Customer Engagement is an area of brand affinity that I’m passionate about.  I’ve always been a strong believer that only by tapping into the emotional needs of consumers will brands ever be able to design and deliver valuable products that serve their rational needs as well. This mindset goes way beyond performing in ways to achieve satisfied customers and much more to the heart of what my employer Ovation is doing now – encouraging brands to solve the problems of their consumers first and talk about how their products are superior second. If at all – wouldn’t that be a net effect of solving their problems?  Relieve some of your customers pain, and they will be appreciative and start to see your brand as a resource and trusted authority.  Trust will build a relationship up, provide a bridge to new relationships, and serve as a solid foundation should your brand stumble.

I mentioned Something About Birds, Didn’t I?

I’m really not a fan of birds, but earlier this spring a family took up roost in the Boston fern hanging on my front porch.  I had to be careful how I watered the plant so that the babies didn’t get the equivalent of a pint-sized monsoon.  Those times when I was looking close, I couldn’t help but be amazed at the construction of the nest.  It was the perfect size for the number of babies; it was uniform and tightly constructed. It’s amazing how it was constructed by a creature without the benefit of opposable thumbs and Crazy Glue.

Be Your Inner Bird

We orchestrate meeting times, meeting places. We plan agendas, prepare documents, and even strategize presentation delivery and tactics.  All of this so that we can come up with the next sweeping campaign, big project, or plan a significant roll-out. But what if instead of cooking up big time/resource-suckers that we hope will be the saving grace of the product line or the quarter, what if we took a micro-level look at our customers.  What if we tried to build a nest one customer at a time? The initial result might be smaller in sales or conversions than the ‘ol sweeping campaigns at first – but I challenge that if consistent, in the longer-term, the retention will be higher and the pass-along, organic growth will flourish.

Give some thought to taping down your thumbs and reaching customers on an individual level. Build your nest of engaged customers one by one if you have to. Yes, customers with certain like habits or profiles can be lumped into buckets for some generalized purposes.  But never forget that they’re individuals first; designing for the mass makes you run the risk of diluting the value of the solution.  Don’t presume what you have to offer is important to them. Ask what they need, and really listen.  Can’t you just envision the possibilities?

If you just talk with those who buy (or bought, then deserted) from you, you’re likely to discover a whole host of needs and wish-fors that you never would have anticipated.  And how cool would it be if your company was the first to offer them relief and provide solutions to ease their pain?