Why Your Channel Strategy Matters

In this competitive digital landscape, customer engagement and experience is more important than ever. When companies try to reach customers at various touchpoints, they should be doing so in a way that is methodical, effective, and will leave a positive and lasting impression about their brand. It is reported that 31.5% of organizations don’t have any defined channel management strategy, and only 11% have a full omnichannel strategy.

Before your business decides to try and break into new channels you should ask:

• How does this channel align with our brand? 
• How does it support our strategic goals, and how will we measure success?

You should be thinking like your target demographic, and how different channels fit within the customer journey. Consider which consumer segments are using a given channel, and how subsequent content will fill a gap or meet demand. Companies should weigh their internal abilities to create valuable and enjoyable experiences in those channels, rather than simply existing in them.

Choosing the Right Channels

Businesses should refine their approach to channel marketing and focus on the most relevant, sensible platforms. While it might be tempting to throw your hat in the race for a viral TikTok moment, consider if this is really the best place to invest time and effort. Think about your target audience and omnichannel approach to the customer journey, and then choose only the channels that support your customer experience (CX) strategy. 

Customer Experience Across Channels

Your CX strategy across channels should be designed in a customer-centric way while still working towards the strategic objectives set by your organization within your plan. We know that improved customer experience is always positive, but to turn this into action you have to outline KPI’s for your digital strategy, define ways to accurately measure CX across each platform with cross-channel data, determine whether you are capturing Voice of the Customer (VoC), and how you can calculate cost vs ROI of additional platforms. NTT Ltd. reported in 2020 that while CX is the most important driver for digital strategies, “only a quarter of organizations claim a good (20.8%) or complete (3.7%) consistency of CX across contact channels”. 

Determine if you have been successful in demonstrating a link between the improvement of CX and your bottom line in a way that can sustain your innovation efforts in the case that new channels are the right decision for your business.