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The Cat’s Whiskers · Foundation 06 of 7

Channel Coherence

One customer experience, not competing internal businesses.

06

of 7 foundations

4

checks in this foundation

Are the channels measured as one journey?

Channel Coherence is the sixth foundation. Consumers do not live in a single channel; physical and digital retail are touchpoints in one customer experience. This foundation checks whether the business is run that way, or as a set of internal businesses competing for the same customer and the same credit. The failure cluster is Channel Fragmentation.

The four checks

  1. Is performance measured as a unified journey?
  2. Are channels managed as touchpoints, not rivals?
  3. Is investment weighed on journey contribution, not last click?
  4. Are physical and digital run as complements?

The three readiness ratings

Foundation Ready

Strong foundations. External investment in platforms, acquisition and channel expansion is likely to generate returns, and the focus shifts to optimisation and scale.

At Risk

Meaningful gaps in one or more foundations. Continued investment generates diminishing returns until they are addressed, so a prioritised fix programme comes before scaling.

Foundations First

Critical gaps across multiple foundations, with external spend destroying value. Stop, rebuild the base, then grow.

Terms of Trade reads through this foundation

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