Commentary

Harmonizing B2C: How The Channels Work Together

It used to be a given that marketers focused on customer acquisition when the economy was doing well.

But different forces are at play this year, judging by the State of Cross-Channel Marketing 2024, a study by Moengage. 

The top three objectives for B2C brands this year are:

  • Finding new customers — 57% 
  • Increasing customer engagement or loyalty — 44.9%
  • Retaining current customers — 40.8%

But the reason is not the economy — rather, it is that “most marketers aren’t able to retain their existing customers properly due to ineffective personalization caused by issues such as data silos, lack of real-time analytics, and improper tooling and methods,” the study says.  

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Specifically, B2C brands face these challenges: 

  • Budget/resource constraints — 45.4% 
  • Delivering personalized experiences — 39.5% 
  • Clarity around channel effectiveness — 36.5%
  • Executing cross-channel communication — 33.4%
  • Data silos — 30.9% 
  • Real-time analytics — 27.2%
  • Mapping to the customer journey — 26.6% 
  • Unactionable data — 23.6% 

Meanwhile, the most widely used B2C channels are: 

  • Email — 89.6% 
  • Social media — 80.3% 
  • Desktop website — 67.1%
  • Mobile website — 65%
  • Mobile app — 49%
  • SMS — 44.6% 
  • Direct mail — 34.8% 
  • Mobile push — 33.4% 
  • Desktop App — 24.9% 
  • WhatsApp — 13.5% 
  • Desktop push — 13.4%

The numbers are slightly different when it comes to effectiveness: 

  • Email — 75.6% 
  • Social media — 56.7%
  • Website — 41.1% 
  • Mobile push — 25.4%
  • SMS — 23.3% 
  • In-app messaging — 18.7%
  • Offline — 12.8% 
  • WhatsApp — 9.1% 

How are B2C marketers using personalization? 

  • Using age, gender, location, etc., for personalization — 42.7% 
  • Customizing communications for different customer journey states — 40.2%
  • Personalizing based on previous purchases — 37.8% 
  • Tailoring messages based on customer real-time actions  —35.4%
  • Utilizing AI for product/content suggestions — 24.4%
  • Not currently personalizing — 10.1% 

AI is also taking hold as B2C firms use it for cross-channel marketing:

  • Generating and selecting content — 33.2%
  • Subject lines and targeting — 32.3%
  • Chatbots for customer interaction — 28.4%
  • Message customization — 24.4%
  • Predicting consumer behaviors — 23.2% 
  • Not using AI — 22.8% 
  • Pinpointing the optimal message — 19.2% 

Moengage surveyed 730 B2C marketers in December 2023. 

 

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