Launching an effective omnichannel strategy requires the utilisation of multiple channels to reach and engage with your audience. But not all channels are created equal… For example, no one would doubt that a banner view is less impactful than a 30-minute webcast.

When deciding how to allocate precious budget, it would obviously be advantageous to be able to make useful evidence-based comparisons of the relative effectiveness of the various channels on offer.

This is why, as part of our Navigator365™ customer engagement insights research, we developed the MultiChannel eQuivalent – or MCQ for short. Put simply, the MCQ concept provides us with a standard unit of engagement that enables you to compare the relative impact of different channels.

Consider sporting activities, where we commonly use our heart rate as a common measure to compare the effort we put into a range of different activities. In a similar way, the MCQ provides a common measure that allows us to compare the relative impact of a range of channel interactions.

It does this using a methodology, developed here at Across Heath, that recalibrates the impact of the different channels (as scored by HCPs on a scale of 0 to 10 as part of our Navigator365™ Core syndicated primary market research) versus that of a standard or reference channel. In the commercial or promotional setting, the reference channel is the rep call; in the medical setting, it’s the MSL visit.

While the underlying metholodogy is quite sophisticated, the concept is fairly simple. In the commercial space, the rep face-to-face call is taken as the reference channel and always receives a score of 1 MCQ. All other channels are then recalibrated relative to this reference measure and can be visualized as shown in the channel equivalence map below.

So if a channel has an MCQ greater than 1, you instantly know it tested as more impactful with HCPs than a rep call – whereas channels with an MCQ less than 1 will have received an HCP impact score below that of the face-to-face rep visit. Because the MCQ, just like our heart rate analogy, brings a common measure of impact across all channels, it means every channel and its related MCQ score can be easily compared. These insights can then be used when optimizing your channel mix.

This post is the first in a limited blog series which aims to take a closer look at the MCQ, a fundamental building block of our Navigator365™ customer engagement insights research. In subsequent posts we will look in more detail at some important dos and don’ts, as well as the importance of MCQ in the planning stage of your omnichannel campaigns.

If you’d like to know more about how MCQs – and the Across Health Navigator365™ offering – can deliver an unparalleled head start for your next customer engagement plan, then please get in touch!