How to find customer engagement

Hint (the answer is not always found in spreadsheets)

Being a part of the technology industry is inspiring. So many changes are taking place with new challenges around every corner. New ideas are springing up that expand thinking and challenge software engineering and development. It’s exciting to watch the waves of technology find adoption and traction in the market.

But how do you ensure that traction even takes place?

I can tell you one thing for certain, the answer is not found in spreadsheets or technical documentation. You’ll find information in those places. However, you will not always find inspiration.

It is said that people make decisions with information, then buy with emotion. So, when all things are equal, trust and emotion will move the needle one way or another. These intangibles are hard to put into a formula. Yet, they impact decisions your customers make every day.

Consider a story. During the launch of the iPhone, many reviews and pontifications discussed how, and if, this new technology would impact our world. After all, a touch screen was an entirely new paradigm. How easy would it be to use? Was this new idea something the world would embrace?

A reviewer from Wired magazine was quoted as saying something along the lines of, This is the first phone I have ever seen that invited me to learn.

Take a moment to read that line again and notice a key component, “invited me to learn.”

Until that time, flip phones challenged you to figure out where to go to add a contact, send a text or hear a message. Now, this new device was saying, “Let me show you something cool. Go ahead. Explore.” Not only was it cool. It was engaging. You had fun looking around every corner with no worry of losing your place. You know the rest of the story: this, in part, made the iPhone a booming success.

To garner this type of success, tapping into customer engagement is key.

How do you get a sense of what might drive customer engagement? The first step is to ask. Go through a design thinking process. Ask your customer service department to tell you what they hear on calls or in social media feedback. Do some research. Take a look at your competition and see what changes have taken place in their worlds. Walk in the shoes of your audience.

The key is to get in touch with the little things that might make all the difference. How are organizations outside of your industry creating resonance with customers? What steps are they taking to ensure they create engagement with technology delivered? What are businesses or brands that you respect doing with customer engagement or technology? Regardless of the company size, be open to what you can learn.

We all want to feel valued and appreciated. Things that create these feelings are not numerical. They are driven by trust. The more you understand about your audience and how technology impacts them, the more likely you will be to delivery something engaging.

Yes, a spreadsheet and business case are parts of the equation. But they do not hold all the answers. Your customer holds insight. Go find it.