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Customer feedback on mobile sites and mobile apps can be evaluated through multiple ways. In every case, feedback should be analyzed carefully and not ignored. For a company to ensure that its brand stays relevant to its target group, feedback from customers should be taken during separate instances of their interaction with the brand. Customers may provide feedback regarding the quality of product information on the app or mobile site, responsiveness of the mobile site, ease of making payments online, and ease of accessing customer support.

Developers use different techniques to collect user feedback in order to increase engagement. Some examples are as follows:

• App Store Reviews—App store reviews is the most obvious and basic method of collecting user reviews. The app store reviews are collected in the form of star ratings and written text reviews. Star ratings reflect how much the users like the app in general while text reviews are important to understanding the specific pain points and strengths of the app.
• In-app Feedback—One of the most effective methods of collecting reviews, in-app feedback, allows developers to collect feedback in the app itself. There are a number of turn-key plug-ins available that make it simple to prompt the user to review an app. However, it is important to time the prompt properly within the user experience. Some apps (mostly games) also incentivize users to provide feedback.
• Social Media and Forums—Social media and website forums can be used to start discussions about an app, invite suggestions, run polls, and get feedback on specific app features.

Analyzing customer feedback about a company’s product and related services can help a company identify areas where it is performing well and areas where it needs to improve its relationship-building capabilities.

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“Social media” is an umbrella term that includes web-based software and services that bring users together online and allow them to exchange ideas, discuss issues, communicate with one another, and participate in many other forms of social interaction. With the proliferation of different forms of social media, such as blogs, forums, audio-visual sharing sites, personal networking sites, and professional networking sites, consumers are constantly bombarded with many marketing messages

Social media is important to every business that has a web presence as it can help drive traffic to the company’s website and ultimately increase sales leads and conversions. As well, different social media platforms are more likely to reach certain target audience segments, and messaging can be customized for each platform.

The various models of social media-enabled sharing are of the following content types:

1. Blogs—Blogs are content created by individuals, groups, or companies to express their opinions, or provide information or insights on specific topics of their choice. The most popular blogs choose topics that are of interest to a large community. However, niche blogs catering to a certain targeted audience can be successful if they dominate the share of voice in that particular subject area. Successful blogs have something interesting, useful, or creative to share, and do that sharing with an engaging style. Blogs may contain images, infographics, or videos in addition to text. In most cases, they are also open to comments from readers. From a company’s perspective, a blog or Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed is an effective means for updating actual or prospective customers of happenings related to the company or the company’s products. RSS feeds use standard web feed formats to publish blog posts and syndicate data automatically. RSS feeds benefit users who want to receive timely updates from favorite websites or to aggregate data from many sites.
2. Discussion Forums—These are websites used for discussing issues related to a specific topic. Participants in such forums may be asked to register. They are encouraged to ask each other questions, answer questions, and share information. Many forums allow participants to rate each other’s contributions, enabling contributors to build their reputations over time. Some discussion forums may be hosted and moderated by the company, in which case, the company would have some influence on the content of the discussion. In other cases, discussion forums are independent of a company; however, companies should be aware of popular discussion forums in which their products may be discussed and make an effort to respond to customers within those forums.
3. Professional Networking Sites—These sites relate to people, groups, or companies sharing professional updates, content, and discussions generally related to an organization, a company, a product, or a profession. These sites are used to build an individual’s personal brand as well as to raise awareness of businesses’ brands and their products or services within the online community. Companies share such professional updates for various purposes, such as sharing product launch information, communicating offers and discounts, announcing changes in policies, and sharing media coverage. Relevant and engaging updates can help companies build and retain a loyal base of customers.
4. Social Networking Sites—These are posts that pertain to people or groups sharing personal updates about themselves or about a topic. These updates are generally shared with friends, relatives, or acquaintances, but they may also be shared with the general public. A company needs to create content or share updates that are relevant, interesting, or entertaining enough for people to share with their personal network, and the content shared should also align with the marketing objectives for a product or brand. Therefore, businesses should focus their social networking site updates on useful and interesting information on subjects related to the company’s product or brand. This channel provides the opportunity for companies to share their brand personality and advertise company events, sales, and discount coupons. The focus of these updates should be on fun and engaging shareable content. Also, companies that have a high level of brand loyalty and where customers relate to the brand strongly may find customers voluntarily creating content or experiences related to the brand, or sharing the brand’s updates. 
5. Video Sharing Sites—This activity relates to sharing videos, audio, infographics, or images with other people. Such content can be shared with any person or group. In most social media channels that are focused on sharing such content, people can vote on or rank audio-visual content or add their comments. Thus, these channels integrate the discussion forum element into audio-visual sharing. For example, on YouTube—a social media channel for sharing videos—users can “like” or “dislike” a video, comment on the video, and reply to each other’s comments. Companies can use such channels very effectively as videos, images, and audio can have a much larger impact on the target market than text updates. Many companies invest in creating engaging and interesting videos about their products, which sometimes become extremely popular and drastically increase brand visibility. Some also create melodies around their product, which can become as popular as songs in their own right or as ringtones for mobile phones.

The features and functionality of social media platforms are constantly evolving as lesser-used functionality is removed and replaced by new functionality. It is critical for the digital marketing team to be up-to-date on the latest trends in social media and to understand how other organizations use social media to their advantage. Marketers also need to be aware of paid opportunities within social media marketing such as sponsored updates and ads, as well as earned opportunities to disseminate marketing messages by organically building followers. Often, a combination of paid and earned campaigns yields the best results. 

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“Social media” is an umbrella term that includes web-based software and services that bring users together online and allow them to exchange ideas, discuss issues, communicate with one another, and participate in many other forms of social interaction. With the proliferation of different forms of social media, such as blogs, forums, audio-visual sharing sites, personal networking sites, and professional networking sites, consumers are constantly bombarded with many marketing messages

Social media is important to every business that has a web presence as it can help drive traffic to the company’s website and ultimately increase sales leads and conversions. As well, different social media platforms are more likely to reach certain target audience segments, and messaging can be customized for each platform.

The various models of social media-enabled sharing are of the following content types:

1. Blogs—Blogs are content created by individuals, groups, or companies to express their opinions, or provide information or insights on specific topics of their choice. The most popular blogs choose topics that are of interest to a large community. However, niche blogs catering to a certain targeted audience can be successful if they dominate the share of voice in that particular subject area. Successful blogs have something interesting, useful, or creative to share, and do that sharing with an engaging style. Blogs may contain images, infographics, or videos in addition to text. In most cases, they are also open to comments from readers. From a company’s perspective, a blog or Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed is an effective means for updating actual or prospective customers of happenings related to the company or the company’s products. RSS feeds use standard web feed formats to publish blog posts and syndicate data automatically. RSS feeds benefit users who want to receive timely updates from favorite websites or to aggregate data from many sites.

2. Discussion Forums—These are websites used for discussing issues related to a specific topic. Participants in such forums may be asked to register. They are encouraged to ask each other questions, answer questions, and share information. Many forums allow participants to rate each other’s contributions, enabling contributors to build their reputations over time. Some discussion forums may be hosted and moderated by the company, in which case, the company would have some influence on the content of the discussion. In other cases, discussion forums are independent of a company; however, companies should be aware of popular discussion forums in which their products may be discussed and make an effort to respond to customers within those forums.

3. Professional Networking Sites—These sites relate to people, groups, or companies sharing professional updates, content, and discussions generally related to an organization, a company, a product, or a profession. These sites are used to build an individual’s personal brand as well as to raise awareness of businesses’ brands and their products or services within the online community. Companies share such professional updates for various purposes, such as sharing product launch information, communicating offers and discounts, announcing changes in policies, and sharing media coverage. Relevant and engaging updates can help companies build and retain a loyal base of customers.

4. Social Networking Sites—These are posts that pertain to people or groups sharing personal updates about themselves or about a topic. These updates are generally shared with friends, relatives, or acquaintances, but they may also be shared with the general public. A company needs to create content or share updates that are relevant, interesting, or entertaining enough for people to share with their personal network, and the content shared should also align with the marketing objectives for a product or brand. Therefore, businesses should focus their social networking site updates on useful and interesting information on subjects related to the company’s product or brand. This channel provides the opportunity for companies to share their brand personality and advertise company events, sales, and discount coupons. The focus of these updates should be on fun and engaging shareable content. Also, companies that have a high level of brand loyalty and where customers relate to the brand strongly may find customers voluntarily creating content or experiences related to the brand, or sharing the brand’s updates. 

5. Video Sharing Sites—This activity relates to sharing videos, audio, infographics, or images with other people. Such content can be shared with any person or group. In most social media channels that are focused on sharing such content, people can vote on or rank audio-visual content or add their comments. Thus, these channels integrate the discussion forum element into audio-visual sharing. For example, on YouTube—a social media channel for sharing videos—users can “like” or “dislike” a video, comment on the video, and reply to each other’s comments. Companies can use such channels very effectively as videos, images, and audio can have a much larger impact on the target market than text updates. Many companies invest in creating engaging and interesting videos about their products, which sometimes become extremely popular and drastically increase brand visibility. Some also create melodies around their product, which can become as popular as songs in their own right or as ringtones for mobile phones.

The features and functionality of social media platforms are constantly evolving as lesser-used functionality is removed and replaced by new functionality. It is critical for the digital marketing team to be up-to-date on the latest trends in social media and to understand how other organizations use social media to their advantage. Marketers also need to be aware of paid opportunities within social media marketing such as sponsored updates and ads, as well as earned opportunities to disseminate marketing messages by organically building followers. Often, a combination of paid and earned campaigns yields the best results. 

When creating an online presence, one of the initial steps is to explore various digital marketing channels available in order to maximize the reach of the products or services being offered. Given the nature of the online world, which is constantly evolving and expanding, several new channels are developing with greater frequency, and audiences are continuously exploring new sources of online content. The digital marketers must regularly assess and reassess digital marketing channels for their effectiveness.

To identify the most effective marketing channels for an organization’s products or services, marketers spend a considerable amount of time and effort identifying and understanding the dynamics of all available digital marketing channels and evaluating these channels relative to their company’s overall organizational goals and objectives.

As part of this process, the team identifies target customers in the digital space, their likes and dislikes, their perceptions of the company’s brand and its major competitors, their digital needs related to the brand, and how the brand may fulfill these needs. All of this information, along with an understanding of current trends in the digital marketing space, should be recorded for future reference.

Web analytics are used to evaluate and better understand the available digital channels. Web analytics involve the collection, measurement, analysis, and reporting of web data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage.

Analyzing such data helps a company to assess and improve the effectiveness of its website. This information also helps the digital marketing team better understand consumer behavior and identify the strengths and weakness of the company’s current online offerings.

This may include understanding how many people are visiting a website, which pages are most popular, which paths are most popular, where people are coming from, where they drop off, how long they stay, and other similar factors.

All such factors provide the digital marketing team with a comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of current digital marketing initiatives and enable the team to identify possible new channels and digital marketing opportunities. Examining the social media investments of competitors can also help companies evaluate where they should be allocating resources.

Any business with a strong Internet presence that recognizes a decline in its website traffic should explore possible sources of the decline. Based on the web analytics data, the company may explore several options, including revising the current website in order to keep it fresh and relevant to its target market or making adjustments to site navigation to improve usability. Other Digital Marketing channels, such as mobile devices or social media might also be explored as potential aids in improving reach and strengthening relationships with existing customers.

User Personas are highly detailed fictional characters, representative of particular types of users in a market segment. They can be extremely useful for designing and developing mobile site/app as they provide insights about the selected target segment. To provide information relevant to mobile channel each persona should be based on market research that focuses on identifying specific types of customers who are most likely to use a company’s mobile site/app. Each persona should include age, gender, occupation, location, relationship status, type of mobile device owned, personality type, and any other features that are relevant for defining customers of company’s mobile channel. An example of user persona is given below:

• Name: John
• Age: 18
• Gender: Male
• Mobile Device Owned: Tablet
• Personality Type: Early adopter

After user personas are defined, user stories should be created for each of the personas. These stories contain an indication of how the personas would use the mobile site/app, what the personas might seek to do with the site/app, and the specific features that will enable the personas to effectively perform the tasks that they seek to perform. The objective is to eventually define user requirements by collating all of the user stories. A user story for John can be “John seeks out the latest versions of car racing games, pays for top-rated games, plays daily for an hour against other users, and likes to share his match results with his friends and other app users.”

Mobile content developers use user stories to derive a use case, which is a list of steps that define the interactions between the user and the mobile device. Based on the user story, a use case for John is created as follows:

As depicted in this use case, John would require features, such as the ability to pay for the app, to set up an account, to play the game in multiplayer mode with other players, and to share match results with his friends and other users.

After use cases for all personas are drawn, all use cases are combined in a single diagram to determine the key features that are required in the mobile site/app. This method does not determine all features that should be included but only those key features that have been identified as part of the persona and use case development process. There will be a number of features that support the key features and that can be defined during a more detailed planning step undertaken later in the planning process. For example, sharing match results may need the app to be integrated with apps that enable sharing, such as e-mail apps or social media apps. This integration is a supporting feature that can be identified at a later stage.

Utilizing personas and use cases ensures that no key features that are required by the target markets are missed and that such features form the core of the design.

Please visit www.smstudy.com for more information on user personas and use cases.

All branding and advertising in offline channels should be integrated with a company’s digital marketing strategy. Offline branding and advertising activities can be significant contributors to expanding reach for digital marketing channels. Companies often offer exclusive promotions and coupons to consumers in order to encourage use of the company’s website, social media channels, and mobile site and app. Traditional advertising, such as television, radio, and print ads can provide an effective means of driving consumers to the company’s online channels.

In addition to traditional advertising, many marketing activities are designed to create a direct link between offline and digital channels. A couple of such tools used for integrating offline branding with your mobile devices are discussed in this article.

• Quick Response (QR) Code—A Quick Response code is a standardized code consisting of black and white squares, which can be read by mobile devices that have a QR code scanning app installed. The code typically stores a URL, and when one scans the code with the QR scanning app, the mobile device opens the website linked to the URL. A QR code can be printed on many kinds of offline materials, and individuals can scan the code and visit the associated URL. A benefit is that users are not required to type the web address to reach the website when using the code. Thus, QR codes offer convenience, bridging the online and offline marketing worlds, and can substantially increase the reach of companies as they can generate traffic to their websites from offline channels. Given that users are expected to take their mobile devices out, open the QR code scanning app, and then scan the code to reach the website, companies often offer incentives to customers to perform these steps. Thus, the benefit of scanning the QR code should be clearly mentioned in the offline channel, and the website that is linked to the QR code should be optimized for mobile devices. QR codes should also be tested appropriately before they are implemented in offline channels. The digital marketing team should ensure that popular QR code scanning apps are able to effectively scan the company’s code and bring up the relevant page. Also, individuals should be able to access the Internet in places where QR codes are displayed. For example, displaying QR codes in in-flight magazines may not receive a high response rate as few people use the Internet while flying.

• Near Field Communication (NFC)—Near Field Communication is a set of standards for mobile devices, such as smartphones, that allows two endpoints, which are NFC enabled, to communicate directly over short distances (typically less than ten centimeters) using radio waves. NFC-enabled devices can be powered or unpowered in order for communication to take place. Unpowered devices are NFC chips, called tags, which can contain a variety of data, including website URLs. Powered devices include smartphones that have NFC technology enabled on them. Companies can use NFC for increasing reach by inserting NFC tags in a variety of offline marketing materials, such as posters, brochures, and mailers. Users who have NFC-enabled smartphones can tap a poster containing an NFC tag and be directed to a website which may have special offers. NFC can also be used for making contactless payments, so customers can both see an offer and pay for a product using NFC through an app. Thus, NFC, like QR codes, helps individuals who are offline link to a company’s website to get more information or to purchase products.

Customer feedback on mobile sites and mobile apps can be evaluated through multiple ways. In every case, feedback should be analyzed carefully and not ignored. For a company to ensure that its brand stays relevant to its target group, feedback from customers should be taken during separate instances of their interaction with the brand. Customers may provide feedback regarding the quality of product information on the app or mobile site, responsiveness of the mobile site, ease of making payments online, and ease of accessing customer support.

Analyzing customer feedback about a company’s product and related services can help a company identify areas where it is performing well and areas where it needs to improve its relationship-building capabilities.

Developers use different techniques to collect user feedback in order to increase engagement. Some examples are as follows:

• App Store Reviews—App store reviews is the most obvious and basic method of collecting user reviews. The app store reviews are collected in the form of star ratings and written text reviews. Star ratings reflect how much the users like the app in general while text reviews are important to understanding the specific pain points and strengths of the app.

• In-app Feedback—One of the most effective methods of collecting reviews, in-app feedback, allows developers to collect feedback in the app itself. There are a number of turn-key plug-ins available that make it simple to prompt the user to review an app. However, it is important to time the prompt properly within the user experience. Some apps (mostly games) also incentivize users to provide feedback.

• Social Media and Forums—Social media and website forums can be used to start discussions about an app, invite suggestions, run polls, and get feedback on specific app features.

Visit www.smstudy.com to learn more ways on optimizing mobile channel reach and relationship.

When creating an online presence, one of the initial steps for an organization is to determine the targets as defined by the Marketing Strategy and then explore the various digital marketing channels available to achieve those targets. Organizations typically market their products or services to targeted audiences that differ in demographics such as age, sex, education, marital status, geography, and income. Implementing digital marketing tactics allows a company to target very specific audiences and measure each tactic effectively.

Given the volatile nature of the online world, new channels are emerging with greater frequency, and audiences are continuously exploring new sources of online content—digital marketers must regularly assess and reassess digital marketing channels for their effectiveness. To identify the most effective marketing channels for an organization’s products or services, marketers spend a considerable amount of time and effort identifying and understanding the dynamics of all available digital marketing channels and evaluating these channels relative to their company’s overall organizational goals and objectives.

The digital marketing team analyzes the Internet behavior patterns of its target audience and identifies all possible online media that are used by those consumers being targeted. It observes macro trends that might impact the way in which the organization markets and sells a product or service to consumers. As a result of this process, the organization gains a better understanding of the digital landscape and learns how it can develop and implement its marketing strategies to be effective.

A company must understand the pros and cons of each digital marketing channel as well as the situations in which a channel is most effective or ineffective. For example, when a company wants to promote an important achievement or milestone, the use of social media forums is a good option because of the possibility of a viral effect and mass exposure, which may raise awareness of the company. When promoting a discount offer, the use of e-mail marketing is beneficial because of the fast results it can bring. On the other hand, if the company wants to inform customers about an expected delay in service (e.g., due to a scheduled routine maintenance, delay due some unavoidable circumstances), it is usually enough for the company to use e-mail or their website to notify customers, rather than initiating a social media update. Negative comments often spread faster in social media leading to loss of brand value and image. Therefore, understanding different channels is important in order to evaluate their usefulness.

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After identifying a range of potential sales channels, it is necessary to evaluate those on the basis of economic factors. Both cost and revenue are important factors for economic evaluation of channels.

Cost—Channel profitability can be used to assess the cost associated with a channel. A channel’s profitability ratio is usually expressed in terms of expense to revenue ratio (E/R). A channel’s E/R is equal to its cost per transaction divided by the average order size. The lower the E/R, the lower the selling costs for each unit of revenue, which means a higher profit to the company for each sales transaction.

In order to calculate the E/R, the average order size and the channel’s cost per transaction should be known. The average order size—the total revenue divided by the total number of transactions—is easier to determine. It is generally difficult to determine the average cost per transaction. It may already be available from industry records, or it may be extracted by analyzing competitors’ channel usage or by reviewing other industries that use similar channels. If it is not readily available, it can be calculated by dividing the total selling expenses by the total number of transactions. The total selling expenses for a particular channel can be defined by using a channel cost model in the absence of existing data. A channel cost model defines the different categories of selling expenses that may be incurred by the channel. Each channel being assessed for profitability should be allocated the same or similar set of cost factors. This model can be developed either internally or externally with the help of subject matter experts or consultants.

Revenue—Channel capacity, which is the channel’s capability to generate the desired level of revenue, is another factor that should be considered for economic analysis. It can be defined as the product of channel selling unit productivity (revenue generated per unit) and number of units (number of channel members such as sales partners/representatives, etc.). It is very important to have a realistic estimation of both channel productivity and channel size for accurate assessment of channel capacity.

Choosing the right channels that fit the business is a critical component of corporate sales success. It is preferable to take a flexible and balanced approach that considers channels based on various factors such as service, cost, and revenue. If only cost is considered, for instance, then a company may end up with the lowest cost channel, but the channel may not have the potential to generate the required revenue, or the channel may need additional investment to provide the required level of service or to generate the required revenue. Hence, consideration of various factors enables a company to select those channels that best serve their market and provide the greatest potential for meeting sales objectives.

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Channel partner training is a key activity in many organizations, but is particularly important in those that employ different types of channel partners. Various channels have different purposes in the value chain, and each channel member must perform the specific task assigned to them to complement the overall corporate goals. Therefore, it becomes very important that each channel partner is provided relevant sales and product training. Such training not only equips the channel partners with the skills required to perform the selling function but also provides them with the necessary confidence to participate in selling processes. 

To design an effective training program, the first step is to identify the training objectives. The objectives can vary dramatically depending on the life-cycle stage of the company, its products, and various situations. The primary training objective for the new channel partners is to familiarize them with the product and sales methods. For existing channel members, ongoing sales and product training is required to regularly update the channel partner’s sales force on the features and benefits of products and required changes in the sales process. Specific training should also be conducted for new product launches to educate the channel partners about the new product and its features and benefits. New product training also ensures that channel partners treat the new product as a priority. Training can also be provided to support market penetration. In this instance, educating the channel partner about the new market and encouraging the partner to sell in that market become training priorities. Some training also develops specific skills. For example, training can be conducted to develop sales skills, knowledge of competitors’ products, and specific business skills.

The next step is to identify the individuals in the channel partner organization who require training. The sales force, customer support team, technical support team, and other sales and marketing professionals in contact with customers are the most obvious candidates. The level of training depends on the knowledge of the channel partner. The training sessions should always be well prepared and rehearsed before presenting to the channel partners. Apart from the field sales people and sales heads, it is also good practice to involve people from other functions to widen the scope of the training. The training can be conducted at a quiet place away from the distractions, preferably outside the channel partner site.

It is important to design the content of the training to suit the needs of the individual training partner. The training solution can be customized depending on the company’s goals and the knowledge level of the channel partner. The training can include product knowledge, case studies of other channel partners, testimonials, competitor information, market knowledge, sales, and negotiation skills.

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Channel performance measurement is a key activity when a sales organization employs different types of channel partners. In more complex multi-channel structures, it becomes even more important due to the number of people, processes, and roles involved. The performance of a channel can be measured across multiple dimensions. The parameters that are measured usually are effectiveness, efficiency, productivity, equity and profitability of the channel. 

The various channels have different purposes in the value chain; however, each task needs to support the overall corporate goals. As the number of channel partners increases, it is difficult to ensure that the channel partners are performing their specific roles as effectively as required. For example, the goal of a business might be to increase the number of strategic accounts. However, in order to gather maximum possible commission, channel partners might be engaged in getting the maximum number of accounts possible with total disregard towards prioritizing the acquisition of strategic accounts. It is therefore important to audit the channel partners and incentivize them for activities that are aligned with the corporate goals. The channel performance should also be judged on the ability to fulfill given tasks. A few carefully chosen metrics can give a good indication of the performance of each channel.

The channel performance measurement is primarily a four-step process.

1. Define the Sales Objectives
2. Determine Channel Performance Metrics
3. Set Channel Partner Targets
4. Manage Channel Performance

1. Define Sales Objectives

The first step in channel performance measurement is to define the sales objectives for the company. These objectives are outlined and discussed in sales meetings to ensure a shared understanding between members of the marketing and sales teams.

2. Determine Channel Performance Metrics

Evaluating the performance of a distribution channel depends largely on the agreed upon performance metrics. Choosing the right number and type of performance metrics can help to monitor and improve the performance of channel partners. These metrics provide an understanding of how well the channel partner is doing in reaching its performance targets.

Though it is possible to evaluate a channel on hundreds of performance metrics, this would make reporting and analysis of the performance a cumbersome job. When determining channel performance metrics, a key performance driver, such as sales or units sold, should be chosen to identify and measure the most important tasks. A series of performance metrics are then decided based on the key performance driver.

3. Set Channel Partner Targets

After overall sales objectives are defined, it is important to assign specific targets to each of the channel partners to ensure they are in alignment with the overall objectives. Properly set targets provide a benchmark to measure channel success, monitor performance, and take corrective action to meet expectations. Each channel partner has a specific role towards fulfilling the overall sales objectives. Performance targets should be set to reflect the channel partner’s contribution to the overall objectives

4. Manage Channel Performance

This is the final step in channel performance measurement. It uses the agreed upon goals, assigned performance targets, and identified performance metrics to manage channel performance on an on-going basis and to identify the performance shortfalls of the channel partners. During this step, management gains an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each channel. Management can then take corrective action to ensure efficient performance of the channel.

The success of a channel and its efficiency are determined by the efficiency of channel intermediaries in delivering goods and services to customers and the quality of services offered in the process. Developing a comprehensive marketing plan that provides clear and concise direction about marketing activities and strategy is critical to the organization's success.

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