Any half-decent marketer will tell you that efficient communication is the backbone to customer relations and business success. One powerful strategy to help you get the most out of your messaging efforts is cross-channel communication. It aims to make sure the information you’re trying to pass on reaches customers across multiple mediums, adding to in-store experience, increasing awareness and engagement.
Although the scale and reach are essential, cross-channel communication isn’t about maxing them out, bombarding customers through every possible medium. It’s more important to understand each channel’s unique strengths and how to combine them for a consistent customer experience across all channels that supports lasting loyalty and improves conversion rates.
Marketing messages vs. Transactional messages
When talking about B2C messaging, it’s essential to understand the difference between marketing and transactional communication. Each type serves a distinct purpose and requires different approaches to be effective.
Marketing communication
Marketing communication has two main goals: to promote your products and services, and to elicit engagement, ideally leading to sales.
These messages are designed to attract, inform, and persuade customers to take action, which may involve making a purchase, signing up for a service, or engaging with your brand in some other way. Marketing messages are typically sent via Email newsletters, promotional SMS, or Mobile Push notifications. They often include special offers, updates on new items in stock, or personalized recommendations.
How technology is enhancing marketing communication:
Analytics and insights: With the right tools, you can dive deep into analytics and insights that reveal what your customers prefer and how they behave. Using this information, you can create marketing messages that hit the mark, making your campaigns more effective and engaging.
Multichannel coordination: Advanced CRM systems and marketing automation platforms can help you keep all your messaging channels – Email, SMS, and Mobile Push alerts – working together seamlessly. This way, your customers get consistent and timely messages, leading to a better overall experience with your brand.
Transactional communication
On the other hand, transactional communication is more to the point, focusing on essential, often time-sensitive information related to a customer’s interaction with your business.
These messages include order confirmations, shipping notifications, appointment reminders, and account alerts. Unlike marketing messages, transactional communication is expected and often necessary for the customer to complete a transaction or stay informed about their account status. It’s usually delivered through Email, SMS, and increasingly, RCS.
How technology is enhancing marketing communication:
Contextual triggers: Enhance the timing and relevance of your transactional messages by using contextual triggers based on customer interactions across different channels. For instance, you can send a follow-up SMS after someone makes a purchase online or an Email confirmation right after an appointment is booked.
Security and compliance: Making sure your transactional messages are secure is crucial. Aside from strictly adhering to data protection regulations like GDPR, cross-channel messaging platforms offer you the extra benefit of being a single data processing entity, which makes your user information contained all within one place instead of being spread across multiple external providers.
Navigating the cross-channel waters
Understanding the unique strengths and weaknesses of various communication channels is crucial for optimizing your messaging strategy. Let’s explore how you can leverage each medium to engage your audience effectively and drive better results for your business.
Email’s strengths and weaknesses
One of Email’s primary strengths is its versatility. It allows you to include rich content such as images, videos, and links, making it ideal for comprehensive campaigns across different channels. Email also offers the advantage of personalization, allowing you to tailor messages to individual recipients, significantly enhancing engagement.
There’s a number of statistics to confirm this claim, including:
Personalized subject lines lead to 25% more openings than generic ones.
Advanced personalization, including body copy and other elements of the message, can bring in a ROI of 2000%.
More than half of surveyed consumers said they enjoy receiving targeted and personalized promotions.
That said, this channel has its drawbacks. One significant challenge is ensuring Email deliverability – getting your messages into the recipients’ inboxes rather than being categorized as spam. Moreover, Email open rates can be lower compared to more immediate channels like SMS or Pushes, meaning that not all recipients will engage with your message.
Best use cases
Email is best suited for marketing communications where detailed content is required. This includes newsletters, promotional campaigns, and personalized offers. It’s also effective for transactional communication, such as order confirmations, shipping updates, and account-related notifications. Due to its ability to handle rich content, Email is ideal for messages that must include comprehensive information and be visually appealing.
💡 Despite the exact numbers depending on the industry and target audience, marketing Emails tend to show lower engagement rates than transactional Emails, the latter usually being highly personalized and containing important information that the recipient expects or requires.
Suitable industries
Email is perhaps the single most versatile channel, suitable for a wide range of industries. Ecommerce businesses benefit greatly from Email marketing due to the channel’s ability to deliver product updates, promos, and order-related details. The finance industry uses Email for account notifications and updates. Educational institutions leverage this medium to communicate with students, parents, and staff, providing detailed information about courses, events, and administrative updates.
The most extensive contacts lists businesses and other organizations usually have consist of Email addresses indeed, which, especially when combined with the fact that this is the most affordable channel, makes it extremely popular.
SMS’ strengths and weaknesses
SMS possesses a particularly impressive strength: immediacy. Text messages are typically read within minutes, making for a quick and direct line of communication with your audience.
The high open rates render them an excellent choice for time-sensitive information and urgent notifications. Moreover, texts are short and to the point, which helps ensure the recipient quickly understands the key message.
Texts generally show an unmatched open rate of 90%+ across various campaigns.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise if we consider that Americans check their phones up to 160 times a day.
Some available research also puts SMS clickthrough rate at 36% which may be even around 10x that of Email.
However, the brevity of text messages can also be a limitation. With only 160 characters per message and short links being the only gateway to other media, conveying detailed information or rich content is challenging. Additionally, some customers may perceive SMS as too intrusive, especially if messages are sent too frequently or at inconvenient times.
💡 The best business communication practices assume that texts shouldn’t be sent both early in the morning or late at night to remain efficient, so take that into consideration when planning your campaigns.
Best use cases
SMS is ideal for urgent and time-sensitive communication. This includes appointment reminders, flash sales, urgent alerts, and verification codes. It also works well for transactional messages such as delivery notifications, payment confirmations, and customer service updates.
💡 Interestingly, text messages are perfect for businesses like supermarket chains, as they allow them to efficiently reach a very large audience in a short time. When you compound this with the phone number being involved in the store’s loyalty program and thus discounts, you create a major advantage when it comes to delivering your offering in a hyper efficient way.
Suitable industries
This channel is particularly beneficial for businesses that rely on timely communication. The healthcare industry, for example, uses texting for appointment reminders and health alerts. Retail SMS deliver flash sales and promotional offers. Service industries, such as utilities and telecoms, use text messaging for service updates and customer notifications. The immediacy and high engagement rates of SMS make it a valuable channel across various sectors.
A Gartner study found that an average response time for a text message is 90 seconds. Although other data exists, these times mostly stay within single-digit minutes.
Mobile Push’s strengths and weaknesses
Mobile Push notifications offer the unique strength of direct access to the user’s device via a mobile app, ensuring high visibility, combined with appealing looks. These notifications appear on the user’s lock screen, making them hard to miss, which already boost the efficiency.
Pushes support rich media, such as images and action buttons, enhancing engagement and interactivity. Additionally, they are highly customizable, allowing for personalized content and contextually relevant messaging based on user behavior and preferences.
However, one has to acknowledge that the effectiveness of Pushes depends on the user downloading the app and their willingness to enable them in the first place. If overused, Pushes can become intrusive, leading to users disabling notifications or even uninstalling the app.
Best use cases
Mobile Pushes are best suited for real-time engagement and user retention strategies. They can be used in response to actions a user takes within the app (transactional notifications triggered by in-app purchases, shipping updates, account changes), to inform about special offers, discounts, product launches (marketing notifications), in reengagement and retention campaigns, or content updates.
Suitable industries
Industries with a strong mobile presence benefit greatly from Push notifications. The tech industry uses them to rev up app engagement and keep users on board. Media and entertainment sectors leverage Pushes to send content updates and event reminders. Retail and ecommerce businesses use them for personalized promotions and cart abandonment reminders. The ability to deliver timely and relevant messages directly in front of users’ eyes makes Mobile Pushes a powerful tool in these industries.
RCS’ strengths and weaknesses
Rich Communication Services are a modern messaging protocol that enhances traditional SMS by offering rich media capabilities. One of its chief strengths is the ability to send interactive and visually appealing messages, including images, videos, and action buttons, similar to app-based messaging but without needing an app.
This can significantly enhance user engagement and provide a richer customer experience. RCS also supports read receipts and typing indicators, adding a layer of real-time interactivity and feedback.
Despite all that, RCS adoption is still picking up pace, and its effectiveness is currently limited by carrier and device compatibility. Not all mobile devices support RCS, which can restrict the reach of your messages for now, so you may want to supplement these campaigns with other channels. Additionally, while RCS offers advanced features, these can be more complex to implement compared to traditional SMS.
RCS is best for interactive and engaging communication campaigns. This includes promotional messages with rich media content, customer service interactions where users can respond directly within the message thread, and transactional notifications that benefit from visual enhancements, such as detailed order updates with images and links. The enhanced features of RCS make it ideal for scenarios where a richer user experience and action is desired.
Suitable industries
RCS is particularly beneficial if you’re looking to generate high levels of engagement through messaging. The retail industry, for example, can use RCS for immersive promotional campaigns and detailed product showcases. Telecom companies can leverage RCS for customer service and support, offering users an innovative way to interact with their services. The hospitality industry can use RCS to provide guests with interactive booking confirmations and updates. The enhanced capabilities of RCS make it a valuable tool for industries aiming to deliver a more novel and engaging CX.
Designing a successful cross-channel messaging strategy
The channels we’ve just discussed all have their merits. Using any of them will significantly contribute to your sales efforts and building lasting customer relationships. But what if you combined them to further enhance your marketing strategy, creating a more cohesive and engaging customer experience?
This approach is called cross-channel communication. When done correctly, it leverages the unique strengths of each channel to ensure that messages are not only delivered but also make an actual impact on their audience.
Benefits of cross-channel messaging campaigns
One of the main benefits of cross-channel marketing is increased reach. Your customers differ in their preferred communication methods; some check their Email regularly, while others may be more responsive to SMS or Push notifications. By incorporating multiple channels into your broader communication strategy, you increase the likelihood of reaching your audience where they’re most responsive.
However you want to cut the pie, 72% of customers show a preference for connecting with brands via multiple channels.
On average, 3+ channels involved yield a 166% increase in engagement.
All in all, communicating in various channels allows you to adapt to changing customer preference quicker and be more responsive to market trends.
Another major advantage is improved engagement. A well-coordinated cross-channel strategy can guide people through a coherent customer journey. For instance, a customer might first receive an Email about a new product, followed by a Push alert reminding them of a limited-time offer, and finally an SMS alerting them to an exclusive discount. Such an integrated approach keeps your brand top-of-mind and encourages action at various touchpoints.
Cross-channel marketing also enhances the overall CX. Consistent messaging across different platforms builds trust and reliability. Customers appreciate receiving timely and relevant information through their preferred channels, which is instrumental in improving satisfaction and loyalty. Moreover, tracking interactions across multiple channels provides valuable insights into customer behavior, allowing for adjustments that lead to more personalized and effective communication strategies in the future.
How technology is enhancing cross-channel communication:
1. Automation and workflow management
Implement automation tools that manage the timing, audience, and content of messages across different channels. Automation ensures that customers receive the right message at the right time without manual intervention.
2. Analytics and insights
Leverage advanced analytics to understand customer behavior and preferences better. These insights can help you fine-tune your cross-channel messaging and choose the most effective mediums for each customer segment.
3. Interactive and dynamic content
Incorporate interactive and dynamic content into your messaging. For example, use RCS to create interactive messages where customers can engage directly within the message, such as scheduling appointments or viewing product catalogs.
4. Real-time adjustments
Make real-time adjustments based on customer engagement. For example, if a customer does not open an Email, an SMS follow-up can be triggered automatically via RESTful API to ensure the message is received.
5. A/B testing across channels
Conduct A/B testing across different channels to determine the most effective message formats and timings. This data-driven approach can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Get started with cross-channel messaging now
Effective communication is indispensable in building and maintaining strong customer relationships. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of various channels – Email, SMS, Mobile Push, and RCS – you can create a more engaging customer experience that also supports the realization of your business goals.
Cross-channel communication allows you to reach your audience through their preferred mediums, increasing the likelihood of engagement and desired action to be taken. Integrating these channels into a cohesive marketing strategy, accounting for a number of factors discussed earlier, will benefit customers and yield better business results for you.
Cross-channel messaging platform for Enterprise needs
MessageFlow is your trusted partner in this quest to optimized and efficient business messaging. Our comprehensive cross-channel communication platform is designed to help you make the most of each channel by using a single, user-friendly panel or via a powerful API, which helps you unlock advanced capabilities and design advanced workflows.
We’re ready to put our 20 years of experience in the messaging industry at your service, providing not only a complete, top-notch solution, but also the unique glocal expertise of our team, able to apply detailed understanding of local markets to global, cross-channel campaigns.
Contact us today if you want to transform your customer communication using our secure and reliable platform, offering personalization, targeting, real-time analytics, automated workflows via API, and multiple other features that will take your brand messaging to the next level.
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