Right Touching is:

A Multi-channel Communications Strategy

Customised for Individual Prospects and Customers

Across a defined customer lifecycle

Which…

Delivers the Right Value Proposition

Accompanied by the Right Message

With the Right Tone

At the Right Time

With the Right Frequency and Interval

Using the Right Media / Communications channels

To achieve…

Right balance of value between both parties

Right touching checklist

To what extent are you incorporating right-touching into your e-marketing? Use this checklist from customer acquisition to retention:

·        1. Search marketing: when a prospect uses Google to search on a company brand name plus a specific category or product, a paid search ad should explain the value of the proposition and direct them to the right product page.

·        2. Behavioural targeting or online advertising: when a prospect interacts with content on a media site or searches on a specific term, a sequence of follow-up ads known as behavioural retargeting should be displayed as they visit other sites within a network and the destination site of the merchant paying for the advertising.

·        3. Multi-touches across different digital media channels for acquisition. Using tracking through web analytics to understand the sequence and combination of different digital media channels (search, affiliate, ads, aggregator sites) which generate the most cost-effective response.

·        4. Email welcome strategy: when a prospect subscribes to an email newsletter or enquires about a service, a welcome communications strategy should be in place which uses a sequence of email and possibly personalised web recommendations, direct mail and phone communications to educate the customer about the brand or product and generate the initial sale.

·        5. Reducing online attrition: when a shopper abandons their shopping basket, a combination of communications should seek to win them back. Alternatively, after a quotation, for example for a car policy, follow-up emails should remind customers about the benefits of taking out the policy.

·        6. Delivering relevant recommendations. When an existing customer returns to a site, a personalised container should be available on every page to deliver relevant personalised. Panels within email can do the same.

·        7. Following up on customer product or promotion interest. When a customer clicks on a link in an email or interacts repeatedly with content on a site is there an automated workflow triggering and email, direct mail or phone reminder about the process.

·        8. Getting the frequency right. Effective Right Touching requires that messages stay relevant and don’t become intrusive because the volume is too high. So you should put limits on the maximum number of emails that are sent in a period (e.g. one a month or one a week) and the interval between them (e.g. an interval of at least 3 days).

·        9. Getting the channel right. Right channelling means using the best channel(s) for the customer, which fits their preferences and the right channel for the company, which gives them the best combination of cost and response. It means that for some customers you may be able to upweight email communications because they interact and respond to them, so reducing costs of direct mail. But other customers on an email list may not be respond to or dislike email and so direct mail is upweighted to them.

·        10. Getting the offer right. Offers will vary in effectiveness according to the audience targeted and this will be indicated by their profiles and customer journeys indicated by the media and content they have consumed. So right-touching requires that testing is built-in to deliver the right messages and right sequences of communications for different audiences.