Measuring marketing and sales results in single-channel campaigns is usually a more straightforward process: choosing a goal that reflects the performance of a specific channel and then calculating ROI from it. But what about when the customer researches a product on your site, consults with a salesperson in the physical store, and completes the purchase through the app? In omnichannel, every touchpoint matters – and this channel integration, although valuable for enhancing results, makes measuring return on investment much more complex.
In the omnichannel context, ROI evaluates how much a multi-channel action, whether physical and/or digital, has generated in financial return relative to the investment made. However, while in single-channel campaigns it is possible to directly correlate investment and return, when there are multiple targeted channels, the return comes from the sum of interactions at different touchpoints, often with longer and non-linear purchase journeys – which makes this a very complex task in many companies.
In addition to the complexity of evaluating impacts from different channels, it is also important to consider other significant challenges on this journey: data integration, as each channel collects information in different formats and metrics; visibility of the complete journey, since often parts of the experience are not traceably and measurably recorded; and the overlap of results that can occur without an integrated view, when the same conversion is counted in more than one channel, thus distorting ROI.
And what are the damages of not paying attention to these care, especially in the face of a highly digital and connected market? According to a survey by ILUMEO, around 20% of media investments do not show a significant statistical relationship with business results, such as sales or lead generation. This means that without proper measurement, a fifth of the marketing budget could be wasted.
This data reinforces the importance of centralizing information from different sources in a single channel and standardizing metrics, channel nomenclatures, and trackings, to have a 360-degree view of the customer journey and, with this, have a clear and objective view of how much the company has gained in return for each established campaign. And, in this sense, of course we cannot fail to highlight how valuable technology can be.
There are several tools in the market capable of assisting with this measurement, such as integrated CRMs that help track all interactions throughout the customer lifecycle and consolidate behavioral, transactional, and engagement data; as well as BI solutions that help transform large volumes of data into easily interpretable dashboards. Many of them even allow mapping journeys and already assigning weight to each channel, making this analysis even more complete and reliable to support future decision-making.
In this sense, there is not just a single indicator to be used by companies, everything will depend on the strategy adopted and the objectives they wish to achieve. However, there are some essentials to be prioritized, such as the overall campaign ROI, CAC compared before and after omnichannel implementation, LTV (which measures the total value a customer generates throughout the relationship), conversion rate per channel and cross-channel (identifying where consumers advance in the journey), engagement, and retention rate.
This data analysis allows testing hypotheses continuously, adjusting messages, segmentations, and formats to create more personalized experiences, increasing engagement and, consequently, this return on investment. Perform these checks frequently, as consumer behavior changes and this directly impacts the channel performance within the omnichannel campaign strategy.
The most important thing in all of this is to ensure the quality and constant updating of this data, as it can compromise the entire ROI analysis and lead to misguided business decisions. The secret is to turn numbers into actionable insights, as by identifying which channels have the greatest impact in each stage of the funnel, it is possible to redistribute budget and efforts more intelligently and strategically to elevate the achievement of desired results.
