How Critical Is It to Have the Right Customer Engagement Platform in the Digital Age?

According to Forrester Research, 91% of marketers agree that digital marketing is critical to successfully growing business, yet only 44% have clearly defined digital strategy that’s deployed across the organization.

Since, we are living in the digital age and the business environment is highly dynamic, the role of customer engagement in creating brand value and pushing sales becomes critical. Most of the corporations today rely on CRM application to manage and process all customer related data and gain valuable insights. Most of the modern CRM applications are equipped with various marketing features such as social media integration and direct mail marketing but engaging customers requires a solid marketing strategy and lot more than merely running a CRM suite.

Let’s understand this with an example. Target stores one of the largest retail chains in North America, was too slow in responding to the new age digital breed of customers, because they relied too much on internal tools & technologies as well as third part vendors. As a result they lost the battle to the peers such as Walmart and Amazon that responded quickly to the digital customers by adopting customer engagement platforms that fulfilled the demands of the digital customers.

Today, customer engagement means engaging, informing and encouraging consumers to make a purchase.

Platforms, tools and technologies that promise immediate engagement and maximum ROI
A robust CRM application no doubt helps brands/companies to become more organized and equipped when it comes to managing customers and relationships. But engaging customers in real time is the need in these times. Technologies such as Augmented Reality promises real time engagement on smart phones and tablets by delivering content in an interactive manner. Brands/companies can use augmented reality as an engagement platform that can bring immediate results by delivering the most compelling digital experiences.

Another tried and tested tools are mobile apps that companies constantly use to engage customers anywhere, anytime. Mobile apps help companies push content to the devices in real-time and inform consumers about the deals and offers.

Conclusion
Adoption of newer technologies, tools and services is equally important as it is to implement sales strategies but adopting at the right time is what makes the real difference to the business. Brands need to identify customer behavior and their buying habits in order to align their business processes and products accordingly to survive in the volatile business environment and remain profitable. Focusing on engaging customers by informing them about your brand/products in an interactive manner can bring outstanding results and enhance brand value. However, it is up to the brands/companies how quickly they can adapt to the changing market dynamics and consumer demands.

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