Potentiating the Customer Engagement Triad (Part 2)
Posted by Margaret Henry, Ph.D. on February 4th, 2013
The attainment of high levels of Customer Engagement for any organization is clearly a necessity for growth and business success since it leads to overall customer retention, an increase in the lifetime value of a customer and promotes advocacy which serves to improve brand awareness and grow an organization’s customer base. Fortunately, every organization has the ability to impact and facilitate engagement among their customers. They just need to understand how.
First and foremost, driving customer engagement from the organization’s side requires a deep understanding of the needs, expectations and perceptions of the customers within each step of the engagement triad – Satisfaction, Loyalty and Advocacy. The only means by which to attain this information is to ask for it. Typically this is accomplished through customer research – surveys, interviews, focus groups and forums.
Although this sounds straight forward and quite simple, it is actually where the challenge begins. And, the challenge is in knowing what to ask during the research in order to gain the necessary information. The ability to ask the right questions lies within the complete understanding of each step of the triad and how they are linked. Since the first step of the triad is satisfaction, this should always be the starting point. My next article will delve more deeply into the understanding of satisfaction and the primary role it plays in the facilitation of engagement among customers.
Click here for Part 3 in the series
Click here for Part 1 in the series
Hello Margaret,
This was an interesting article.
It made me think through the marketing vehicles in which the “Triad” are created and evolved over time. These would include the social networks (particularly the reviews-related networks), as well as traditional email marketing and website promotion processes established over the last 12 years.
I have found that there is another dimension to those mentioned above, that reinforce “expectations and perceptions of the customers.” It is the quality of online communications, primarily being email.
My clients have experienced an increase in perceived professionalism and credibility, over and above higher response rates to email campaigns and prospect responses.
These positive outcomes have reinforced the marketing environment/eco-system for automotive dealers that have helped overcome issues with sales process ethics and quality of client care.
In short, first impressions matter. And generally speaking, in today’s retail environment, email is the primary form of response. Without a quality email response, the customer engagement lifecycle you suggest in your article is less likely to begin in a cost effective manner.
Keep up the good work!
Best,
Jim Lawrence
CEO
DealerEFX.com
Jim,
Thank you so much for your valuable comments! I could not agree more.
The marketing vehicles, particularly the online communications, are such an inherent part of any organizations task of setting the stage for and promoting engagment (satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy)among their clients. And, as you pointed out, the inital email contacts are typically the first and, therefore, very critical communications and need to be handled with great forethought and care.
It appears that the email communication stragegy you are promoting has provided great success and is effectively overcoming possible negative preconceived perceptions among clients. You are demonstrating the opportunity to meet and exceed needs and expectations as well as reinforce positive experiences in the email arena. Thank you, again, for sharing your thoughts and your success in this area!
Regards,
Margaret Henry, Ph.D.
Senior Research Analyst