Customer Engagement

Lessons from brands such as BMW, 7-Eleven and others, remind everyone the importance of engaging your customers, in order to keep pace with not only their interest and desires, but also what is impacting them in their lives, new technologies, etc...

Share your experience of a brand that has evolved, creates engaging experiences, then share one that has failed you over time.

"Although speed is critical to #customer #experience, it’s often #communication, or the lack of it, that really drives customers away."

Whether it's customer facing, or with your employees, communication is key to success, do you agree?

It's about understanding your customer expectations at every #touchpoint of their #journey. Make sure you deliver the right information, level of access and interaction. The easier you make it for your customers, the more positive #engagement you will receive. 

Online reviews are one of the "Four Pillars" of digital presence.

“Customers don’t think in terms of channels and touch points; they just expect seamless, integrated and consistent #customer #experiences"

What are the challenges you face to offer a true omnichannel experience?

Great quote from Chris Brogan @ Hyatt:

"Our competitive differentiation comes from knowing our customers better than our competitors"

Totally agree. #CX is NOT a project - it's about transformation. Driving the entire organization to know customers well and collaborating across business units to deliver the experience through desired channels. It won't work if everyone stays in their "own silo." Also love the Hyatt quote at the end!

According to a recent report, Gartner’s Executive Summary for Leadership Accountability and Credibility within the C-Suite, a high percentage of CEOs expect CMOs to lead the integrated cross-functional customer experience....

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We all need to review our customer loyalty strategies and make use of the deluge of data we have at our disposal in order to create a better customer experience that helps us win, serve and retain customers in a more profitable manner.

I like that Forrester factors emotions into their ranking, something NPS does not, making for a more complete measurement and predictor of consumer loyalty.

"Customer retention is paramount to acquisition!"

Do you agree?

What are you doing to build and nurture your current customer relationships? 

Annette shares valuable facts:

1) A 5% reduction in the customer defection rate can increase profits by 25-95%. -Bain & Co/HBR

2) A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%. -Emmet and Mark Murphy

3) The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%. The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%. -Marketing Metric

4) Customer profitability tends to increase over the life of a retained customer. -Emmet and Mark Murphy

5) 55% of current marketing budget is spent is on new customer acquisition and only 12% on customer retention. -McKinsey

6) It is 6 to 7 times more expensive to acquire new customers than it is to keep a current one. -White House Office of Consumer Affairs

7) A 10% increase in customer retention levels result in a 30% increase in the value of the company. -Bain & Co

8) Most important marketing objectives? 29.9% think it should be customer acquisition, and 26.6% think it is customer retention; however, 62.2% admit that they concentrate on customer acquisition, with only 20.6% focusing on customer retention. –Emarketer

9) 80% of your future profits will come from just 20% of your existing customers. -Gartner

10) A 10% increase in customer retention yields a 30% increase in the value of the company. -Bain & Co

11) Repeat customers spend 33% more compared to new customers. -Laura Lake

As @BrianSolis rightfully points out:

"The customer landscape is shifting. It always does. This time, however, the door to Digital Darwinism has been kicked off its hinges. #Technology and society are evolving faster than the ability to adapt. Consumers are becoming more connected. As such, they’re more informed. With information comes empowerment. And with new found connectedness and power, customer expectations begin to shatter current sales, #marketing, and support models.

#Social, #mobile, and real-time each contribute to a new reality for #customer #experiences and #engagement."

Will your company be ready for the customer of tomorrow?

Excellent book from Solis... #innovateorDie

Then vs Now: Funnel Marketing vs The Consumer Decision Journey

Now it's about Lifetime connection.

Do you agree that successful brands need to create a two-sided conversation with consumers rather than a one-way "push" through the funnel?

“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is.”

Lonnie Mayne shares valuable insight across 5 key steps every organization should implement.

"Last year, Gartner declared #customer #experience “the new competitive battleground.”  As you embark upon the fight for market share, be wise in the strategies and tactics you deploy. While you should learn from the past, the only sure way to win and keep the hearts, minds and dollars of your customers is to take time to create an authentic environment -- one made up of individual experiences that are true to the #relationship you want with your customers. And then, push yourself elegantly beyond that goal."

In your experience, which step has been the most difficult for some brands to implement?

Customer Service has changed dramatically and social media is at the heart of this change. Businesses who use social media as part of their marketing mix really have to take their service to a new level to compete in a market where word of mouth is viral. Read this great article for a better insight into the issue. 

Study by @JWT_Worldwide, “72% of #Millennials would rather spend money on #experiences than products”  #Social #media can be a useful activation marketing tool with members posting their once in a lifetime experience of these events.  Experiential #marketing appeals to consumers because it touches their passions in life.   

Which loyalty program are you most active in?

Share your thoughts.

Need to consider "Experience currency" to drive Loyalty. This refers to Loyalty Programs, but it's really about Loyalty overall.

Offering discounts is not the best way to build #engagement

Which quote is your favorite?

1. “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money ... It is the customer who pays the wages." (Henry Ford)

2. “The biggest risk is not taking any risk ... In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” (Mark Zuckerberg)

3. “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.” (Jeff Bezos)

4. “Innovation needs to be part of your culture. Customers are transforming faster than we are, and if we don’t catch up, we’re in trouble.” (Ian Schafer)

5. “How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?” (Seth Godin)

6. “If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.” (Jeff Bezos)

7. “Each business is a victim of Digital Darwinism, the evolution of consumer behavior when society and technology evolve faster than the ability to exploit it.” (Brian Solis)

8. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." (Bill Gates)

9. “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology, not the other way around.” (Steve Jobs)

10. “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

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Difficile de choisir ! Et vous ?

"While #technology alone can’t produce great #marketing, great marketing today depends on the strategic use of technology and #data to uncover even the tiniest customer insight or opportunity to make deeper connections and add value."

Do you agree?

As you identify your customer journey, implement solutions at every touchpoint, learn and adapt, you can then focus on delighting your customers every chance you are given.

Will McInness highlights the 6 key reasons:

1) Following the money

2) Brand protection

3) Serendipitous insights

4) Tech innovation

5) Emotions front and center 

6) Command centers as real-time visual listening sources

How important are images when it comes to your social sharing?

How more likely are you to engage socially with brands via photo-sharing campaigns?

Great food for thought this morning on where you should focus your marketing efforts for 2015

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Best and worst times to post on Social Media