Almost 70 per cent of UK marketers demonstrate a significantly higher understanding of multi-channel marketing than any other country. But despite higher levels of awareness than their counterparts overseas, they are still struggling to address customers via the most effective channels.

So says email and marketing solutions provider ExactTarget, after commissioning a survey via Forrester. ExactTarget’s general manager and co-founder, Peter McCormick, said the study reveals: “UK marketers are harnessing the power of multi-channel messaging more frequently than marketers in any other country. However, much like their contemporaries in the United States, UK marketers often mistake consumers’ personal communication preferences with their marketing communication preferences.”

The full details of the research are available in a downloadable white paper, entitled ‘Strategy Meets Customer Expectations’, which explores the growing divide between marketers and consumers.

For example, while 59 per cent of marketers can measure the results of their multi-channel campaigns, nearly half as many (32%) can measure whether efforts in one channel boost results in another. Budget constraints were also discovered to pose a further threat to progress – 60 per cent of marketers report that the channels they use often compete with each other for budget resources. And, most crucially, although 35 per cent of marketers know which channels their customers prefer to use, only one third (29%) understand how their customers actually behave across multiple channels.

The email marketing divide
The research also uncovered a schism between marketers regarding email – the dominant marketing message channel. Roughly half (53%) of marketers believe that email will be as effective in two years as it is today, while some (35%) believe it will be even more effective. Yet on the other side of the fence, 12 per cent of marketers believe email will be less effective due to the sheer volume of unwanted marketing emails cluttering customer inboxes daily.

So, although marketers have some confidence in email as a communications channel, uncertainty remains regarding how email will be affected by emerging channels such as social media and mobile marketing; 21 per cent of marketers believe social media will detract from current email marketing efforts and 12 per cent of marketers believe teenagers have eschewed email entirely in favour of text messaging.

McCormick adds: “Marketers need the ability to use the customer data they have – both behavioural and preference-based – to allow them to map out a customer-centric communication strategy that is optimised for their business. This technology should take in data from multiple sources and allow marketers to visualise how different customer segments will receive communication. Currently, marketers have to work with multiple agencies and technology vendors to send out campaigns through different channels, leaving room for error.”

Familiarity breeds contempt?
There is a difference between how consumers want to communicate with friends and how they wish to communicate with businesses, says ExactTarget. Not distinguishing the two is a common mistake made by email marketers. For example women aged 18-24 are most likely to use new and emerging channels for interpersonal communications. Six-nine per cent of women in this group prefer text messaging, while 15 per cent prefer to communicate via social networks. Alternatively, only five per cent of women send email and two per cent send letters to communicate with friends and family. 

Marketers might assume that texting holds great potential for women aged 18-24. However, this data doesn’t translate when it comes to driving transactions: according to the survey, 54 per cent of this group have made a purchase as a result of direct mail, while 53 per cent have made a purchase as a result of email. Twelve per cent have made a purchase as a result of a text message and there is only a slightly higher result for social media marketing messages, at 13 per cent, supporting the theory that social media should be used as a way of engaging and listening to customers rather than marketing to them.

Multi-channel marketing recommendations
ExactTarget suggests that UK marketers would benefit by implementing three key recommendations for successful multichannel marketing:

1. Technology is a must – marketers need to take the appropriate tools to drive coordinated interaction across multiple channels.
According to the study, marketers who realise better results have access to technology that allows them to strengthen their multi-channel programmes, yet 68 per cent of marketers examined believed they need more comprehensive and integrated application suites.

2. Permission remains more important than ever.
Consumers understand th they have choices and expect marketers to deliver meaningful information, tailored to their individual needs. Consumers do not want to hear from marketers whom they have NOT invited to contact them – 29% of consumers believe unsolicited promotions are unacceptable through any channel. 

3. Successful use of multi-channel marketing is dependent on overcoming channel competition
Eighty per cent of marketers want to improve their multi-channel programmes, yet 60 per cent become stuck in isolating channel-focused budget competitions. The ExactTarget survey shows that more than half the time multi-channel initiatives are driven by individual efforts rather than collaboration across channels.