In the Summer 2019 issue of the Target Marketing magazine, Heather Fletcher shares her own voice revealing that struggling customer experiences are linked to struggling customer engagement systems. A RedPoint Global study indicated that martech tools aren’t able to offer adequate seamless customer experiences and instead, need to shift their focus on identifying who the customer is while also selling the product they just bought. Fletcher includes statistical data indicting how customer engagement systems need better data integrations in order to offer better customer experiences.
- 61% of marketers with up to 9 engagement systems struggle to provide a seamless customer experience (RedPoint Global)
- 76% of marketers with 10 or more engagement systems struggle to provide a seamless customer experience (RedPoint Global)
- 85% of customers want an improved customer experience (UserTesting)
Lola Barbier’s blog post in, “How to Build a Successful Customer Engagement Strategy,” goes into a series of engagement tips to help generate business growth. She highlights key topics throughout her post such as why customer engagement is important, how to be bold, how to be real, making it easy, and to give back in order to navigate her way through some of the key customer engagement strategies.
Customer engagement’s ultimate goal is to involve customers in the brands they shop at. It requires an emotional connection to the business as well as a constructive way to act on these emotions. There are three statements that the customer’s emotional rationale must act upon:
- This brand always delivers on what they promise.
- I feel proud to be a customer of this brand.
- This brand is the perfect company for people like me.
In order to engage customers for their loyalty, certain traits about the brand such as the service of the quality or the prices of the products/services need to stand out on its own. An effective customer engagement strategy must attract customer’s empathy. Being bold such as deciding what you want the brand to be represented for can set itself apart from the other competitors and thus, make it attractive for current and new customers.
After the brand is represented for something, statement one of the customer emotional rational kicks in. In this phase, marketing, advertising, and service efforts are everything. Often times, customers mistrust traditional advertising methods, so emotionally connecting them to humanize the brand is the best option. “You want to engage with your customer on their level without coming off as patronizing or insincere” (Barbier). In other words, customers should be involved in a relationship that’s both personal and genuine. Additionally, being authentic is key when it comes to competitors. Depending on the marketing and advertising methods, customers will be able to show their loyalty towards the brand. Social media is extremely humanizing. If its quality, targeted content, the more effective it will be to allow a closer connection with customers.
- “62% of millennials says that if a brand engages with them on social networks, they a more likely to become a loyal customer.” (Elitedaily)
- “75% of respondents consider it fairly or very important that a company gives back to society, instead of just making a profit.” (millenialbranding.com)
“Customer involvement refers to a customer voluntarily and readily interacting with your business’ promotions, content, beta versions, giveaways, surveys, etc” (Barbier). Any event or process that’s intended to engage customers must add value to their experience as customers. A good variation and inventiveness while providing relevant and personalized content can inform customers and reaffirm brand identity.
- “42% of millennials are interested in helping companies collaboratively develop future products and services.” (Elitedaily)
Giving back is one of the most beneficial ways for business growth and building brand reputation. It not only spreads trustworthy reviews but also provides promising referrals and spreading the brand name through customers. Advocates appreciate different kinds of rewards, such as offering them “rebates (discount codes or free samples), influence (recognition or cross promotion), and privileged access (beta testing or a say in your road map)” (Barbier). It’s definitely a great way to honor core values of the brand and make a charitable amount of donation for a good cause.