Our tips for effective multi-channel prospecting

The more a customer sees you, the more likely they are to interact with your content. There are many different ways to prospect, and nothing prevents you from combining approaches. This is known as multi-channel prospecting. In this guide, find out how to prospect effectively across multiple communication channels.

What is a multi-channel prospecting campaign?

The development of digital tools has changed customer habits. Today,continuous innovation is required to capture their attention. Multi-channel prospecting is based on thesimultaneous use of different communication channels. Its aim is to seek out prospects, then turn them into "real" customers. 

Multi-channel prospecting campaigns are used to boost sales. They enable brands to : 

• Adapt to the specificities of the market, by prospecting from several channels. For each channel you use, you need to juggle different types of appropriate content. You need to make a constant effort to make your message interesting to your target audience;
• Increase lead acquisition. By increasing the number of touchpoints, you have a greater chance of turning prospects into real customers;
• Multiply the opportunities to turn your prospects into customers;
• Easily assess which channel works best.  

Examples of successful multi-channel prospecting campaigns 

For a prospect you've never contacted before, it's a good idea to send a neutral e-mail introducing the company. If the contact opens the e-mail, you can call him/her on the^2nd day after opening. If they haven't read it, a new campaign should be launched 15 days after the first mailing.

For a prospect who has already been approached, but has never made a purchase, you can run an email campaign as part of an online and offline strategy . Start by sending a promotional e-mail. Next, arrange for a sales representative to visit the prospect. Finally, offer to make an in-store appointment by telephone.

In the case of a prospect who has downloaded a white paper, lead is listed in a database. You can qualify them by calling them or sending them an inMail message on LinkedIn. 

Steps to creating a successful multi-channel prospecting campaign 

To be effective, multi-channel prospecting needs to be well thought-out and prepared. If you want to reach as many customers as possible, you need to define your strategy precisely. 

1. Targeting

Depending on your business sector and objectives, you need to identify your target audience. To do this, you can rely on qualified lead files and reliable data: customer files belonging to you, purchased or rented files, directories, etc. 

2. Development

Here, the challenge is to ensure that the product or service corresponds to prospects' needs. To find out, surveys can be carried out beforehand.

3. Communication actions

You should seek to get in touch with your prospects using different channels: internet, emailing, SMS, telephone, social networks, etc.

Messages must be interesting, punchy and personalized for each type of channel.

4. Sales actions

To optimize multi-channel prospecting performance, you need to increase sales opportunities tenfold. Focus your efforts on qualified prospects. Draw up a clear schedule of actions to be carried out over a defined period. 

5. The exploitation of data

A successful multi-channel prospecting campaign requires working with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and data. These programs enable you to obtain, process and analyze prospect data. 

6. KPI analysis

For each channel used, define relevant key performance indicators (KPIs). For example, for telephone prospecting, you can track :

• Acquisition cost ;
• Number of outgoing calls per sales rep ;
• Average time spent per call ;
• Conversion rate.

The different channels used 

Find out more about the specific features of each essential prospecting channel.

Emailing

• 80% of customers prefer to talk to brands by e-mail rather than by telephone.
• The e-mail open rate is around 21.5%.
• Half of all customers are fans of promotional e-mails.

Emailing is one of the most popular channels for sales prospecting strategies. This low-cost solution enables you to track and analyze lead behavior. It offers rapid returns. To fully exploit the potential of this prospecting channel, you need marketing automation software. 

Phone

• On average, a company makes 52 calls a day. 
• 45% of potential customers contacted by telephone go on to make a purchase.

Combined with emailing, the telephone brings real added value to your prospecting actions. It enables you to quickly distinguish between potential customers and those who are not really attracted by your offer. 

Social networking 

• 67% of B2B companies use Twitter for prospecting.
• Almost all B2C marketing experts use Facebook. 
• 76% of companies report an increase in sales thanks to Facebook posts.
• 81% of consumers want to buy a product or service after seeing it on Instagram.

Social networks are useful for gathering information about leads. They also help build community and loyalty among future customers. 

LinkedIn

• In France, half of all sales reps use LinkedIn to collect data on prospects.
• 9 out of 10 decision-makers say they use LinkedIn as their first source of information before making a purchasing decision. 

On this professional social network, it's essential to share content regularly and react to content posted by your prospects. 

For successful prospecting on LinkedIn, focus on : 

• A full description ;
• Inbound publications;
• Participating in conversations ;
• Send personalized InMails.

SMS marketing

• 9 out of 10 marketing SMS are read within 4 minutes of receipt. 
• More than half of French people (customers or not) enjoy receiving SMS messages.
• 60% of customers contacted by SMS visit a store to make a purchase.

This prospecting technique can be used provided you have obtained the prospect's consent. The text must be straight to the point. The aim is to grab the reader's attention immediately. 

Google Ads

At Google Ads, you can set up lead recruitment campaigns. To maximize their performance, you can broadcast them on : 

• The Google search network;
• Search partner sites other than Google ;
• Google Display Network, using contextual targeting. Contextual targeting enables the search engine to match keywords to relevant web pages. 

Affiliation

This prospecting channel is ideal for increasing the distribution of your products. The principle is simple: 

• The seller pays a commission to the affiliate.
• The affiliate promotes its offer (product or service).
• The customer performs the action requested by the seller.

The different cadences of multi-channel prospecting campaigns

The ultra-aggressive cadence consists of leaving a voice message and sending an e-mail, from day one. The prospecting cycle is spread over 18 days.

The challenge of the complex B2B sales cadence is to get the various stakeholders on board. You need to be active at all levels of the company. Account mapping is useful for identifying the key stakeholders and end-users of your product/service. Here, you need to set up a cadence with several points of contact for each hierarchical level.

To get a contact, you can also bet on 2 high-pressure weeks, with the following actions: 

• Day 1:^1st e-mail,^1st contact on social networks.
• Day 2:^1st call,^1st voice message.
• Day 5:^2nd e-mail,^2nd call,^2nd voice message.
• Day 6:^3rd call,^3rd message on social networks.
• Day 7:^3rd e-mail,^4th call,^3rd voice message.
• Day 9:^5th call,^4th voice message.
• Day 10:^4th e-mail, ^6th call,^3rd contact on RS.
• Day 12:^5th e-mail, ^7th call,^5th voice message.
• Day 14: ^6th e-mail, ^7th call, ^6th voice message.

Whatever the chosen frequency, it's essential to plan your relaunches. The idea is to relaunch very frequently at the outset, then decrease the frequency over time. 

What are the best tools for multi-channel prospecting campaigns?

To get results, it's essential to equip yourself with the right tools. Key features include : 

• Task automation ;
• Organizing prospecting ;
• Identifying competent prospects; 
• Impact assessment.

Discover our benchmark of the best multi-channel prospecting tools: 

• Lemlist, an emailing tool that simplifies outreach ;
• ProspectIn, automated prospecting software on LinkedIn;
• Reply.io, a platform for automating mailing prospecting campaigns;
• Autoklose, email prospecting software with an integrated B2B database;
• FindThatLead, a Chrome plug-in integrated with LinkedIn to obtain information about leads ;
• Mailshake, large-scale personalized emailing software;
• Datananas, an e-mail solution designed to structure and automate B2B sales prospecting; 
• Waalaxy, a tool for automating multi-channel campaigns.

Got a multi-channel prospecting project in mind? Contact the experts at Dataventure.