Let's talk about (online) engagement

The most frequently cited benefits for organisations implementing customer engagement
initiatives over the last 12 months are ‘improved customer loyalty’ and ‘increased
revenue’ (CScape survey 2008 on customer engagement, 2008;)
So, what is engament? how do you engage visitors online? How and when do you know that you were successfully engaging? are there any KPIs to measure and benchmark achievement?
For many companies, customer engagement is still more about getting the basics right than adopting Web 2.0 tools and technologies:'efficient and accessible customer services’ are seen as even more important strategies.
On a tactical level, the most commonly used methods of engagement are blogging sites, video-sharing sites and social networking. Widgets are very much on the radar, with more than a third of organisations planning to use both webbased and desktop-based widgets and applications. Expectations are already building around the role of the mobile channel as a tool for engaging customers in the near future.
When is about measurement, different respondents to the survey identified “Recommends product, service or brand”, “Converts more readily” and “Purchases regularly” as their most trustworthy guideposts to engagement.
The webanalytics community agrees to define/recognise "an engaged customer as one who participates and provides feedback". Quick conversion, repeat purchases and
recommendations are indicators of customer loyalty, and they are all desirable outcomes of engagement. Engagement measurement can and should involve taking into account prospective customers as well as those who have already purchased.
'Improved customer loyalty’ and ‘increased revenue’ are the most widely reaped benefits: signalling how customer engagement is intrinsically linked with tangible business objectives for most companies, i.e. improved customer acquisition and retention with a view to increased income and profit. Improved customer loyalty means reduced loss of business through churn and increased word-of-mouth marketing. The focus on loyalty also highlights that the traditional, almost exclusive focus on short-term revenue increases is beginning to be displaced by other priorities and a less blinkered approach.
‘Improved business predictability’ was the least reported benefit of customer engagement: there is not yet a significant realisation that companies can take important steps towards guaranteeing their future performance (i.e. improving business predictability) by achieving certain levels of customer engagement and loyalty.
Customer engagement is more likely to be seen as an opportunity to connect with customers, rather than as a damage-limitation tactic (having to adjust to the increased power of the customer).
Describing an 'engaged customers' (in priority order):
- Recommends product, service or brand: 59.44%
- Converts more readily: 44.51%
- Purchases regularly: 36.34%
- Participates in online communities or support groups: 32.39%
- Provides feedback regularly: 26.76%
- Is less focused on price: 23.38%
- Participates in innovation and design: 11.27%
- Is more tolerant of mistakes: 6.76%
- Other: 6.48%

Cited 'must' Engagement Strategies are:
- ‘Efficient and accessible customer services’ are seen as essential by 45%;
- ‘consistent online and offline customer experience’ (39%);
- ‘building a sense of community around product / services / brand’ &
- ‘compelling and persuasive copy’ (35%)

The majority of respondents believe that ‘soliciting user-generated content’ and ‘participation on social networking sites’ are only a ‘nice-to-have’ or ‘not important’: it is something of a paradox that advocacy is the most widely perceived behavioural trait of an engaged customer, and yet the majority of companies have not prioritised the solicitation of UGC.

Companies are still adjusting to the idea that a web presence is not just about having a destination website, but also a presence on third party websites, for
example social networks: this despite evidence that customer engagement cannot be controlled within their own websites and that they should look to improve their customer interactions outside of their own web properties. This involves an understanding/identification of different touch points where customer interaction takes place .

Methods of increasing engagement

Web 2.0-type tactics and technologies increasingly being used by organisations to increase online customer engagement are:
- blogging and video-sharing sites (21%)
- web-based widgets (in line with the development of pulled-in information / eg. igoogle home page)

Achieving engagement through the mobile channel

Around two-thirds of company respondents (64%) believe that the mobile channel will be ‘essential’ or ‘important’ for customer engagement in the next three years.
Companies looking to the mobile space as a tool for marketing and customer connection
must walk a fine line between engagement and (perceived) exploitation or invasion of
privacy to a degree never seen in the past.
Successful players will find ways to offer value-added services that build their brands, make their customers’ lives better, and don’t look anything like advertising.
Google’s suite of mobile applications meets these ends extraordinarily well.

‘Ease of use’ is seen as the most important factor to obtain customer engagement through the mobile (74%), followed by ‘website optimisation for mobile’ (58%) and ‘speed of downloads’ (51%).

Measurement and Research

Web analytics is regarded as the most essential method for gathering intelligence to improve customer engagement. Feedback from customer-facing staff and usability testing are the next most essential types of intelligence for better customer engagement.

The most enlightened organisations are combining quantitative and qualitative data from different channels in order to build their understanding of the customer experience.

A list of most collected data:
- customer complaints;
- customer praise;
- purchase history;
- customer satisfaction;
- customer feedback on competitors products and services;
- customer-generated ideas on products/services;
- lifestyle data;
- data on customers' personal value and beliefs

"I read this with a great deal of sadness because it shows that companies and marketers are only thinking of what to get out of me, the customer. Then they execute, and fail. How about we flip the model: What do I, the customer, get out of your engaging experience? Only by building on this assumption will you be successful. Engagement is not about you, it is about me" (Avinash Kaushik).

Mapping customer experience

Only few companies are starting identifying touch points to improve customer engagement.



Here is a list of most prestigious sources around the web

1) Kaushik on engagement;
2) CScape survey on customer engagement, 2008;
3) Forrester's definition on engagement, and lots of related friendly links;