And for a brief moment, it seemed as if the industry would avoid becoming trapped in a single channel again. So, why do some companies still succumb to tunnel vision when discussing their methods of data sourcing and contact methodology? After all, a consumer is a consumer regardless of how their personal details have been acquired.
The most important factors in direct marketing are always the relevance of your message and the accuracy of your targeting, regardless of how the prospect's information was originally sourced.
To take an example, many extol the virtues of internet collection above all other channels, partly due to the wholly misguided assumption that the internet has supplanted all other forms of media, and hence consumers will only respond to this one, catch-all channel.
Our world is a web of multimedia, yet many marketers seem to see the internet as the only web.
Indeed, it is a fallacy to assert that consumers are more willing to respond to web-based offers merely because of the fact that your database states that you initially contacted them over the internet, rather than via the doormat or telephone.
For example, if a communication that is of interest to an internet-generated prospect is sent through the post, it may well be no less effective in eliciting a response than one sent via the internet.
And, depending on the offer, the message, the creative and headline, it may well be more effective (for example, it may include a free sample, a feat that electronic transmission can not yet match). In general, the channel of communication and response matters less as long as you are offering what the consumer wants.
This is not to say that if a brand holds customer data on the preferred channel of response, it should trying using other channels.
Yet, when recruiting prospects it is absolutely essential that a business tests contact via multiple routes in order to optimise response regardless of the initial channel of name generation.
In this time of over-zealous spam filters and spiralling preference service registrations, testing multi-channel communications is the most effective way of catching as many prospects in their preferred channel. Surely we have learned our lesson from pounding the telephone lines until they were dry?
I would recommend that businesses use their existing data intelligently. Data analysis and modelling can now provide an unprecedented level of customer intelligence to help us to break down subjective profile barriers, and instead gain a better understanding of what type of prospects respond to what type of channel.
This prevents us from having to rely on the original source of data. This is far more preferable to limiting yourself to one channel, which may not always provide the cut-through required in the multiplicity of today's world.
Despite most marketers having a tendency to favour one channel over another, consumers are still willing to listen on all frequencies. The onus is on us to tune the dial.
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