Recommended Steps

Whether your action is made of one or several campaigns, whether you use several communication channels in parallel or at different times, it is necessary to have a clear idea of who will receive what and when.

1. Define the contacts you want to reach

2. Define the communication channels used for each identified group of contacts

3. Determine the send time for each channel

1. Who? Define the contacts you want to reach

   Explain in a single sentence the contact group(s) you want to reach.
   Next, describe the characteristic(s) of these contacts (common/distinguishing criteria) independently of the communication channels used.

   Do not forget exclusions (customers who made a purchase on the previous day, customers who received another mail communication the previous day...).

   Example : I would like to reach French customers of 8 stores in France, who are members of my loyalty program.

   Criteria common to my contacts
   Contact status	Customer
   Nationality	French
   Country of the stores to which the contacts are linked	France
   Stores linked to the contacts	List of the 8 stores
   Loyalty program status	Member

2. How? Define the communication channels used for each identified group of contacts

   Determine the channel(s) that you want to use for your campaign.

   This choice will probably be influenced by the data available in your database (e-mail, mobile phone number, postal address), how precise they are, as well as the marketing consent to use a specific channel (opt-in/subscription).

   Example : My campaign will reach my target through 2 communication channel: E-MAIL and SMS.

   Components of the action	Channel used
   Contacts with only an e-mail address	E-mail
   Contacts with only a mobile phone number	SMS
   Contacts with both an e-mail address and a mobile phone number	SMS

   Conclusion :

   • You obtain 3 sub-populations.

   • New selection criteria highlighted through the choice of a communication channel: Opt-in e-mail / Opt-in SMS / E-mail address known / Mobile number known.

   These new criteria are distinguishing ones.

   Criteria common to my contacts
   Status of the contacts	Customer
   Nationality	French
   Country of the stores to which the contacts are linked	France
   Loyalty program status	Member
   Distinguishing Criteria
   Opt-in	E-mail / SMS / Both
   Contact data known ?	E-mail / SMS / Both

   A Venn diagram can easily represent these logical links.

   

   Example :

   A = customers with a known e-mail address
   B = customers with a known mobile number
   C = customers with both an e-mail address AND a mobile number

3. When? Determine the send time for each channel

   Plan the ideal contact time.

   Example: The communication is planned on two distinct days depending on the communication channel, in order to choose an optimal opening/reading time.

   The campaign schedule will most probably impact your targeting criteria:

   CASE 1

   Components of the action	Channel used	Contact time
   Contacts with an e-mail address but no mobile number	E-mail	June 19th 2017 at 6pm
   Contacts with a mobile number but no e-mail address	SMS	June 20th 2017 at 9am
   Contacts with both a mobile number and an e-mail address	SMS	June 20th 2017 at 9am

   As a result, your targeting will take the following elements into account:
   E-mail targeting: E-mail address is known + Mobile number is unknown
   SMS targeting: Mobile number is known

   CASE 2

   Components of the action	Channel used	Contact time
   Contacts with an e-mail address but no mobile number	E-mail	June 19th 2017 at 6pm
   Contacts with both a mobile number and an e-mail address	E-mail	June 19th 2017 at 6pm
   Contacts with a mobile number but no e-mail address	SMS	June 20th 2017 at 9am

   As a result, your targeting will take the following elements into account:
   E-mail targeting: E-mail address is known
   SMS targeting: Mobile number is known + E-mail address in unknown