Customer engagement. We hear this all the time, we know it’s important and that it’s good for our businesses. But what does it really mean? What companies show true customer engagement and why is it that some companies that don’t “engage” still survive?
I am always surprised that some brands are still alive and strong despite the zero customer communication that seems to be their rule of thumb . A great example of organizations that fail to interact with their customers are telecommunications companies. They are first plagued by their sheer size. Then comes a network of mobile resellers that just want to do the sale (the likes of Carphone Warehouse who represent every single mobile operator in the country), call centres that place you on hold for 40 minutes only to put you through an agent whose British northern accent is so thick you wonder if you haven’t dialled Reykjavik instead (Sky TV), and the only interaction you seem to have with them is in a shopping centre when a nineteen-year-old tries to flog you HDTV. So how come these companies are still around and making profits? My view is that they are still alive not because they are good, but thanks to their position of monopoly and their aged brand presence (soon to become aging brand presence if they’re not more careful).
In the case of telcos, Sky and BT have been sharing most of the UK market between themselves for a while. However they are losing some of these shares to other, cooler, more engaging brands who try not as hard to sell all their products to everyone at the same time. They instead seem to try to sell the right products to the right people. Think O2 and Virgin. O2 brought the iPhone to the UK (associating themselves with the Apple brand at the same time) and they have been showing us some pretty good time at the O2 Arenas all around Europe, even giving their customers privileged access to concert tickets. It is after all at the O2 Arena in London that Prince established residency for 21 consecutive sold-out nights. Virgin, well, need I say more on a brand whose vision is to take down monopolies and who takes tourists into orbit?!! Clearly we see that companies who truly engage with their customers win market shares while the dinosaurs eventually plateau, or decline.
The bottom line is to talk to your customers, acknowledge their existence and recognise the fact that if your organisation is still around it is thanks to them. By speaking to your customers they will respond, and if you can listen to them just a bit, then you will be able to feed back products and services that they will want and will buy from you. As technologies have gone beyond entering our houses and now live in our pockets, do Tweet, do Blog, do Podcast. Simply interact with your customers at their level and never ever ignore them or underestimate their intelligence and the ultimate power of referral. In return, your customers will reward you with the most prized success any organization can hope for: their long-term loyalty.
