This bar chart is not multichannel.  Well, it is in that I can see a blue bar labeled as such.  But this is a very limited, narrow view of the outcome/revenue side of our business focused entirely on where transactions occur.   It’s putting the cart before the horse and the cart has a busted wheel.

What about the donor who only ever gives online but never clicks an email or ad and never writes a check but does get email, ads and mail?   They’ll be in the single channel bar if where the transaction occurs defines ‘multichannel’.

And what is the takeaway in noting someone who transacts in more than one way?  That we should bury them in stuff from multiple channels and hope they transact in multiple ways so we stack them in the blue bar?  There is no cause here, all effect.

The multichannel topic needs to start on the input/spend side of the ledger and it needs to start with a question, “Is our return better if we spend in multiple channels versus just one?”   That answer will beget other questions but let’s start here.

The answer, yes.  I care how people transact but thinking we need or want them doing it in more than one way or their preferred way is a red herring

You’ll notice the law of diminishing returns is undefeated but the evidence is clear, spending in 3-4 (maybe 5) channels improves ROI.  Next question, why?

• Information is encoded in a more complex manner when consumers are exposed to it on multiple media and this leads to higher awareness, recall and donation intent
• The use of multiple media increases the reach of a given campaign.  Reach is King. There is enormous lift in going from 0 to 1, everything after 1 produces less lift and eventually, none or negative.
• Multiple media reduces tune out and irritation.  The same message just feels different in a different format.

The final question, how to optimize it?  That’s admittedly more involved and customized but here’s some broad brush considerations.

• Drop the matching luggage approach where the messaging, design, tone, and brand identity look and feel uniform.  Instead, have a uniform strategy but tailored to the channel execution.  The latter is an ROI booster shot.
• It’s quite likely you are over/under spending on mail if you’re mailing a lot/little (more than 6-8 is a lot)
• You are likely overspending on branded search (unless you stopped doing it already.  Yay you.)
• You are very likely overspending at the end of the year and some of that spend should be shifted forward
• You are probably underspending on Meta because you’re mismeasuring the indirect lift
• Programmatic is a bot/fraud hellscape but there is good spend to be had with good return

Kevin