CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AND RETENTION

Customer engagement:

What: The means by which a company creates a relationship with its customer base to foster brand loyalty and awareness. 
How:  Marketing campaigns, new content created for and posted to websites, outreach via social media and mobile and wearable devices, among other methods.
Important: A customer purchasing a product is the ultimate goal for a business engaging a customer. There are many steps an organisation has to take in building turst and credibility through whatver platform the customer chooses to interact with the brand.
A highly engaged customer, is a customer who shares their positive experience to others through social media or WOM. The company has won the trust.

Customer engagement marketing: 

• The development of RELATIONSHIPS with consumer or businesses with a company or brand. The relationship can be either consumer or business led and can develop on or off-line. 
• Engagement happens at EVERY STAGE OF THE CONSUMER JOURNEY. Brands should consider engagement as a VALID OBJECTIVE in its own right or they may assign revenue related activities.

Typical engagement outcomes / objectives include: 

• Increasing reach / awareness
• Generating leads or sales (could include cross-selling and up-selling)
• Creating user generated content (USG) (including reviews)
• Increasing loyalty (could include increased LTV or retention)
• Developing new products (could include co-creation) 
• Increasing engagement (could include reading or watching content, social follows or website visits)

Factors for consideration: 

B2B v B2C

The B2B sales process can be long and protracted usually down to high cost products and services which could involve many stakeholders before purchase. Engagement over many months and those multiple stakeholders is very important in B2B marketing.

B2B2C: 

New disruptive digital business models may emean those brands have simultaneous B2B and B2C relationships. FB is an example, where it sells advertising to brands but has a network of consumers who are both product and consumer.

Who owns customer engagement? 

Customer focused businesses put the consumer at the heart of the organisation. Customer engagement crosses marketing, sales, customer service, HR, product development and other departments working together, but marketing tends to lead. 

Customer journey: 

As consumers move online and offline seamlessly, brands need to understand these customer journeys and what are the most important touchpoints and channels. Typically, brands will map customer journeys for sales conversion, reactivation, acquisiton and value generation. 

Customer touchpoints: 

All the places the brand meets the customer, or the places customers meet other customers in a brand. A TP can be a whole channel or a specific activity in one channel within a customer journey. Not all touchpoints are of equal value. Businesses need to ensure they focus on the most valuable experiences at the most important touchpoints. They need to consider where the customer…