Let’s define Customer Engagement.

Research across a wide variety of sectors including, for example, financial services, hospitality, and consumer electronics has established that engaged customers are worth considerably more than customers who are not engaged. They have been shown to spend 50% or more than their disengaged cousins. But this is not all they do. They create value in other ways too.

Let’s step back and be clear about what is meant by customer or consumer engagement. Engaged customers have a high level of active participation in and interaction with a brand or firm. That participation takes a variety of forms: cognitive, emotional, behavioural, and social. Cognitive engagement means that customers know more about the brand, its features, and the benefits and experiences it delivers.

A decade ago, brand owners would have been happy with high customer satisfaction scores. This is no longer enough. Leading brands are doing all they can to build customer engagement across all touch points – stores, contact centres and online. They know that engaged customers are less likely to churn to competitors, but instead create significant value through their buying and other pro-brand behaviours.