How to Measure Multi Channel Marketing ROI

Let’s be honest: measuring multi channel marketing ROI feels like trying to solve a puzzle with half the pieces missing.

You’re running campaigns across email, push notifications, SMS, social media, and your website. Customers are bouncing between channels like pinballs. And somehow, you’re supposed to figure out which touchpoints actually drove that final conversion.

Sound familiar?

Here’s the thing: most marketers are making this way harder than it needs to be. They’re drowning in data but starving for insights. They’re tracking everything but understanding nothing.

The good news? Measuring multi channel marketing ROI doesn’t have to be a nightmare. With the right approach, metrics, and tools, you can actually understand what’s working and what’s not.

Why Multi-Channel ROI Measurement Matters (More Than You Think)

Before we dive into the how, let’s talk about the why.

Multi-channel marketing isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore. It’s essential. Customers expect to interact with your brand across multiple touchpoints. They might discover you through social media, research on your website, sign up for emails, and finally convert after receiving a push notification.

But here’s what most companies get wrong: They measure each channel in isolation.

They’ll say, “Our email campaign had a 3% conversion rate” or “Our push notifications generated $10,000 in revenue.” But they’re missing the bigger picture. What if that push notification only worked because the customer had already engaged with three previous touchpoints?

That’s where multi-channel ROI measurement becomes crucial.

When you understand how your channels work together, you can:

• Allocate budget more effectively
• Optimize the customer journey
• Identify your most valuable touchpoints
• Stop wasting money on channels that don’t actually drive results
• Scale what’s actually working

The Multi-Channel ROI Challenge (And Why It’s So Hard)

Let’s address the elephant in the room: measuring multi-channel ROI is genuinely difficult.

Here’s why:

The Attribution Problem A customer might see your Facebook ad, visit your website, sign up for emails, receive three email campaigns, get a push notification, and finally make a purchase. Which touchpoint gets credit for the conversion?

Data Silos Your email platform has one set of data. Your push notification service has another. Your website analytics show something different. Getting a unified view feels impossible.

Long Customer Journeys B2B customers might take months to convert. E-commerce customers might research for weeks. How do you track and attribute conversions across such long timeframes?

Privacy Regulations GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws limit how you can track customers across channels. Third-party cookies are disappearing. Traditional tracking methods are becoming less reliable.

Multiple Devices and Browsers Customers switch between phones, tablets, and computers. They use different browsers. They clear cookies. Tracking the same person across devices is increasingly challenging.

But here’s what successful companies understand: You don’t need perfect attribution to make better decisions. You need good enough data and the right framework for interpreting it.

The Metrics That Actually Matter

Most marketers track too many metrics and focus on the wrong ones. Let’s cut through the noise and focus on what actually matters for multi channel marketing ROI.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

This is the total cost to acquire a new customer across all channels. It’s calculated by dividing your total marketing spend by the number of new customers acquired.

Why it matters: CAC tells you if your marketing is sustainable. If you’re spending 100toacquireacustomerwhoonlygenerates100 to acquire a customer who only generates 100toacquireacustomerwhoonlygenerates80 in lifetime value, you have a problem.

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

Similar to CAC but more granular. CPA measures the cost to acquire a customer through specific channels or campaigns.

Why it matters: CPA helps you understand which channels are most cost-effective. You might find that email has a low CPA but limited scale, while paid ads have a higher CPA but unlimited scale.

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

ROAS measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. It’s calculated as revenue divided by ad spend.

Why it matters: ROAS gives you immediate feedback on campaign performance.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

CLV predicts the total revenue a customer will generate over their entire relationship with your brand.

Why it matters: CLV helps you understand how much you can afford to spend on acquisition. If your average CLV is 500, you can afford to spend more on acquisition than if it′s 50.

Conversion Rate by Channel

This measures how effectively each channel converts prospects into customers.

Why it matters: Conversion rates help you optimize individual channels and understand which touchpoints are most effective at driving action.

Multi-Touch Attribution Revenue

This assigns revenue credit to multiple touchpoints in the customer journey rather than just the first or last touch.

Why it matters: Multi-touch attribution gives you a more accurate picture of how your channels work together to drive conversions.

Attribution Models: Choosing the Right Approach

Attribution is where most companies get stuck. They either oversimplify with last-click attribution or overcomplicate with custom models they don’t understand.

Comparison of different attribution models showing how credit is distributed across customer touchpoints

Here are the main attribution models and when to use each:

Last-Click Attribution

Gives 100% credit to the final touchpoint before conversion.

When to use it: For direct response campaigns where you want to understand immediate conversion drivers. Good for optimizing bottom-funnel activities.

First-Click Attribution

Gives 100% credit to the first touchpoint in the customer journey.

When to use it: For understanding awareness and top-funnel performance. Helpful for optimizing customer acquisition strategies.

Linear Attribution

Distributes credit equally across all touchpoints in the customer journey.

When to use it: When you believe all touchpoints contribute equally to conversion. Good for understanding overall channel contribution.

Time-Decay Attribution

Gives more credit to touchpoints closer to conversion and less credit to earlier touchpoints.

When to use it: For longer sales cycles where recent interactions are more influential than early ones.

Data-Driven Attribution

Uses machine learning to assign credit based on the actual impact of each touchpoint.

When to use it: When you have enough data and sophisticated analytics capabilities. This is the most accurate but also the most complex.

Our recommendation? Start with last-click attribution to understand immediate conversion drivers. Then layer in first-click attribution to understand awareness generation. As you get more sophisticated, experiment with time-decay or data-driven models.

Tools and Platforms for Multi-Channel ROI Measurement

The right tools can make or break your ROI measurement efforts. Here’s what you need:

Analytics Platforms

Google Analytics 4 is the obvious starting point. It’s free, comprehensive, and integrates with most marketing platforms. Set up conversion tracking, goals, and attribution models to get basic multi-channel insights.

For more advanced needs, consider Adobe Analytics or specialized attribution platforms like Bizible or Attribution.

Customer Data Platforms (CDPs)

CDPs like Segment, mParticle, or Treasure Data help unify customer data across channels. They create a single customer view that makes attribution much easier.

Marketing Automation Platforms

Platforms like HubSpot, Marketo, or Pardot often include built-in attribution and ROI reporting. If you’re already using one of these platforms, start there.

Integrated Multi-Channel Platforms

This is where PushEngage shines. Instead of trying to stitch together data from multiple platforms, integrated solutions give you unified analytics across email, push notifications, SMS, and web messaging.

Why integrated platforms work better:

• Unified customer profiles across all channels
• Consistent tracking and attribution
• Single dashboard for all campaign performance
• Easier setup and maintenance
• More accurate cross-channel attribution

Spreadsheet-Based Tracking

Don’t underestimate the power of a well-designed spreadsheet. For smaller businesses or specific campaigns, manual tracking can provide insights that automated tools miss.

Setting Up Your ROI Measurement Framework

Here’s a step-by-step approach to implementing multi-channel ROI measurement:

Step #1: Define Your Goals

What does success look like? Are you optimizing for revenue, customer acquisition, engagement, or something else? Your goals will determine which metrics to prioritize.

Step #2: Map Your Customer Journey

Document all the touchpoints in your customer journey. Include awareness, consideration, and conversion stages. Understand how customers typically move between channels.

Step #3: Implement Tracking

Set up conversion tracking across all channels. Use UTM parameters for campaign tracking. Implement pixel tracking where appropriate. Ensure you’re capturing the data you need for attribution.

Step #4: Choose Your Attribution Model

Start simple with last-click attribution. As you gather more data and insights, experiment with more sophisticated models.

Step #5: Create Reporting Dashboards

Build dashboards that show the metrics that matter to your business. Include both channel-specific and cross-channel views.

Step #6: Establish Regular Review Processes

Set up weekly, monthly, and quarterly reviews to analyze performance and optimize campaigns.

Common Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Mistake #1: Focusing Only on Last-Click Attribution

This gives all credit to the final touchpoint and ignores the role of awareness and consideration channels.

Solution: Use multiple attribution models to get a complete picture.

Mistake #2: Not Accounting for Offline Conversions

Many businesses have both online and offline conversion paths that need to be tracked together.

Solution: Implement phone tracking, promo codes, and other methods to connect offline conversions to online campaigns.

Mistake #3: Ignoring Customer Lifetime Value

Focusing only on immediate ROI misses the long-term value of customer relationships.

Solution: Include CLV in your ROI calculations and optimize for long-term value, not just immediate returns.

Mistake #4: Over-Complicating Attribution

Some companies build attribution models so complex that no one understands or trusts them.

Solution: Start simple and add complexity gradually. Make sure your team understands and believes in your attribution approach.

The PushEngage Advantage for ROI Measurement

Here’s why companies choose PushEngage for multi-channel ROI measurement:

• Unified Analytics Dashboard: See performance across email, push notifications, SMS, and web messaging in a single view. No more jumping between platforms or trying to reconcile different data sources.
• Built-in Attribution: Our platform automatically tracks customer journeys across channels and provides multi-touch attribution out of the box.
• Real-Time Optimization: Get immediate insights into campaign performance and make adjustments in real-time to improve ROI.
• Integration Capabilities: Connect with your existing analytics tools, CRM systems, and e-commerce platforms for a complete view of customer behavior.
• Automated Reporting: Set up automated reports that show the metrics that matter to your business. Share insights with stakeholders without manual data compilation.

Need More Help With Multi Channel Marketing ROI?

If you’re just starting to explore multichannel marketing, you should get started with setting up push notification campaigns.

PushEngage is the #1 customer engagement platform in the market. If you’re not sure where to start, you can sign up for the free version. If you’re looking to scale your business with powerful campaigns, though, you should go for one of the paid plans. Or, you can check out these amazing resources to get started:

• Push Notifications & Emails: How To Get The Most From Multichannel Marketing
• How To Add Web Push Notifications to Your WordPress Website
• What Are Push Notifications? A Simple Guide for Epic Results
• Push Notification Cost: Is It Really Free? (Pricing Analysis)

That’s all for this one.

Get started with PushEngage today!