Customer Engagement Plan Methodology€¦ · How to Use this Consulting Methodology: 1. Understand...

Customer EngagementPlan Methodology

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Customer Engagement Plan Methodology

Follow this step-by-step guide to improve how

customers engage with your company and

to enable your organization with a customer

centric approach to drive revenue.

01

Initiative Preparation

02

Journey Mapping

03

Strategy Planning

04

Technology Selection

05

Engagement & Advocacy

06

Measurement

Customer Engagement Plan Methodology

brought to you byB e c o m e M o r e S t r a t e g i c

© 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Clare Price, VP Research Clare is an expert in marketing strategy, branding, strategic communications, sales enablement, social media marketing, content marketing and leveraging marketing technologies. Clare is a former Gartner Research Director and helped build their Internet Strategies Services division with clients such as Microsoft, IBM, HP, Cisco, Proctor & Gamble and Wells Fargo.

Kristen Maida, Sr. Research Analyst Kristen has worked with Demand Metric for the past 4 years, learning about and gaining experience in all aspects of the organization. She has developed job functions in almost every department to help with Demand Metric’s rapid growth. Her specialties include: social media marketing, digital marketing, content marketing & management and business process development.

Jerry Rackley, Chief Analyst

Jerry Rackley is Chief Analyst at Demand Metric. His 30-year marketing career began at IBM, and includes experience in the technology and financial services sectors. He has worked with companies ranging in size from startups to members of the global 1000, performing marketing, marketing communication, public relations and product management work.

Christine Crandell, EVP Membership Success Christine Crandell is a B2B strategy, marketing and transformation expert who helps CEOs, CMOs, CROs, COOs and investors accelerate revenue growth. She leads a team of seasoned marketing and sales professionals with deep experience in a variety of areas. It is from her 20+ years of marketing and strategy experience that she developed the Sellers’ Compass™ methodology for leading companies to become customer-aligned and accelerating revenue.

Meet the Authors


How to Use this Consulting Methodology:

1. Understand the shift from Customer Experience to Customer Engagement objectives.

2. Plan & Develop a Journey Map to improve how customers engage with your company.

3. Select & Implement technologies to enhance the customer’s experience with your brand.

4. Identify Advocates & Measure results to increase brand awareness and drive revenue.

If you need assistance implementing your Customer Engagement strategy, contact Demand Metric to schedule a consult with

an experienced Analyst: email us at [email protected] or call us on (866) 947-7744.

This methodology consists of six stages, each with a description of steps and action items. Action items

include using our premium tools & templates. Our goal for your use of this methodology is to help you:


How to Use this Consulting Methodology


Major Outputs from this Process:

Stage 01 – Customer Engagement Maturity Assessment and Business Case

Stage 02 – Customer Journey Map, Buyer Persona Template(s)

Stage 03 – Customer Engagement Strategy Scorecard, Project Plan, Budget & Job Roles

Stage 04 – Customer Engagement System RFPs, Vendor Evaluations and Vendor Selection

Stage 05 – Touch Point Diagram, Customer Satisfaction Survey, Customer Advocate Database

Stage 06 – Customer Satisfaction Index and Customer Engagement Metrics Dashboard

Major Outputs from this Process


Demand Metric defines Customer Engagement (CE) as the strategies, processes, technology and tools that enable an organization to attract, gain, retain and influence the behavior of customers consistently and effectively across all touch points throughout the lifetime of the customer’s relationship with the company.

Equally important, from the buyer’s point of view, Customer Engagement is the buyer’s on-going connection to and growing appreciation of the company’s brand, people, products and services through every interaction and touch point during the lifetime of their relationship with the company.

Done well, Customer Engagement fosters a lifelong advocate (think Apple) who embraces the company and brand beyond any one product or service experience.

What is Customer Engagement?


What is Customer Engagement?


Demand Metric positions Customer Engagement as the evolution of Customer Experience (CX) and its corollary Voice of the Customer (VoC). This is based on the reality that companies cannot really control the customer’s experience. They can influence it, but they cannot control it. Numerous studies have shown that the buyer completes from 55% to 75% of their purchasing decision journey before they contact the company or sales rep.

That means marketers and customer success teams must be creative in how they engage with potential customers. If customers aren’t coming to the company, the company must actively reach out to them with the right “touch” to create a connection for that point of the journey. Every touch across the omni-channel is critical. This is why making Customer Engagement a corporate priority and not simply a sales or customer service issue is so important to revenue success.

Customer Experience v. Engagement


Customer Experience v. Engagement




01 Initiative Preparation02 Journey Mapping

03 Strategy Planning06 Measurement05 Engagement & Advocacy

04 Technology Selection

In this Stage, you will focus your e�orts around understanding your organization’s strengths & weaknesses

as it related to Customer Engagement, documenting your goals and objectives, and developing a business

in from senior management for this initiative. Key steps in this stage include:

1. Understand Customer Engagement

2. Review the Levels of Customer Engagement Maturity

3. Identify Your Organization’s Level of Maturity

4. Build a Business Case

STAGE 01 -Initiative Preparation

case to gain buy


Action Item – Read our Customer Engagement Best Practices Report

to learn about the practice area,

obtain key insights for program development and implementation and review the vendor landscape.

This Best Practices Report:

Details the benefits of Customer Engagement

Describes the shift from CX to CE

Highlights vendor research for the five CE technologies

Also Download our Content & Buyer’s Journey Benchmark

Report to get relevant research on the customer’s journey. Download

01 Initiative Preparation 02 Journey Mapping 05 Engagement & Advocacy

04 Technology Selection Initiative Initiative Preparation





STEP 1 – Understand Customer Engagement

STEP 2 – Review the Levels of CE Maturity

Action Item – Review our Customer Engagement Maturity Model to learn how Demand Metric defines

four stages of maturity based on the seven key components of Customer Engagement.

The seven components of Customer Engagement are:

Orientation

Leadership

Tools & Platforms

Customer Success


Download

Alignment

Budget & Staff

Metrics






Action Item – Complete our Customer Engagement Maturity Assessment

to understand where your

organization falls on the four tiers of Customer Engagement maturity.


Download

The four levels of maturity are defined as follows:

Undefined

Progressive

Mature

World-Class

01 Initiative Preparation 02 Journey Mapping 03 Strategy Planning 06 Measurement

05 Engagement & Advocacy 04 Technology Selection Initiative

Preparation

STEP 3 – Identify Your Organization’s Maturity Level







Action Item

–

Use our Customer Engagement Business Case

to ensure senior management that Customer Engagement initiatives aligns with current business goals & objectives.

Sections of your business case should include:

Executive Summary

Opportunity Overview & Key Success Factors

Assumptions & Decision-Making Criteria

Business Impact Analysis

Risk & Contingency Plans

Recommendation

Download


05 Engagement & Advocacy 04 Technology Selection Initiative

Preparation

STEP 4 – Build a Business Case






Journey Mapping





STAGE 02 -Create Journey MapIn this Stage, you will learn more about how your customers engage with your organization. You will identify

the key buyer personas for your business and map out how each of those personas interacts with your

organization. Key activities for this stage include:

1. Review the Customer Engagement Map

2. Learn More About Journey Mapping

3. Create Journey

4. Identify Key Buyer Persona(s)

Action Item – Use our Customer Engagement Map

to follow the buyer’s journey from problem

identification to brand advocacy and which technologies work best at each stage of the journey.

This map includes the following key touch points:

1. Problem Identification

2. Research

3. Technology Evaluation

4. Validation

5. Purchase/Acquisition


Download

6. Implementation

7. Relationship Building

8. Benefit Assessment

9. Account Expansion

10.Advocacy & Loyalty

01 Initiative Preparation 02 Journey Mapping

03 Strategy Planning 06 Measurement 05 Engagement & Advocacy 04 Technology Selection Journey

Mapping Journey Mapping





STEP 1 – Review the Customer Engagement Map

Action Item – In order to successfully complete Engagement/Journey Maps for your organization, read

our series of How-To Guides (listed below) on the use cases and impact of Journey Maps.

How-To Guides on Journey Mapping included in the Demand Metric library are:

Developing Sales Playbooks from Journey Maps

Developing Content Strategy from Journey Maps

Improving Campaign Conversions with Journey Maps


Download








STEP 2 – Learn More About Journey Mapping


Download



Mapping

Action Item – Utilize our Customer Journey Map

to identify typical engagement touch points, which will

enable you to align buyer personas to their journey.

This tool helps you define the buying process at the following stages:

Discovery/Research

Evaluation/Comparison

Decision/Purchase

Implementation

Support/Renew

Journey Mapping





STEP 3 – Create Journey Map

Action Item – Use our Buyer Persona Template

to define common characteristics, buying behaviors and

pain points for each of your target buyer personas.


Other tools that may assist you in identifying your

audience are as follows:

Customer Profile Template

Buying Stage Process Template

Download








STEP 4 – Identify Key Buyer Persona(s)

Strategy Planning





STAGE 03 -Plan Your StrategyIn this Stage, you plan out your Customer Engagement strategy, programs and initiatives by learning the

important aspects of the Customer Engagement Framework and identifying key roles, responsibilities,

processes, technologies, content and metrics. The key activities in this Stage are:

1. Understand the Customer Engagement Framework

2. Create a Customer Engagement Strategy

3. Establish a Project Plan

4. Identify Budget Allocations

5. Define Roles & Responsibilities

Action Item – Review our Customer Engagement Framework

to learn how all of the departments and

components of an organization come together to develop, coordinate on and operate with Customer

Engagement best practices.


This framework defines Customer Engagement efforts across six categories:

Roles

Responsibilities

Processes Download

Technology

Content

Metrics


05 Engagement & Advocacy 04 Technology Selection Strategy

Planning Strategy Planning





STEP 1 – Understand the CE Framework

Action Item – Use our Customer Engagement Strategy Workbook

to provide senior management with a

one-page document that clearly outlines your action plan for this project. This document will also allow

you to track your strategy progress throughout the year.


Key information to include in scorecard: Objectives

Programs & Initiatives Metrics & KPIs

Timeframes and Goals Goal Achievement Tracking

Download








STEP 2 – Create a Customer Engagement Strategy

Sections of your project charter should include:

Project Overview

Description

Key Success Factors

Risk Identification

Project Stakeholders

Communications Plan

Decision Rights

Approval

Action Item – Utilize our Customer Engagement Project Plan

to establish a clear scope, to identify

decision rights and to secure executive sponsorship for the initiative.


Download








STEP 3 – Establish a Project Plan

Action Item – Employ our Customer Engagement Budget Template

to track the overall costs for your

Customer Engagement programs, initiatives, staffing and resources.


Download



Planning

The key components of this budget are:

Technology, Implementation & Support

Staffing

Training & Education

Promotions & Marketing Campaigns

Content Development

Strategy Planning





STEP 4 – Identify Budget Allocations




Planning

Action Item – Utilize our Modern Marketing Department Structure

to assemble your Customer

Engagement team. Our Customer Engagement Framework can help you define responsibilities by role.

Download

Critical job functions to consider for your Customer

Engagement team are:

VP, Customer Success

VP or Director of Customer Engagement

Customer Success Manager(s)

Strategy Planning





STEP 4 – Define Roles & Responsibilities






STAGE 04 -Technology SelectionAt this point, you have learned about Customer Engagement and developed Journey Maps and strategies

to properly interact with your audience. Now, you will evaluate the technology landscape in order to

implement your strategic initiatives. This stage includes the following steps:

1. Read Demand Metric’s Vendor Research

2. Evaluate Vendors and Create a Short List

3. Submit RFPs to Short-Listed Vendors

4. Conduct Evaluations and Make Decisions

Action Item – Review the “Vendor Solutions” section of our Customer Engagement Best Practices

Report to learn about the technology landscape. This report covers all five technologies, but highlights

Personalization and Voice of the Customer (VoC).


For more information on the other three technologies, review the following reports:

Advocacy and Loyalty Technology Overview

Gamification Technology Overview

Online Communities Technology Overview


05 Engagement & Advocacy 04 Technology Selection Technology

Selection

Download






STEP 1 – Read Demand Metric’s Vendor Research

Action Item – Use our series of Vendor Matrices (listed below) designed specifically for Customer

Engagement to evaluate the top 10-30 vendors for each technology platform. Make a short list of the

vendors you will be considering for implementation.


Download



Selection

These matrices are as follows: Advocacy and Loyalty Vendor Matrix

Gamification Vendor Matrix

Online Communities Vendor Matrix

Personalization Vendor Matrix

Voice of the Customer Vendor Matrix






STEP 2 – Evaluate Vendors and Make a Short List



Selection

Download

Action Item – Use our series of System RFPs (listed below) designed specifically for Customer

Engagement to document your requirements for each technology and send off to your short-listed

vendors to receive more information on their solutions.

These matrices are as follows: Advocacy and Loyalty System RFP

Gamification System RFP Template

Online Community System RFP Template

Personalization System RFP Template

Voice of the Customer System RFP






STEP 3 – Submit RFPs to Short-Listed Vendors


Download



Selection

Action Item – Use our series of Vendor Evaluations (listed below) designed specifically for Customer

Engagement to compare vendors against one another based on up-to-date technology requirements.

After this exercise is complete, decide on your solution(s).

These matrices are as follows:

Advocacy and Loyalty Vendor Evaluation Gamification Vendor Evaluation

Online Community Vendor Evaluation

Personalization Vendor Evaluation

Voice of the Customer Vendor Evaluation






STEP 4 – Conduct Evaluations & Make Decisions






STAGE 05 -Engagement and AdvocacyNow that you have selected the technologies that will assist you with your Customer Engagement programs,

you can begin connecting with your prospects and customers. This stage will help you enhance and track

interactions as well as identify key advocates for your brand. In this Stage, you will:

1. Build Long-Lasting Relationships

2. Prove Product/Service Value

3. Expand Account Size and Partnership Duration

4.

5.

Identify & Track Brand Advocates

Engage Advocates & Request Referrals

Action Item – Download our Communications Touch Point Diagram

to ensure you plan out your

customer contact points strategically. Each touch point is critical in building a solid, long-lasting

relationship with each client.


Touch points can include, but are not limited to: Sales Cycle Calls

Customer Success Calls

Email Campaigns

Social Media Contact

Online Community Interactions

03 Strategy Planning 06 Measurement

Download






STEP 1 – Build Long-Lasting Relationships

Action Item – Ensure your customers are getting the full value out of your product/service by offering a

Customer Satisfaction Survey along with your planned Customer Success calls to get feedback. Use the

data obtained to enhance customer interactions.


Download

Use this survey to get feedback on the following elements of your organization:

Buying Process Value Proposition

Products/Services Strategic Direction

Customer Service & Support Website/Customer Portal

Brand Preference






STEP 2 – Prove Product/Service Value

Action Item – Implement our Key Account Planning Tool

to track the progress on each of your

important accounts. This tools includes allows you to document important information on the client,

opportunity size and action plans for growth.


Other tools that may assist you with this step are:

Account Scoring Template

Decision Maker Influencer Map

Key Account Analysis Download






STEP 3 – Expand Account Size & Partnership Duration

Action Item – While implementing your Advocacy & Loyalty platform to identify your advocates, utilize

our Customer Advocate Database to track key information on these customers.

Track the following information in this database:

Customer/Company Name

Demographics

Buyer Persona

Touch Point Discussions

Feedback & Referrals


Download






STEP 4 – Identify & Track Brand Advocates

Action Item – Once you have identified the most influential advocates in your client base, utilize our

Referral Partnership Agreement to begin a referral relationship with them. By generating leads from

customers, you will create a new funnel of business.

Benefits of Referral Partnerships:

Generating pre-qualified leads Gaining leads that will be hearing your praise from

current brand advocates

Driving profits from a new revenue stream


Download






STEP 5 – Engage Advocates & Request Referrals

Measurement





STAGE 06 -MeasurementNow that you have executed your strategy, implemented technologies, began engaging users and identified

potential brand advocates, you can start to measure the results of your Customer Engagement program. In

this Stage, you will:

1. Calculate Key Customer Metrics

2. Measure Your Customer Engagement Program

Action Item –

Use our Customer Satisfaction Index Calculator

to determine the CSI for your product(s),

service(s), company and/or brand based on the responses to your Customer Satisfaction Survey. Use these two tools in conjunction to get an accurate CSI analysis.

Other important metrics to consider for your Customer Engagement program are the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). Our Customer Lifetime Value Calculator is also available within the Demand Metric library to help you complete the calculations for that specific metric.


Download

Measurement





STEP 1 – Calculate Key Customer Metrics

Action Item –

Use the Customer Engagement Metrics Dashboard

to track the Key Performance

Indicators (KPIs) for your program. Update this dashboard on a monthly basis to generate high-quality

graphs that will show your progress.

Some of the key metrics we suggest analyzing are:

# MQLs Created

SQLs v. MQLs

Avg. Deal Size

Renewal Rate


Cost Per Lead (CPL)

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI)

Download

Measurement





STEP 2 – Calculate Key Customer Metrics

At the end of any project, it’s always a good idea to review it and identify areas for improvement.

Demand Metric has the tools and expertise to help you build an effective Customer Engagement program:

Create or audit your existing Customer Engagement strategy plan

Assist with using any of the tools referenced in this methodology

Provide hands-on marketing assistance to accelerate achieving your marketing department’s goals

To learn more, simply contact Demand Metric: [email protected]


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Customer Engagement Plan Methodology€¦ · How to Use this Consulting Methodology: 1. Understand...

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