CMO Council: Critical Channels of Choice

This research report published by the CMO Council explores how to meet customer expectations in omnichannel relationships.

Research can be funny. It can point to big trends and changes, making a single point feel disruptive and potentially cataclysmic.

A study reported in numerous retail trade publications noted that some 70 percent of Millennials purchased a product via social media. Everyone start your engines… social is the Millennial channel of choice. Or is it? According to Pew Research, 44 percent of Facebook users under 30 have deleted their accounts and apps. So which is it? Are they social… or not? In the same way that it is increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to define success through a lens of single-point-of-attribution in media mix management, it is equally, if not more difficult, to pin down a single channel of choice for consumers. Or is it?

The CMO Council (www.cmocouncil.org), in partnership with Precisely, set out to answer some of these key questions by asking the people at the center of this debate: Consumers around the world. We started with some definitions:

• We wanted to talk to consumers about communicating with brands
• For the purpose of the survey, “communications” could be any form of communication you want, expect or need between you and the companies you do business with
• We explained that communications could include an email about a coupon for a big weekend sale… or walking into a bank branch to discuss a mortgage statement they just received in the mail
• BUT, we were also clear… we were NOT talking about advertising… we would leave that for another day

What follows is our analysis of the feedback from over 2,000 English-speaking consumers around the world, collected via an online survey conducted through the Pollfish research panel. We asked specific questions around critical, must-have channels of choice for engagement, exploration and service or support. We asked about data, and how much they felt comfortable sharing. And we asked about consequences should brands fall short of their engagement promises.

Regardless of age, gender or regional location, one universal truth quickly came into view: Omnichannel IS the critical channel of choice.

Read the CMO Council’s comprehensive research report for more information on how to meet customer expectations in omnichannel relationships.