Email marketing in a cross-channel context: from channel to touch point

One of the big "hot topics" in digital marketing today is the so called cross channel marketing. As we said in another postThe eCross-Channel describes the experience of a customer who has combined different channels in the same purchase process. In this context, there are two key notions to bear in mind when approaching a Cross Channel strategy. The first is that of Customer Centric or Single Customer View. This is something that the forerunners of Relationship Marketing have been advocating for the last decades, and it is nothing other than the putting the customer at the centre of business strategy. The novelty lies in the fact that the digitisation of interactions between the user and the brand makes it possible to "identify" him or her across the different "touch points" (web, email, apps, social networks), "trace the interactions" and interact with him or her in real time..

This reality entails the need tot is essential to rethink the nature of email marketing. From our point of view, email must be understood, not only as a "channel" but also as a "contact point".The aim is to expand its role in marketing as a whole. Traditionally, email has been understood as a communication channel through which the brand delivers content to the user. If the focus is on the channel, campaigns are conceptualised according to the channel, not the user (little or no segmentation, little personalisation, lack of an overall vision of the different channels, etc.). Cross Channel Marketing allows us to complement this "channel centric" approach with truly "cross-channel" actions.customer centric". Now then, and here we introduce the second notion we wanted to talk about, a customer-centred vision requires identifying and coordinating  "all touch points" of the customer with the brand. It is about seeing where, when and in what contexts the user interacts with the brand, i.e. clarifying the "all touchpoints" of the customer with the brand.customer journey". This requires recourse to the "journey mapping"(the second notion we are going to talk about).

Journey mapping is the depiction, usually in diagrams, of a user's paths and touch points from the moment they start interacting with the brand until they make a purchase.. To carry out a map of this type we can start by designing a simple matrix in which on one side shows the size of the touchpoints, and on the other the different key moments throughout the purchasing process. Although each industry and type of business has to identify its relevant touchpoints, it is common nowadays to contemplate the following: website, physical shop, blog, Email, Twitter, Facebook, Call Centre, Mobile app. In terms of the key moments of the buying process, the classics are: awarenessThe concept of the product, search, evaluation, decision, purchase, evaluation of the experience/product. To illustrate this here we have resorted to the notions of ZMOT, Firs Moment of the Truth and Second Moment of the Truth. What is important is that in each particular case the most relevant touch points and "stages" along the customer lifecycle are defined. Keep in mind that such a map can reach very high levels of complexity.

The essential aspects to start with a customer journey mapping are:

• Classification of the different "Personas": lead, prospect, customer, recurring customer, direct visitor, indirect visitor...
• Time frame of the processes: hours, days, weeks.
• Types of interaction: what the user does in each of them (subscribes, visits a page, opens an email, buys...).
• The channels where interactions take place (web, landing page, app, email, rrss...).
• Define the actions, in chronological order, carried out by the user in the timeframe.
• Objectives we want to achieve at each of the contact points.
• Moments of truth.

How do you understand your email marketing strategy, do you focus only on the channel or do you approach it from a cross channel strategy that takes into account the customer journey?