The Rise of the Platform Marketer: Performance Marketing with Google, Facebook, and Twitter, Plus the Latest High-Growth Digital Advertising Platforms

Chapter 8Channel Optimization

Special Contributor: Zimm Zimmermann

Definition

What Is “Channel”?

Think of channel as the means by which a customer comes to you (as opposed to outbound interactions, delivered through media). Channel provides the means by which customers are able to make an active decision to visit your company, whether physically or virtually. They visit your website. They call your service center. They leverage an app. They even visit your brick-and-mortar location. Merkle views a channel as an avenue by which customers are able to actively elect, engage, and manage their visits and interactions between themselves and a company.

Channel aligns to any and all interactions that might occur while a customer is at your company (e.g., on your website). From sales to customer service, product to reviews, channels provide all of the necessary resources to complete whatever experience or interaction the consumer needs (see Figure 8.1). Channel optimization, therefore, is the process by which a company leverages data to manage and improve the channel to enhance customer experiences, increase interactions, and drive an increase in incremental conversions. Channel optimization focuses on incremental improvements to the consumer's experience, in order to drive high-value engagements between the brand and the consumer.

Figure 8.1 Channel Types

Channel optimization is ...