Customer engagement…quite a buzzword across the years, isn't it? We all have likely come across this term here and there, with differing depths of knowledge about it coming to mind. It’s one of those terms we kind of know based on its self-explanatory nature but when it comes to the specifics, there is a mountain to uncover.
What is Customer Engagement?
The internet and various sites have their own variations here and there but the common denominator across all is essentially this: ‘Customer engagement’ refers to the interactions between that of customers and the brand. Interactions stem on a scale from positive to negative but in this context of course, what we are striving for would be generally leaning more positive than anything else for the relationship. These interactions are also not just on-off, but with the aim to have an ongoing and preferably, frequent nature - with engagements ranging from regular conversations, various channels of brand exposure to the customers to CTA buttons on your websites, etc. The ways of customer engagement are endless.
Why is Customer Engagement so important?
Why the need for such interactions you might ask? Isn’t the transaction simple in terms of “they pay, we provide”? Gone are the days of the simple once-off transactions and salesmen tricky from the bag. Customers are more discerning and literate, being more educated about their possible choices, options and opportunities that brands fiercely fight for in the competitive space. With so many distractions and options for customers, what is important now is not to just capture the attention of the customer, but also, to sustain it.
Think of building a friendship: You meet a potential friend and strike up a conversation. It goes well, perhaps uncovering that maybe you two have more in common/ common interests that make the friendship a potentially fulfilling one. You have two choices: Put in effort, nurture it with intention and frequent, adequate attention, the friendship flourishes and thrive with built trust and rapport; Neglect it, and the friendship, while enthusiastic upon initial stages, withers and dies away eventually with possible lack of trust and enthusiasm. This goes the same as the relationship between customer and brand - customer engagement is key to building that very trust, authenticity and rapport in order to drive better retention and credibility.
Why is it important for building a strong Customer Engagement framework?
Knowing that customer engagement is key to building that very relationship we mentioned above with the customer - we have the jigsaw pieces, now we need a plan to piece them all together. Customer engagement comes in so many shapes and forms and developing a sound strategy is just as important as gathering the forms of customer engagement you wish to execute. Some aspects to note when building your customer engagement framework:
- Customer engagement not once-off but requires continuity and apt frequency
- Customer engagement is a multi-channel, non-linear process
- Customer engagement should be with intention and authentic
- Customer engagement is not a one-size-fit-all
With these in mind, you’re on your way to creating a sound customer engagement framework that is suitable for your brand and your customers.
Strategies to approach Customer Engagement
As spoken of earlier, going along with the school of thought that customer engagement is not a one-size-fits-all. They might require some thoughts around the types of channels of engagement (e.g. offline vs online), the industry the brand sits in, the type(s) of customers you wish to engage with, et. and the list goes on.
While the frameworks may differ across various brands and approaches, the general objective remains largely the same: boost client retention and build trust in the brand. Here are some ideas that could help in shaping up your customer engagement framework:
1. Practice ‘The Three Actives’
Every individual loves being heard and seen - be it in personal or professional relationships, it is important to make the individual feel so. Practicing what we call ‘The Three Actives’ is key to fostering an authentic, genuine relationship between the customer and the brand - Active Listening, Proactive Actions and Reactive Actions.
Active listening, while not a new term to many, can be difficult to achieve. When engaging with the customer, it is always important to make an effort and be present in listening to their objectives, pain points and needs. This not only unlocks context to better understand the perspective and mindset of the customers (of which no two mindsets are exactly the same) but also gives brands greater ability to diagnose and prescribe the best, most suitable solutions that could potentially problem-solve for the customer.
Proactiveness is also another skill that is greatly appreciated by many. Taking the initiative to reach out to customers, be it engaging them to explore new opportunities or following up on them to see how they are doing, customers generally appreciate these engagements that make them feel like they are in the minds of brands and their mission. People often see ‘reactive action’ with some skepticism and frowns but in the realm of customer engagement, being reactive is not necessarily a bad or negative thing. Depending on the context and situation, being reactive and adaptable could allow you to respond to the situations more flexibly as they arise (e.g. urgent troubleshooting scenarios/ questions that may come to you suddenly from the customer), providing a more authentic and tailored exchange between the customer and brand.
2. Personalise for that special touch
Imagine receiving a generic Christmas card versus one that is beautifully crafted, addressing you by name and hand written neatly by the sender, which one would touch your heartstrings more? Now, we’re not asking you to send hand-written notes to your customers here but the essence of it here is simple - personalise your communication and engagements to each of your customers. Be it authentic addressing of their personal names, mentions/references to their accounts/ enquiries, or even choices of pronouns when crafting your broader communication (e.g. on social networks, etc), adding such subtle forms of personalisation goes a long way to building an authentic client-brand relationship and foster more nuanced customer engagement.
3. Embrace feedback and get the best out of it
Feedback while on paper, sounds grand and promising - many cringe at the sound and sight of it, worrying what negative slurs and messages await them. However, what is important here is not what tone the feedback comes in, but rather be able to remind ourselves of the type of mindset in which we look at the feedback and what we want to achieve out of it.
Seeking feedback with the goals of (i) improving the customer experience with the brand and/or its products and (ii) a learning opportunity that could lead to greater innovation and improvement of the brand overall - this is what we want. This not only helps us approach feedback from a point of objectivity, but also creates a dynamic between the customer and brand that is one of constructive collaboration.
While all forms of feedback are welcome in general to allow an avenue for customers to have an open channel to approach, we would want to perhaps provide some guidance to customers on the type of feedback that could help deepen the quality of the engagement. This is where the importance of creating a feedback loop is important:
- How should the flow of the feedback go from the point of the customer to us as a brand?
- How can we also take a proactive approach in seeking feedback?
- What are the channels of feedback that the brand can tap on?
- For modes such as a feedback survey, how could I share them to my customers widely?
As a channel of feedback, thinking about a feedback survey and its contents is important in ensuring you can get the best out of the feedback. Thinking about the type of questions that go into the feedback survey (e.g. multi-select; single selects; open-ended) and the flow of it can help balance out the need to obtain constructive feedback from the customer while making the customer feel that their feedback matters and is genuinely being taken in.
4. Make education part of your customer engagement
Education is always a great way to foster and grow your customer-brand relationship, building greater trust and credibility. Proactively sharing education content in the forms of your own brand’s content and/or helpful resources (e.g. a Knowledge base) serves to create a creative touch point in which to better engage your customers beyond day-to-day communications.
Such sharing also communicates an open approach from the brand when it comes to thought leadership and learning collaboratively, equipping your customers with the necessary resources and tools to leverage the brand’s service and/or products.
Conclusion
Ultimately, customer engagement, while simple on the surface as a concept, comprises intricacies and efforts in communication and interactions to cultivate the perfect balance of stickiness and collaboration between the customer and the brand. The possibilities are endless and no two customer engagement strategies are quite the same. So long as we keep in mind the key nature of customer engagement being highly tailorable, multi-touch points, being continuous and authentic, we are enroute to creating a great relationship between brand and customer.
