The concept of consumer engagement has become far more relevant today as India is fast witnessing a massive eruption in the number of digital-first businesses.
Understanding the meaning of consumer engagement
In the simplest terms, consumer engagement refers to the level of interaction that a consumer chooses to have with your brand, across their lifecycle. Gone are the days when acquiring competitive advantage in one’s market used to be simple. The process usually began with creating a good product or service, deciding the right pricing, and going all out via the advertising route. Things have now changed drastically. Most businesses have their work cut out for them in face of the fiercely competitive landscape in the 21st century. Varied choice of products, services, and communication channels, coupled with the increasing irrelevance of geography, especially in the backdrop of COVID 19 pandemic has converted the world into a battleground for brands hoping to not only survive but also thrive in current times. Most experts believe that there is a direct link between increasing consumer retention rates and an eventual increase in an organization’s profits. Moreover, it is believed that acquiring a new customer can sometimes cost five times more than retaining an existing one. Therefore, it’s a no-brainer why businesses are banking on building consumer engagement and loyalty.
The growing significance of consumer engagement
The concept of consumer engagement has become far more relevant today as India is fast witnessing a massive eruption in the number of digital-first businesses. These businesses are largely catering to or targeting millennials and the Gen Zies typically aged between 14 to 30 years of age – the segment which is always connected to the internet and accesses content on the go. These segments view brands as a form of self-expression. They are spoilt for choice, surrounded by a huge number of brands and categories. Consequently, their attention span is also very short. In such a circumstance, the best way for brands to navigate this clutter is to connect with their value system, speak their language, demonstrate how the brand adds value to their lives, and be present on the same channels as they are. Taking the example of advertising to attract consumers and drive engagement. Interestingly, a single consumer today is exposed to nearly 4000 to 10000 advertisements in a day. These advertisements are spread across disparate media channels such as newspapers, television, radio, and online news media apart from social media portals. The reality is that only a few advertisements end up creating a subconscious impression in the minds of a consumer. Consequently, he or she would engage with or remember roughly around 10-12 advertisements in a day out of this humongous level of conversations initiated by brands. A huge majority of consumers feel that these advertisements are neither personalized nor contextual.
In a crux, a brand’s core strategy ingredient to differentiate itself from the sea of brands– has to be the manner in which it engages with its potential consumer. Many feel that personalisation is key here. It is often described as the pinnacle of consumer engagement. It all boils down to understanding the user's content consumption pattern through technology. Let us take the example of how the hyper-targeted marketing campaigns commonly associated with a heavy price tag, can be brought down considerably with the right technologies. Emerging technologies such as Big data and analytics solutions are being used to select the right medium, geography, communication, and even time to attract a particular set of consumers. These insights help optimise a company’s spending on analytics, marketing, and communication, with a lower cost and higher ROI on targeted activities than an undistinguishable campaign. One such example is when two unique brand stories find synergies and then try to reach the end consumer. A few examples here would be BYJU’s and Bournvita coming together to provide scholarships to children and Pantene launching its own Women Aid Campaign. Most brands are waking up to this reality of personalisation like never before.
Hence, it may not be an exaggeration to say that the goal of consumer engagement is threefold:
Challenges around consumer engagement – Closing the messaging gap through Conversation Media Marketing
Most brands acknowledge that consumer engagement that causes stickiness is fairly challenging. A host of companies today are beginning to find alternatives to the social media behemoths such as Facebook or Instagram – following the incessant debate over data privacy and intrusion. Above all, the biggest challenge that brand marketers face today is the presence of a messaging gap – what brands want or expect vis-a-vis what they get with traditional digital media. They are constantly looking for alternatives that can help them bridge the gap through technological innovations. This is where the concept of Conversation Media Marketing comes to the forefront. This new- evolving form of marketing can be best described as the visual form of online communication where consumers become brand ambassadors themselves.
Bobble AI’s data intelligence report released in July this year states Interesting facts about these elements of visual expressions such as:
700M+ stickers and GIFs are sent every day
The idea here is to use conversation-based expressions such as GIFs, Stickers, Emojis, and Avatars to promote brands and make them a part of users’ everyday conversations. These new-age brand marketing tools have the potential to build an instant visual connection. The target audience also relates with them. A host of brands are beginning to realise that this form of marketing is also not associated with intrusion or annoyance – the attributes that are usually associated with most consumer engagement strategies.
Cross-industry brands like Ikea, Snickers, McDonald's, HBO, Starbucks, Reebok have leveraged conversation media solutions and became part of everyday conversations with branded stickers & GIFs.
To sum it up, the future would eventually belong to brands who will think consumers first and put thrust in engagement on the top of the priority list.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house