The concept of Customer Engagement has become a wildly popular idea these days. CEOs, marketing experts as well as advertising experts and professionals in web analytics use the word with equal enthusiasm. It is difficult to discern the same term used in a variety of settings. This article will explain the various meanings of the word depending on the market and explains how experts in each of the fields have proposed that Customer Engagement must be measured.
There are three major fields of study which commonly employ this term such as advertising, website optimization as well as marketing. In all three of these areas the term customer Engagement (CE) refers to the user’s experience. Since no standardized measurement tool is available for this phrase, those who seek to assist other businesses with the development of a strategy to engage customers should define the key metrics to measure the quality of their service, in order to assess their own effectiveness. This means that no two businesses evaluate CE in the exact same way, however, there are certain areas that commonality across companies. Below are the definitions for CE within each market as well as the most common characteristics used to assess it.
Customer Engagement in the field of advertising
The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) defines engagement as “turning on a potential customer to the idea of a brand, augmented by the context.” In general, advertisers employ”engagement” as a synonym for “engagement” in order to define the way an individual viewer reacts to an advertisement. In the past, advertisers saw the buying process as being largely one-sided. advertising designers drew consumers’ attention, increased their interest and desire, which then enticed buyers to buy. Modern advertisers concentrate on how consumers interact with ads by combining the message of the advertisement with their own associations, metaphors and symbols. In the world of advertising, an engaged customer is one who has had a personal interaction with the advertisement and has taken the decision to purchase an item or service. In contrast to Voice of the Customer program expectations in marketing, marketers tend to focus on the impact of advertising on a brand’s customers’ engagement strategies.
Customer Engagement on Website Analytics
The concept of customer engagement within the context of website analytics differs slightly. In this particular market, CE describes how a user interacts with the site owned by a brand. When it comes to website analytics, the purpose of a customer engagement plan is to boost conversions. Conversions are a objective that online marketers can achieve for visitors to their websites. Common conversions are sales on the internet as well as sign-ups for newsletters via e-mail and signing up to try out free services.
Web analytics firms define engagement in terms of a variety of indicators, like the length of time that a user spends on websites and the number of pages that users visit and the number of posts users post on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
The role of customer engagement in marketing
In the field of marketing customer Engagement is the measure of how engaged a customer is in a specific brand. Marketers differentiate CE against older phrases like customer satisfaction or loyalty by stating that engagement is more focused on the emotional bond of the customer to a brand. The increase in word-of-mouth recommendations and customer loyalty are believed to be an outcome of the high CE. It’s not uncommon for business leaders to want to build the effectiveness of their customer engagement plan, as the market has connected this obscure quality to key business metrics such as profit margins and stock prices as well as ROI and the share of wallet.
Marketers are able to evaluate engagement by studying various metrics like customer retention the number of sales, revenue per client marketing and sales costs as well as the frequency of repeated purchases. Site analytics, like time spent on the website and email opt-ins are frequently utilized by marketers as well.
Market research experts have created their own definitions and metrics for CE. Gallup for example, examines customer satisfaction overall as well as intent to repurchase and the intent to suggest when measuring the level of engagement their customers have. PeopleMetrics’ Voice of the Customer program evaluates CE in relation to a consumer’s probability of returning and be willing to put in more effort for an organization, advocacy and enthusiasm for a particular brand.
As you can observe, there are variations of meanings with regards to the term. The most effective way to develop an effective customer engagement strategy to work with an advertising, web analytics or marketing firm that’s definition is compatible with your company’s objectives.