Use our hub pages as a reference to get up-to-speed on all the main digital marketing techniques. They will help you quickly understand how to make the most of the technique through definitions and recommendations on our member resources and blog articles covering strategy, best practices and the latest statistics.
Of all the areas of digital marketing we cover on Smart Insights, Customer engagement is arguably THE most important and THE most challenging for a brand. It's crucial to repeat business, but with the choice available online difficult to achieve.
To read about approaches to improve engagement we suggest you read the latest customer engagement report from cScape. Issues to consider include:
In our interview with Richard Sedley we note that some might see customer engagement initiatives as shorthand for increasing conversion rates. Richard says:
"Conversions are still vitally important but what customer engagement does is place those conversions into a longer term, more strategic context. There are a number of definitions of customer engagement bouncing around at the moment, my own is:
"Repeated interactions that strengthen the emotional, psychological or physical investment a customer has in a brand".
The two key words here are'repeated' and 'investment'. A simple focus on maximising conversions can, in some circumstances, decrease the likelihood of repeat conversions. Think of that pushy door-to-door salesman.
You might buy something from him but what is the likelihood that you will repeat that purchase, or recommend his services to a friend?
Customer engagement places the strategic emphasis on the creation of valuable relationships and encourages both parties to see mutual advantage in that relationship. Frequently this will mean that your tactics require a multi-channel approach incorporating the best of digital and traditional media. I see the ability to effective blend media in its type, quantity and timing (known as Right-touching) as one of the key challenges for those interested in engagement in the coming years.
Statistics on the popularity of different engagement approaches are available within the latest engagement report.
These are the related techniques which we recommend as important for managing Customer engagement effectively. View these hub pages giving details on best practices, statistics and examples for these techniques:
The Digital Marketing Strategy And Planning toolkit contains:
The Digital Marketing Strategy And Planning toolkit contains:
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