Dave Murashige is vice president & general manager, enterprise and intelligence solutions at Syniverse
By Dave Murashige I do not have to tell you that happy customers are your most valuable assets. There are many stats to back this up, but a couple of my favorite ones came from analyst powerhouses Gartner and Forrester Research. Importantly, they tell us that respectively 80 percent of your company’s future revenue will come from just 20 percent of your customers and that it costs five times as much to acquire new customers as it does to keep current ones. However, getting, and keeping, the loyalty of your customers is more complicated than ever. Why? Today’s customers are undeniably mobile. And that means they have access to more information than ever before – both on you and your competitor – and they can access that information anywhere, anytime. So how can you make your brand’s messages stand out in a sea of digital noise? The following six tips are not really secrets, but rather fundamentals of successful mobile engagement. Smart companies are employing these tips to obtain and retain new customers, increase their revenues, and cut costs by focusing on a single strategic initiative – optimizing engagement through the mobile medium. 1) Employ an engagement-as-a-service (EaaS) model This model is composed of a series of cloud-based services that make up a multipart campaign management program to help optimize engagement with customers across a number of mobile touch points, including text messages, emails, push notifications and social media updates. Other services include enterprise messaging to enable companies to engage in sophisticated two-way text messaging conversations with customers, employees and partners. Using an EaaS model, you can target marketing resources on a specific user and calculate ROI by individual customer instead of by an entire target group, and you no longer have to rely on mass, untargeted blast campaigns. Moreover, companies across industry sectors such as retail, travel and hospitality, and financial services can leverage an EaaS model to better deliver optimized mobile experiences to their customers with the right message, at the right time, through the right channel. 2) Get mobile-centric It used to be that the phrase “customer-centricity” formed the starting point of an engagement strategy. These days those customers are mobile. Whether your engagement strategy is focused on voice, email, mobile Web, social media, branded applications or text messaging – individually or through a combination of those channels – making sure your strategy to deliver your communications seamlessly means making sure you have a mobile-centric strategy. By being mobile-first, you will ensure your message reaches your customers at the right time, at the right place and in the right mobile moment to ensure the most impact. 3) Use mobile context Geolocation has become a valuable contextual opportunity to create an engaging mobile strategy where companies can send targeted communications based on the location of a user’s opted-in mobile phone. But the mobile device offers many more data points that can help optimize the user experience, increase conversion rates and enhance brand loyalty. Look at using multiple layers of mobile context, including browsing behavior, purchasing preference and opt-in consent. By combining these different data points, you can develop highly relevant messages based on the customer’s needs and wants by personalizing content specifically to him or her as a market of one. 4) Employ new mobile tools New mobile tools such as iBeacons and light apps including Apple’s Passbook offer easier-than-ever ways to reach your customers with timely and relevant information that will optimize engagement. For example, to support increased engagement with a loyalty program, you can use Passbook to dynamically update a customer’s loyalty points and, then, by using iBeacons, deliver timely, relevant loyalty offers to that customer based on her location in real time, when that customer is most likely to redeem the offer. 5) Have a conversation Engagement is a two-way street, and the beauty of mobile is that it allows you to easily engage in a conversation with your customer, responding to her concerns or inquiries in real time, in a way, or channel, that works for her. So think outside of the call center. Companies are increasingly finding success in increasing customer satisfaction through leveraging social networks to talk to their customers. If you are already using text messaging, make it two-way to give your customers an alternative way to get in touch when they are on the go. 6) Play the game As mobile usage increases, so, too, is the use of games, which naturally lend themselves to mobile environments. Consumer brands can take advantage of the power of “gamification” – using games, or game-like elements – to enter the consumer’s recreational world to help increase loyalty and optimize engagement. From scratch-to-win coupons to brand trivia, the more interactive you can make your communications, the more engaged your customers will be. THESE SIX fundamentals about mobile engagement will help you drive the returns and increase the engagement you need to keep your brand top-of-mind with your customers. Dave Murashige is vice president & general manager, enterprise and intelligence solutions at Syniverse,Tampa, FL. Reach him at david.murashige@syniverse.com.