Customer Engagement: The Most Important Measurements

According to Kaushik, 2010, the Merriam-Webster dictionary says engagement can be defined as tending to draw favorable attention or interest.  “We should all try to create website experiences that draw favorable attention or interest.  The challenge in the context of measurement is ‘favorable attention or interest is incredibly hard’—if not impossible—to measure,” (Kaushik, 2010).  Although engagement can be difficult to truly measure, there are some metrics that can help identify engagement such as page exit ratio, single page visits, bounce rate, page views per visit, conversion, conversion rate, hit/service request and impressions. 

Milanovic, 2013 says “customer engagement is a very real and important topic, and the more engaged your buyers are with your business and brand, the more likely they are to keep coming back to you in the future. Not only that, but loyal customers place much larger orders, keep their accounts longer (even if you have customer service mishaps), and tend to refer their friends and colleagues.” Engagement is extremely important to create loyalty and keep your customers interested in what you have to say and even what you have to sell.  You have to keep in mind the 80/20 rule, that 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your clients. Milanovic gives 5 ways to measure engagement on your website.

1.     The amount of time being spent on the site or individual pages- Getting people to your page is easy, but it’s keeping them there that can be a challenge. By measuring how much time is spent on your website or a certain section of your website, you can gage how interested your audience truly is in your products.

2.     Social media following and retention- There are a lot of ways to get likes and follows, but it is important to retain your followers and hold their attention.

3.     Responses to your blog posts and other content- Getting your audience to read your blog is one thing, but getting them to post comments or respond is another.  Blog posts are where conversations can start and customers can be fully engaged.

4.     Referrals, Re-Tweets and social sharing- If someone comments on material, they are interested, but if they share it, it shows they see enough value in it to share it to their family and friends.  By sharing content, it is like they are giving their personal stamp of approval.

5.     Sale opportunities- This is usually the last indicator of customer engagement, but if new sales opportunities are being generated at a regular rate, and your prices are not the lowest, you are obviously doing fine with customer engagement.

In today’s digital marketing world, people tend to focus more on web traffic or returning customers, but they do not always measure levels of customer engagement.  Customer engagement can be more important for a business long-term success.  Traffic is not the best number, but rather engagement and this relates back to the 80/20 rule.  Although it is important to get customers to your website, it is more important to keep them there and keep them engaged.

Do you have any other tips to keep your audience/customers engaged?

Reference:

Kaushik, A. (2010). Web analytics 2.0: The art of online accountability & science of customer centricity. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing.

Milanovic, R. (2013). 5 ways to measure engagement on your business website. Retrieved from http://kayakonlinemarketing.com/blog/bid/187362/5-Ways-to-Measure-Engagement-on-Your-Business-Website