The Travel Industry is most capable at multi-channel communication with customers according to a new research by CDMS. The research, conducted by MarketingUK, canvassed the opinion of marketers from UK top 1000 companies regarding the industry’s ability to combine different marketing media to achieve significantly higher response rates.

The industries rated for channel effectiveness were: travel, mobile telecoms, retail banking, insurance, retail, credit card, automotive, ISP, mail order, building societies, leisure, utilities, hotels, Restaurants and pubs, Government (local & central) and the NHS.

Key Findings:

• The Travel industry came top of the table.  The research found the sector to be the most able at multi-channel marketing, with around 67% of respondents rating them as very effective.
• Financial services providers present a singular split with Building Societies barely rated as effective by 46% of interviewees, whilst  the Bank and Insurance sectors scoring significantly higher around the 60% mark.  Accountable for the multi-channel proficiency of the banking industry are certainly intensive investment in CRM and loyalty schemes and a firm understanding of on-line service provision.
• At the very bottom of the pile we find Government and NHS (both voted by 32% of respondents) perhaps indicating that e-Government targets in terms of encouraging take up of services are yet to be achieved.

Effective integration of marketing communications through different channels is now becoming a vital part of good Customer Relationship Management (CRM).  Ensuring tour operators understand their customer’s preferences in terms of how they are communicated with, and delivering on that, is a core part of CRM.

Which of the following sectors do you rate as effective or very effective at combining different marketing media/channels to achieve significantly higher response rates?

Richard Higginbotham, Head of Marketing at CDMS, comments: “Top rated in this peer-group survey into multi-channel effectiveness rating was the Travel industry, with around 65% of respondents rating them effective or very effective. Fierce competition, heavy use of web-commerce and high churn rates are all likely factors to have inspired this level of attention and success with multi-channel marketing. Consumers can now effortlessly compare package holiday, airline, hotel and car rental offers at the click of a mouse and have grown accustomed to finding the information they require through the medium they prefer. Failure to provide effective communication through the channel of the individual’s choice would fatal to any travel provider.

“The travel industry with its vast array of offers and customers is a paradigm for lower rating high volume offer industries such as Mail Order, Leisure and Restaurants and Pubs. While these sectors present some remarkable success stories, very few marketers would rate them as spot on for implementation of multi-channel communications.

“While the Travel, Mobile phone, Banking and Insurance sectors top the table for combining media channels to improve response rates, not one of the industries surveyed scored over 70.

Anecdotal evidence hints to the lack of expertise and technological investment needed to carry out ongoing data capture, insight and delivery of communication as a potential hindrance to ongoing and true multi-channel messaging.”