Multi-Channel Engagement: An Ultimate Guide [With Examples]

Have you ever felt loyal to a particular brand? 

Possibly Starbucks coffee or Nike footwear! I personally have a soft spot for Nike when it comes to sportswear. Well, I can't shake that because it is an acquired taste and also because no other brand really comes to my mind. It is not like I do not know about any other brands; I do, but they are just not the first ones to click. If you think of it, then you must have brand preferences yourself. Be it a preferred online shopping platform or maybe even a jewelry brand. Don't you think it is a little weird that when I said 'online shopping platform,' all of a sudden, Amazon came to your mind? Or when I said a 'jewelry' brand, then Cartier or Tiffany & Co clicked, or any other brand you prefer per say? 

Well, that is what exceptional sales engagement model can do to you. The above-mentioned brands have put so much effort into sales engagement and keeping their prospects interested that they ended up embedding themselves into our subconscious. Hats Off because it is not an easy task! Favoritism can be determined only after you have tried and tested something, but the first thought that clicks after hearing a trigger word is because of the impeccable sales engagement activities done by brands. 

So how can you have that effect on your business, your prospects, and your customers? As a customer myself, I can answer that very well- multi-channel sales engagement. 

What is multi-channel sales engagement?

Have you ever felt like you are reading or seeing too much of a particular brand? You open your email, and you see mail popping up from that particular brand. You open your WhatsApp, and boom, there is a highly personalized text from the very same brand along with eye-catching visuals. Then you open your SMS, and voila, there is that brand again with a discount coupon. I am pretty certain you have been there, and it might have gone unnoticed. This is multi-channel sales engagement, one of the oldest tricks in the sales psychology techniques book. 

HealthKart is a brand that delivers fitness and health supplements at your doorstep. I am a regular user of HealthKart because they keep me engaged by sending offers and discounts, sending a reminder that my supplements are over, and asking me to indulge in upcoming contests. They reach out to me through email, SMS, and WhatsApp- Classic example of multi-channel sales engagement.

Earlier, you would get bugged by the salesperson on your doorstep or maybe through a phone call; today, a similar practice is more subtle but much more effective. We do not even realize it, and the brands get embedded into our subconscious. The good news is that any and every business can utilize it, so you can start now! 

Why multi-channel sales engagement?

Do you remember building a connection with someone just through one conversation? Did one single interaction ever make you trust anyone? Most of you will answer negatively, which is not surprising [ to be honest, it would be concerning for me if your answer was yes 🙃]. If we see most of the connections, we establish throughout our lifetime from multiple interactions. The same goes for customer relationships. Interacting once might make an impression on them, but you will be able to do relationship selling by building the relationship first through multiple interactions. 

So evidently, multi-channel engagement is now a necessity. Listing a few more reasons which will help you understand the importance of multi-channel engagement for your business. 

Higher probability of getting a response

By using different channels, you are increasing your chance of getting responses from customers. For example, suppose you sent a message to your potential lead via LinkedIn, and the lead is not a frequent LinkedIn user, so it reduces the chances of conversion.

But the same person may be active on any other social media platform. So when you use multiple channels, you will probably get a response through any of these channels, overall increasing your sales conversion rate as you can nurture leads better to close more deals. 

Target huge audience

A few of your target customers use Instagram, while others use Twitter as their primary social media channel. Now, if you use a single media platform, say Twitter, to engage with your customer, then you will lose a major chunk of your audience on Instagram. 

So, to cover a large audience, you need to use multiple channels of sales engagement.

Builds stronger customer relationships

When you reach out to your prospects and have multiple interactions, you build a bond with them over time. That bond also results in them trusting you and your brand. Eventually, making your conversions and customer retention easier. It all starts with a good relationship! 🫱🏽‍🫲🏼

What are the best channels for multi-channel engagement? 

Hear me out! All the channels are best if used together; if not, then none of them would give the desired results individually. Listing all the channels for multi-channel sales engagement with real-life examples from brands. 

Email

Everyone is on their screens these days. So any and every channel is good to go for sales engagement. However, email still happens to be one of the most preferred channels by salespeople, probably because of their ability to capture customer attention. The open rate of emails is 19.7% across all industries. So if you are sending out an email to 100 people, then approximately 20 would open it, and two might even act on it.

Email is a well-liked and efficient sales engagement channel. Salespeople can communicate with a big audience and give thorough information about goods or services. Email campaigns can incorporate multimedia content like photographs and videos and personalized and segmented content to make them more relevant to the recipient. Furthermore, conversations carried out through emails are also easier to keep track of. 

What is even more fascinating is that you can automate your email campaigns for sales engagement, get your content written by AI Wizard, and schedule them. No manual tasks at all!

Phone calls

The traditional sales engagement questions on phone calls are still widely used today. Salespeople are able to handle queries and concerns at the moment because they enable direct, personalized engagement with prospective consumers. Additionally, phone calls can be recorded and used for teaching and training.

This reminded me of today; I received a phone call from the dry cleaning services to get my sofa cleaned. I instantly became their customer since I was in dire need of getting my sofa set cleaned. You never know. At times, all it takes is a quick phone call. Why not reach your prospect before they come to find you? Make their lives easier. 

Social media

Social media is the solution to all the problems these days. You can shop through social media, you can connect with brands through social media, can find new brands through social media, and can even find a therapist through social media. So it is high time that you start leveraging social media for sales engagement. 

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are social media sites increasingly used for sales involvement. They allow you to communicate with potential clients and consumers, share material, and develop bonds. In addition, social media is a potent medium for sales engagement since it can be utilized to share multimedia content like videos, photos, and infographics. WhatsApp marketing is a great example for this. 

Reach out to your prospects in their DMs, engage with your prospects through comments, share with their content, and also curate shareable content for them.

Live chat

Live chat and chatbots are two sales engagement channels that are gaining popularity. They offer a way for prospects to swiftly and conveniently acquire answers to their inquiries without placing a hold on the phone or sending an email. In addition, personalized recommendations based on a customer's requirements and preferences can also be given through chat.

You save both your and your prospect's time.

SMS

The traditional means of connecting with each other are still effective today. SMS has been around since the time people had phones with keypads, and it took more than a minute to type a sentence, and they are not going anywhere. SMS has an open whooping rate of 95%, so there is no way you can ignore this channel of communication.

Send tempting discounts and offers to your prospects. Send one-time passwords for verification. Follow up on them from time to time through SMS campaigns. Best part? You do not even have to do it all yourself. Automate, schedule, and regulate SMS with Zixflow and keep reminding your customers and prospects about your existence around the globe.

Strategies to start driving multi-channel sales engagement

You know why multi-channel sales engagement is important; you also know the channels you need to utilize. All you are left with is how to strategize and get desired results through multi-channel sales engagement. So here I have listed all the steps from beginning to end, act on them, and you will not be disappointed. 

Know and research your audience.

You must have received calls from credit or debit card companies or insurance companies from time to time. So how do they know you are their prospect? Research. If they find out you have a bank account, then you might as well use a debit card. They have created buyer personas, and you must fit them. Thus, you receive a call. 

So before you start with your multi-channel engagement endeavor, figure out who your target audience is. For instance, if you are a website with high-end luxury products, then someone with minimum wage is definitely not your ideal customer. Similarly, if you are a dealer of cement and bricks, then your target audience is builders and construction workers. So first, find out your target audience and build a buyer persona. Once you are done with the steps, then segment your audience on the basis of their demographic, regional, and psychographic traits. 

As a result, you will better reach and engage your target audience by adjusting your messaging and distribution methods. 

Create compelling content

Engaging customers and prospects across channels requires the creation of captivating content. Blog articles, social media updates, videos, podcasts, white papers, case studies, and other content types are all compelling content to boost your sales pipeline.

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Consider a fitness equipment retailer that wants to increase engagement across many channels. For example, they might write several blog pieces that offer exercise advice, client success stories about how they used their products, and educational articles about the newest fitness fads. They may also broadcast a podcast where fitness experts discuss their perspectives or provide brief videos showing how to use their equipment.

And if you have come so far reading this blog then it is also an example of ‘compelling’ content. 

Engaging content establishes thought leadership, provides value, and builds trust with clients. Increased engagement, brand loyalty, and, eventually, more excellent sales can result.

Leverage automation

Multi-channel sales engagement is no joke. It requires constant content creation, keeping track of your sales engagement activities, and then also focusing on converting the engaged prospects. Your sales team's life needs a little breather, and automation helps you provide it, that too without affecting the quality of the work. Rather, automation enhances the sales team's efficiency by automating redundant tasks like sending emails and SMS; just schedule it! Moreover, get auto generated insights for every single email or SMS sales engagement campaign.

Sales workflow automation will help you to maintain consistency without any scope of human error. Moreover, you can nurture your leads with automated follow-ups regularly.

How to use automation for sales engagement? 

• Utilize an email automation solution to send personalized emails to your leads based on their website usage and interests.
• Utilize social media automation technologies to interact with prospects on social media sites or send automated messages.
• Depending on how leads interact with the company's website, use text message automation solutions to follow up with them via text message. 

Choose correct channel

To create a compelling sales interaction, the best sales engagement practice is to select the appropriate channels. This will guarantee that the communication reaches the target audience via their preferred channel. Also, it helps you slowly make your mark in your customer's minds through frequent and multi-channel interactions. 

Consider yourself a B2B software provider that offers small- and medium-sized organizations CRM with project management capabilities. Your target market comprises busy project managers and business owners who constantly move and need more time for phone calls and emails. So in this scenario, your sales team can use an amalgamation of the following channels to soar sales engagement. 

Email

To create personalized emails for potential customers, including relevant information illustrating how your product can simplify project management. Or share business proposals after a sales call with the potential customer.

LinkedIn

Connect with project managers and business owners on LinkedIn and share pertinent articles and project management case studies. Your sales team members can engage with the feed of their leads to make a mark and then eventually land into their DMs. 

Phone calls

Calls can be used to follow up on emails and to arrange demos of your software's features. Use video conferencing channels to connect with your leads and give them real-time demonstrations of your tool. 

Chatbots

Use chatbots to provide 24/7 assistance and respond to frequently asked questions about your software on your website.

SMS

In case you want to instantly catch your prospect's attention, send them an SMS with a short link that leads to your website's page providing information that might be of use to your prospects [discounts, offers, new updates, etc.].

Just like the above-given example, your sales team can utilize multiple channels and increase your sales engagement manifold. You can further facilitate your sales team by providing them with the right tools to do so and watch your business grow like never before. 

Engage away! 

Anyone can master multi-channel sales engagement with commitment, effort, and a customer-centric selling approach, so how do you stand out from the crowd? Build authentic connections based on personalized interactions with your prospects. Make your prospects feel valued, and use multiple channels 

not just to enhance sales engagement but also to take care of your customers.

It is essential to remember that successful multi-channel sales engagement requires a holistic approach and ongoing effort. Continuously test, improve, and adapt for long-term success, and Zixflow assistance is always here to make these steps easier with its sales automation.