WHAT IS CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AND HOW DOES IT INFLUENCE YOUR BUSINESS?

 What is customer engagement?

WHAT IS CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AND HOW DOES IT INFLUENCE YOUR BUSINESS?

While it's also used for brick-and-mortar stores, the use of the term customer engagement has exploded with the rise of ECommerce and has become something of a buzzword. So let's get straight to the point… what does "customer engagement" really mean? Here is a definition that we can use as a starting point: customer engagement describes all those interactions that occur between a brand and an individual.

The expression refers to the maximization of the engagement that a customer has with a brand; each company can interact with consumers in different ways and the customer can choose where, how and when. The significant difference with other forms of marketing is precisely this: the consumer actively chooses the time, place and channel for the conversation.

The goal is to create meaningful interactions between brand and customer and it is up to the company to be able to do it in an efficient and hyper-personalized way. Customer engagement activities should always be created and developed with a view to a conversation with the customer. Sustainable customer engagement management can also be seen as overlapping with customer service.

Why is customer engagement so important?

Customer loyalty strongly depends on the way you interact with customers: the higher the level of engagement, the greater the chances of loyalty. Customers only interact when the time is right, on the most relevant channel with personalized messages, and the company's strategy must be able to anticipate and act promptly.

The topic of customer engagement must be considered within the marketing strategy. Interacting with customers the way they prefer will drastically reduce the churn rate and significantly improve the experience with the brand. This type of marketing can also help you gain a competitive edge and stand out in an increasingly crowded market. So, once you've got the conversion, it's time to focus on building a relationship with your customers; the customer journey should be able to create a meaningful bond across each brand touchpoint.

While customer engagement is essentially based on voluntary choice, it's your job as a marketer to get the conversation going. And this is precisely what makes it so difficult but at the same time so promising! Interest in your brand already exists but you need to successfully cultivate it to improve the customer experience.

If not treated correctly, this type of marketing can easily take a wrong turn but, if well managed, it can lead to really satisfying results: it promotes loyalty up to the achievement of brand advocacy.

How to improve Customer Engagement

WHAT IS CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AND HOW DOES IT INFLUENCE YOUR BUSINESS?

 Channel:

As mentioned above, the customer chooses the interaction channel (think emails, forums, social media, chatbots, blogs etc). What does this mean for your brand? You need to be active and available on as many (relevant) channels and platforms as possible to interact with your customer base wherever it is.

First, make sure you tailor your content based on the channel. In forums, users won't like simple announcements but will want insights into your new product, while a visitor who ends up on your website for the first time may be interested in your best-selling items. It is necessary to deepen the analysis to correctly identify and classify all these "marketing personas" (more on this later).

 Contents:

Although creating content takes a long time, it is essential to the consumer-business relationship as it is the starting point for a meaningful conversation. Personalized, relevant and engaging content will keep the conversation going with your customers. We all know how boring it is to receive the same email from the same company over and over again to the point of unsubscribing.

It is not necessary to create all the content from scratch, quite the opposite! Consider customizing content based on your customers' interests and behaviours. For example, if they bought a bicycle, send them a maintenance guide. Or, if they've received a pair of pants they previously bought online, send them a video of how they can match them.

Analytics and Insight:

WHAT IS CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AND HOW DOES IT INFLUENCE YOUR BUSINESS?

Customer insights are the starting point for an efficient customer engagement strategy, but without an adequate Customer Data Platform to centralize all data, you have no way of understanding your preferred ways of interacting. Find an analytics solution that can unify your data and help you optimize all your brand touchpoints.

Here are some KPIs to measure: engagement rate, RFM, RFE, and Customer Lifetime Value.

While any type of engagement is welcome, keep in mind that engagement levels differ between customers. The definition of what matters in the interaction varies enormously between different types of businesses and this must be reflected in the data. It can be different in the degree of detail, but also in the quality and quantity and it is up to your company to define an interaction between your analytics. One customer can demonstrate their loyalty to the brand by enthusiastically writing about the product in a forum, while another by leaving a 5-star rating. Both clients are engaged, but the data should be able to differentiate the two situations.

Carefully define your customer engagement goals and measures, then automate communications across the entire customer lifecycle. Once all this is done, the data will do a big part of the work for you: they will be able to provide you with in-depth insights on the channels to use, but also the times and ways to interact with your customers in an even more effective.

Marketing Automation:

WHAT IS CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AND HOW DOES IT INFLUENCE YOUR BUSINESS?

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Now you can set up marketing flows based on the information collected.

Orchestra workflows are updated in real-time and focused on the customer, personalizing each action for each customer by sharing for example an ad hoc offer, a product suggestion or a particular content. User segments created using Artificial Intelligence can help you spark conversation in a more meaningful and, of course, fully automated way.

How we can help you improve customer engagement

Has your company already implemented a customer engagement strategy? Is it static or ever-changing? Are you using a platform?