Marketers need an intuitive framework that allows them to move away from treating customers as generic segments to focusing on an individual's buying process, according to the latest market study by Forrester Research.
Forrester's assessment says that the framework must align with the multifaceted buying process of today, not the linear process of the past.
How can marketers evolve? The answer is engagement -- the level of involvement, interaction, intimacy, and influence that a person has with a brand over time. It's the new approach necessary for mapping intricate customer behaviors into an actionable strategy while aligning them with the buying process.
Engagement measurement encompasses the quantitative and qualitative metrics collected from both online and offline channels. It comprises the concrete individual metrics from store visits and online purchases, to the softer, aggregated insights from brand awareness studies, sentiment, loyalty, and advocacy.
Four components make up the engagement framework:
Involvement -- the presence of a person at the various brand touch-points. Metrics include Web site visitors, time spent per page, physical store visits, impressions from mass media advertising, etc. Data sources include Web Analytics, store traffic reports.
Interaction -- the actions people take while present at those touch-points. Metrics include click-throughs, online transactions, in-store purchases, uploaded photos or videos, etc. Data sources include eCommerce platforms, POS systems, social media platforms.
Intimacy -- the affection or aversion a person holds for a brand. Metrics include sentiment measurement in blog posts, blog comments, discussion forums, customer service call sentiment, etc. Data sources include brand monitoring services, survey responses, customer service call centers.
Influence -- the likelihood a person is to advocate on behalf of the brand. Metrics include brand awareness, loyalty, affinity, repurchases, Net Promoter, satisfaction ratings, forwarded content, etc. Data sources include market research services, brand monitoring, customer service call centers, surveys.