Statements like this one are becoming increasingly common, with multichannel, multi-touch approaches today considered best practice. But is that actually true?
In the case of an outbound strategy at least, it is hard to argue against the resounding evidence.
• Businesses that adopt omnichannel strategies achieve 91% greater year-over-year customer retention rates
compared to business that don’t
• Consumers use an average of almost six touch points with nearly 50% regularly using more than four
• Companies with extremely strong omnichannel customer engagement retain on average 89% of their customers,
compared to 33% for companies with weak omnichannel customer engagement
So, what does omnichannel actually look like? And how can the opportunities that it brings be maximised when it comes to outbound sales and marketing?
Omnichannel strategies are all about leveraging multiple channels to convey the right messages to prospects in the right place at the right time. In doing so, leads can be nurtured more effectively, and sales will be maximised.
The first of these is email.
Multi-touch email campaigns are one of the most powerful tools for any outbound strategy. If executed well, they can provide numerous benefits:
• They increase campaign ROI
• They act as a reminder to prospects
• They give the customer a choice about when to respond
• They build trust, make buyers familiar with your brand, and showcase your value proposition
• They make it straightforward to track campaign success
However, email campaigns can be time consuming. Therefore, there are multiple questions that need to be evaluated before taking the plunge and successfully reaping these rewards.
Consider email frequency – how often should emails be sent? Consider when to send them – is there an optimum day or time? What are you trying to achieve – does your call to action reflect this?
For email, proper planning, timing, execution and measurement is everything.
Video messaging
While the use of email is undoubtedly effective, it is important to ensure the content of emails you are sending varies enough to meet the different preferences of different prospects.
Traditionally emails were entirely text centric. Today, however, it is possible to center them around more visually engaging content such as videos that will help you to stand out in busy customer inboxes.
There are multiple benefits to including videos in emails:
• Video improves clickthrough rates by 200-300%
• It improves meetings booked by 500%
• They give your brand an air of authenticity and create trust
• They’re highly shareable on social media
• They save time
• They are less likely to end up in spam or trash folders
Videos are a unique, highly engaging way in which conversations can be started and continued with customers and prospects. Just remember to follow up with a phone call in order to deliver an even more personal experience and nurture leads effectively.
Phone
Knowing what to say during those phone calls, however, is just as important as knowing your email strategy back to front. Phone calls open up direct channels of communication with prospects – they are the most human, and often most influential part of the buyer’s journey.
Getting phone calls right is, therefore, vital. Ask yourself these questions in order to excel in outbound calling:
• Are your goals well defined?
• What is the objective of the campaign?
• Who is the target audience?
• What are the key performance indicators?
• Have call lists been drawn up?
• Are your agents sufficiently trained?
LinkedIn is a fourth part of any outbound strategy that should not be ignored. The numbers speak for themselves:
• It has 660 million members in 200 countries
• More than 30 million companies are on LinkedIn
• According to HubSpot, the platform is 277% more effective at generating leads than Facebook and Twitter
• 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn (vs 13% on Twitter and 7% on Facebook)
Vast amounts of company data can be found on the platform – industries, company sizes, locations, key contacts. For this reason alone, it can be an incredibly valuable resource for both sourcing and targeting leads.
Making it a central pillar of your outbound strategy alongside email, video messaging and phone calls will ensure you have a multichannel machine that delivers on all fronts.
