Three truly effective techniques for customer engagement

2015 will be the year that “customer engagement” takes center stage in the theater of c-level business strategy. Whereas in recent years much of the focus was on customer acquisition, C-Suite financial executives these days are aiming their attention on ways to extend existing customer lifetime value.

Customer Lifetime Value

The notion of “Customer Lifetime Value” (CLTV) is a concept and calculation that helps organizations determine the dollar value associated with their long-term relationship of any customer, determining just how much that customer relationship is worth. Used by marketing managers, MBA’s and executives, CLTV is a prediction of the net profit associated with the entire relationship with a customer. While the calculations can be a bit arcane, the idea of customer lifetime value is an important one because it encourages firms to shift their focus from customer acquisition to the long-term health of their customer relationships.

Customer Loyalty

More and more banks, credit unions and financial services firms are retooling their efforts to more ardently optimize customer lifetime value, and that means keeping customers engaged and compelling them to purchase again and again. But it can be an uphill battle. According to Ernst & Young, the world’s third largest professional advisory firm, just 25% of US consumers consider brand loyalty as something that impacts their buying behavior. Research from Nielsen, the global marketing research firm, found that 78% of consumers are not loyal to any particular brand. It is becoming more and more important for businesses to communicate with their customers in a more personal and effective ways in order to build brand loyalty and customer lifetime value

Tips for Top-Shelf Customer Engagement

Hundreds of pages have been written, published and debated online, and numerous high-profile conferences address the topic of customer engagement. But the question is: How can firms gain advantage? Here are three techniques to get it done.

# 1 – Customer Communications Management

Customer Communications are no longer a back office problem, they are critical front-and-center business imperative. But brand managers and corporate marketing executives often struggle to provide a consistent brand experience across all their communications. Customer Communications Managementis an approach and technology that work to unite outbound and inbound communications, making the job of improving customer engagement across channels much easier. Our own 366 Degrees is one tool to consider; an intuitive cloud-based platform that allows you to more thoughtfully manage multi-channel communication with consistent messages, improved customer experiences, and marketing campaigns that make a difference.

# 2 – Integrated Campaigns

Print, text, online, social – they all matter, and marketing ROI is increased when organizations integrate marketing campaigns across multiple channels and understand their impact on one another. These days, a typical consumer will use up to five different channels to discover and evaluate a new product or service. OMNI channel marketing can improve campaign results in the neighborhood of 300% to 650% over traditional campaigns. We see the results with customers using 366 Degrees to create, implement and monitor multi-channel marketing campaigns. The cloud-based platform makes it easy to manage all your customer communications no matter what form they take.

# 3 – Feedback Management

If you want to improve customer engagement, it simply makes sense to listen to the voice of your customers. But notions like “satisfaction” and “experience” are subjective and not easily codified. The key is to thoughtfully monitor and measure your customers’ perceptions of their interactions with a firm. Advanced tools like 366 Degrees makes it easy to reach across communication channels in social media, mobile and online formats and then quickly analyze the effectiveness of those social connections. Apply things like message personalization and target segmentation and perform in-depth campaign analytics to understand customer feedback and continually adjust your campaign strategies.

Moving Forward

Customer engagement has become increasingly complex, distributed and digital. As a result, financial service firms face the challenge of managing their message and their methods in ways that make a difference. A new level of planning and operational flexibility a critical success factor.

That’s where we come in. 366 Degrees by OMI is a single cloud-based platform to manage all of your customer communications no matter what form they take. Easily reach across channels in social media, mobile and online formats and then quickly analyze the effectiveness of those social connections. You can even take full control of your printed materials as well. Bottom line: Now is the time to take control of your member and customer communications and adopt techniques for truly effective customer engagement.