• by Jess Nelson , December 22, 2017

Email marketing continuously proves itself to be the most cost-efficient digital marketing channel by generating the highest return on investment per dollar spent, but marketers can elicit even higher returns by including email campaigns in a cross-channel approach.

Utilizing a cross-channel marketing approach increases user engagement by more than 900% according to Braze (previously Appboy). The mobile engagement and automation company analyzed more than 300 million user profiles across Android and iOS devices to examine the impact of cross-channel campaigns on user engagement this year. 

The results suggest that marketers should pair push channels, such as email and push notifications, with pull channels, such as in-app messaging and Facebook News Feed Cards. Combining these two marketing tactics increased engagement by more than 180%, according to Braze.

Customers who received outreach in two or more channels were 166% more likely to engage with a brand than customers who only received messages in one channel, and 642% more likely to engage with a brand than customers who received no marketing messages at all.

Pairing email with a complementary channel like in-app messaging can increase engagement by 185% when compared to sending an email alone, according to Braze. Furthermore, email and mobile teams that work together to deliver messages elicit a 300% increase in engagement rates when compared to teams that operate in silos.

The effectiveness of email marketing increases with each subsequent marketing channel attached to it according to Braze. Customers that received an email marketing message were 45% more likely to engage with the brand that sent it compared to consumers who received no marketing message at all. Engagement increased 315% when customers received email messages and in-app messages, and 543% when customers received email, push notifications, and in-app messages.