We all want to do better with cross selling, right? Yet all too often, the campaigns fall short of our expectations.

A fair argument may be that our goals are too aggressive. On the other hand, when you look at data that tells you that the average consumer has seven banking products yet only two are likely to be with the same financial institution, you'd think that cross selling would be a greenfield of opportunities.

Sure, there are lots of reasons why a customer doesn't take you up on a cross-selling offer. However, after looking more carefully at cross selling from a business and IT perspective, there are three main reasons why many campaigns deliver lower-than- expected ROI.

1. A one size fits all approach. A common scenario that happens during the campaign brainstorming process is to think about a creative offer and present it to all of your customers. Hence, the flood of expensive banner ads and glossy direct mail pieces.

While a lot of customers may be exposed to the campaign through these marketing vehicles, many of those eyeballs will glaze over because the messages don't speak to their current needs. In turn, this causes the average cost per lead to skyrocket.