When Alexius I Komnenoi implored the pope (Urban II) for help, he meant it to reconquer the lost Byzantine lands (and therefore return in to their de facto ruler, a.k.a., the Byzantines). Urban however, decided to merely use that as a façade in order to then invade the Muslims, and retake the holy land.
He also saw the wanted to unite Christianity as a whole (All the sects at the time, Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Paulicianism, Iconoclasts, etc. into a single conglomerate, fighting a common enemy.)
It reduces the per unit fixed cost. As a result of increased production, the fixed cost gets spread over more output than before. It reduces the per unit variable costs. Economies of scale bring down the per unit variable costs.