What Drives Customer Engagement?

CX Solutions and Voice Crafter recently began sharing results of our 2016 Benchmark Study of Customer Engagement.  We offered a definition of Customer Engagement (CE), and tried to show how it is different from loyalty and related constructs.  Cindy Grimm and Randy Brandt shared findings clearly demonstrating that CE is directly linked to repeat purchases and share of wallet, as well as additional customer behaviors that promote brand health and growth.  In our most recent blog post, Christine Mazur discussed and illustrated how CE is stronger in some industries – and for some brands – than others. 

But why is CE higher in some industries and for some brands?  What is it about CE leaders that makes them so effective in engaging their customers? What quality or qualities enable some brands to rise above the rest of the market place?   

We asked customers to rank, using an aided list, the top 5 reasons they used/purchased one brand versus its competitors.  This list, shown in Figure 1, included attributes like price/cost, customer service responsiveness to questions/issues, and company values plus nine other options.  We then took the top three reasons for each customer and looked at the distribution of reasons by company, industry and overall. 

To gauge the difference between stellar CE companies and just average/below average, we selected the top ranked CE company in each industry and compared their attribute ranking to the bottom performers (industry rankings can be seen in last week’s blog “Who Excels at Customer Engagement”).  Using the bottom performers as a benchmark, we tested the difference in high performers statistically to see where high performers excelled compared to the competition. 

Figure 1 provides the results of this comparison.  In some respects, low and high engagement companies are similar.  For example, Price/cost, Quality of product/services, and Available discounts/special offers are the top 3 reasons for using both types of companies.  A closer look, however, reveals some key differences.  Customers who use high customer engagement companies are more likely to choose them for their Quality of products/services, Staff/Employees, Customer Service responsiveness to questions/issues, and Company values.  In contrast, for low CE firms, Price/cost, Available discounts/special offers, Location/Convenience, and Ease of doing business stand out as primary reasons.

  

Figure 1: Top Attributes for High CE companies vs. Low CE companies 

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*All differences presented in Figure 1 are significant.

These findings suggest that companies like USAA, Chick-fil-A, and Verizon differentiate themselves through quality products/services and their people.  Competitors, on the other hand, mainly attract customers through price, convenience/ease of doing business, and discounts.

In our survey, we also asked customers, “what one aspect of your experience with (BRAND) stands out the most, and why?”  The results, summarized in Figure 2, reveal a pattern for low CE companies similar to the results shown above:    Customers remember low engagement companies for price and discounts compared to high engagement ones.

Figure 2: Consumers Most Memorable Experiences for High CE companies vs. Low CE companies 

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*All differences presented in Figure 1 are significant.

Going a little deeper, we wanted to review several specific comments that really demonstrated how customers feel about high CE companies that are masters of engagement (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Customer Comments for High CE Companies

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Even with this small sample of comments, it’s easy to see that quality product/services and people can have a major impact on how customers view a company and really help to drive customer engagement.

In next week’s blog, we will share a specific example of how one company achieves CE leadership through a combination of quality products and great customer service.  We hope you will check back then!

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