfortable.

The last phase of your efforts is to ensure that multichannel integration becomes “business as usual.” It is not a project that ends, but a process that continues and becomes an integral part of the way your company does business. While it might initially seem daunting, by following a phased approach you’ll see results early on while at the same time be able to start to tackling those longer-term activities.

Jennifer Rigley is director of customer strategy integration for Fair, Isaac and Co. Inc., Oakbrook Terrace, IL.