Customer engagement has always been a key to success in any business, but what has the effect of Covid-19 had on this?
At the end of 2019, Michael Fertik writing for Forbes, stated ”…there’s a direct and proven correlation between the level of customer engagement and business profitability”
He wasn’t wrong then, and he’s even more right now.
So what has changed?
Customers have become increasingly cautious
Without a doubt, consumers have become more wary of making – and financially committing to – plans. In other words, they are being more careful with their spending.
Even many months after the start of the Covid pandemic, there is still a huge amount of uncertainty about the future. And when we say future, we are talking about weeks, not months or years.
An imposed quarantine was lifted in the UK for travellers returning from Portugal; people cheered and booked holidays. Within 2 weeks, quarantine when returning from Portugal was being threatened again. Many people paid out excessive fees to catch an earlier flight home just in case it was to be reinstated.
This is just one example of where increased uncertainty of the future has increased costs.
Already, there are food price increases in a number of countries around the globe.
Add into the mix the worry many are having over the security of their continuing employment and we can understand why spending has dropped and many are saving and holding their funds in reserve, as insurance against the unknown.
And this is all in addition to the economic shrinkage that has already been experienced due to global lockdowns of varying severity.
The result is that spending is down, disposable income is down, and what money is being spent is being done so cautiously and with careful consideration.
Customer priorities have changed
As their focus has switched more and more onto health, problems with education and rising unemployment, so have individuals’ priorities changed.
What seemed important just 12 months ago now does not seem as much so, or even now may seem irrelevant.
More of your customers now have more problems – and their existing concerns are seeming larger to them than before
Focus has shifted, in many cases, from luxury to necessity.
At the same time as this has happened, many people are still feeling more isolated than they ever have before and have become reliant only on those immediately around them – usually close family.
As months of lockdown begins to ease (although not everywhere) consumers are not emerging back into ‘normal’ life; they are beginning to understand that normal may never be ‘normal’ again.
Customers need engagement now more than ever
Customer engagement is the interacting relationship between you and your consumers.
Consumers need to trust the companies they engage with – and partly, this trust comes from engagement!
We’re not completely going in circles here…it’s about how you engage that matters.
For example, in a recent report, SmartHQ found that 72% of consumers say they now only engage with marketing messages tailored to their interests.
In the months ahead – and years – it is the companies that engage well now and build strong relationships with their customers that will be the post-Covid success stories.
And a lot of this must be done remotely.
There are many ways to remotely engage with your customers – social media and email contact being just two examples.
But there’s a lot more to it than just that.
To learn more, Splento has created a downloadable report on this important subject.
To get your copy of How to engage with your customers after Covid-19, absolutely free, simply click the button below:
Alternatively, contact Splento today for more information.
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