Type “customer engagement” into Google and you get almost 75 million results. The concept of customer engagement is not just the latest buzzword, but rather represents a transformative industry trend.
What does customer engagement actually mean? There are plenty of definitions out there. But let’s look at this from a customer point of view—because one thing we all have in common is we’re all customers. We want to be listened to, we want to be treated well, we want our needs met. It’s really that simple. The company that can do that is the company that wins our business.
It’s the same thing on the business side: listen to your customers, treat them well, meet their needs. The challenge is how to do this in an online era in which customers are in control: they are tech savvy and mobile, talking about your company and products on social networks, and more willing than ever to shed brand loyalty for another company that . . . listens to them better, treats them better, meets their needs better. The fact is, the Internet, along with social and mobile technologies, has leveled the playing field, making it easier than ever for you to lose a customer to a competitor. Which means the reverse is also true: it’s easier than ever to win a customer—if you engage with them properly.
Customer engagement today means implementing a strategy and tools that enable you to monitor what is being said about your brand, products and services on social networks. You may no longer be able to control the conversation the way you did in the era of push marketing, but you can participate in the social conversation and help to shape its direction by responding appropriately to mentions of your company.
You also need the ability to interact with customers on their terms, meaning they dictate the when and where. For example: offering special deals on Facebook, providing customer service via Twitter, hosting and moderating online discussion forums, and more. It’s all about getting close to customers where they are.
You also need the ability to know everything about your customers, and you need this across your organization. Sales, marketing, customer service, accounting—everyone needs access to a complete view of a customer. Today everyone has to be a customer emissary, and anyone in your organization might be called upon to serve a customer at any given moment. That’s why so many companies are deploying internal social collaboration tools such as Chatter, which allows your employees to seek expertise, information and help from each other when serving a customer.
Is customer engagement a buzzword? Certainly. But you only get to be a buzzword by having at your foundation an important and essential truth: your business will not survive without customers. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed, but how you engage with customers and keep them in the fold continues to shift.
