Cross-Channel creates complication. Don’t let anyone fool you, it is easier to maintain one main e-commerce store, then maintain 10 additional sales channels. Yet, there’s the risk of not engaging existing customers or reaching new customers. Don’t silo yourself or you will fail. Go to where your customers are and you’re competitors aren’t. If your competitors are somewhere and your not, you better go there too. Engage with customers within the channels you have: your physical store, ecommerce store, Facebook, mobile, Amazon product store, etc. Think about where they might move next, how can you add a channel and get there before your competitors? While everyone’s distracted by Facebook’s IPO and figuring out how they will market to customers, focus on Pinterest, focus on the next thing.Uncomplicate cross-channel sales by doing the opposite of a silo. Understand each channel’s purpose, and why it is relevant for a customer, than combine them.Target sell - A large paper goods company with a diverse age range in its target market, might choose to market its Facebook e-commerce store to school age children, while for parents it might choose to market the main e-commerce store.Cross sell – Make your e-commerce store the anchor that combines to everything else. Integrate Technology -Your e-commerce store is the anchor of everything else; make it the anchor by blurring the lines between platforms and unifying features of each customer touch point. (i.e. a company blog that is integrated within your e-commerce store, an e-commerce store that allows comments to be shared with Facebook and Twitter, an e-commerce store that allows for store pickup if you have a physical locationIntegrate Messaging - Branding should not be platform specific, unify branding cross-channel and you will help simulate an integrated customer experience.
No longer do you need to switch between platforms or view data from one lens vs. anotherCustomize and view data you care about. Data views can be saved for each user, allowing different individuals at the same company to have preference on what they see first, second, and lastMany times, we look at an email campaign and determine it’s effectiveness with the percentage of open rates. Yet with cross-channel analytics, understand if anything was sold as a result of the email.
