Organisations must do everything they can to stay on top of shifts in consumer demands and expectations.

Customer engagement informs and feeds into customer experience (CX). However, simply viewing customer experience as a differentiator is no longer enough. Today, more than 90% of companies say they compete on customer experience, meaning you have to go above and beyond to stand out.

In a world where everyone is chasing loyalty, you must go much further to earn it.

Knowing that, what kind of approach to customer engagement should organisations take to provide the best possible customer experience in 2023? More specifically, could such an approach be the silver bullet that takes an organisation's CX from so-so to world-class?

The case for holistic customer engagement

When it comes to finding the right approach, there is a solid case to be made, taking one which focuses on holistic customer engagement. But what exactly does holistic customer engagement look like?

It's an approach which focuses on providing personalised, relevant engagements at every stage of the customer journey, including those that take place after a sale has been made.

Beyond that, it also means building out engagements that simplify customers' lives in ways tailored to their:
  • history
  • life stage, and
  • journey.

That's because today's customers feel entitled to anticipatory, seamless service with a preference for being able to handle their problems themselves.

However, organisations need to know their customers to foster that kind of engagement. The more you know about a customer, the more they can help build your business.

But organisations need to involve their customers in building up that knowledge base. Even if you're in a position to build up a good picture of a customer based on their so-called digital breadcrumbs, doing so could backfire from a CX perspective.

Think about it — if you're looking to build a real-world relationship with someone, what is the best approach? One where you ask that person questions and listen to their answers or bring up talking points based on their social media history?

In the customer engagement space, it's essential to go a little beyond that too. For example, customers expect their engagement history to be fully documented. This not only helps them know that the organisation's paying attention but also allows them to help themselves more easily.

It's also critical that such an approach be multi-dimensional. A one-dimensional approach doesn't work for clients. But, again, it's important to remember that customer engagement is, fundamentally, the relationship an organisation has with its customers.

And what might be an appreciated gesture one day could be totally irrelevant on another. Your spouse, for instance, might appreciate it if you offer to help with the dishes one night. But they'll probably be less appreciative if you provide to help with the dishes when you can see they're struggling in the garden.

No silver bullets

It should be clear that, while it can produce the best results, holistic customer engagement shouldn't be viewed as a CX silver bullet. It takes time, effort and constant refinement to get right. Moreover, organisations need to combine different tools to optimise their engagement outcome.

Of course, few organisations know what those tools should be. It's best to choose a customer experience partner who uses technology to optimise customer engagement. That partner should also have a strong track record in helping organisations optimise their digital engagement landscape and ensure that the end customers receive seamless, relevant service.

Beyond that, a good customer engagement partner will help organisations simplify, individualise and maximise engagement across the board — making it easy for companies and their customers to engage meaningfully.

Ongoing effort

Ultimately, no matter how much effort an organisation puts into holistic customer engagement in 2023, it's critical that it keeps putting that kind of effort in through 2024, 2025 and beyond. This is because customer engagement has continually evolved and will continue to do so.

Organisations need to understand that and treat it as needing ongoing attention. Customer loyalty is hard-won and easily lost. As such, the last thing any organisation wants is to look up in a decade, realise how much customer engagement has changed and wonder why all of its competitors have overtaken it.

So, rather than searching for a silver bullet, they should put in the necessary work with the help of partners that can set them up for long-term success. 

For more information, visit www.tilte.cx. You can also follow Tilte on Twitter.