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From Loss Leader to Profit Center

  By Special Guest
Jose Rebolledo, ITEXPO Special Correspondent

Turning Every Customer Engagement into a Revenue Opportunity

Customers and the companies with which they do business today have a much more complex relationship than ever.  There are countless sources of information that were not available in the past, and it is imperative to understand how that data can be leveraged to create revenue.  Michelle Santagata, who is on the Advisory Council for Noble Systems (News - Alert), and Ari Rabban, CEO at phone.com, spoke about this concept during a discussion at ITEXPO 2019 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, last week.  Phil Edholm (News - Alert) moderated.

A key part of the process, according to the panel, is the integration of website data to provide complete, real-time, contextual information across all interactions.  In addition, AI-based interactions are crucial.  Using data to predict outcomes and build interaction strategies is a must, along with personalizing each touchpoint of the customer journey to the extent it is possible.
 

Companies that rely on solicited feedback as their only source of customer experience data, rather than leveraging actionable data delivered thousands of times a day, are going be left behind.

Sadly, the definition of an engaged user varies from product to product and for a “to do list” app, for example, an engaged person should be logging in every day to add and complete items, whereas for an invoicing app, users might only log in once per month.  In other words, there is no consistent quantifiable definition of it.  

Customer engagement is just one piece of the bigger puzzle, of course, but it is so frequently ignored that there are many of quick wins to be had.  The panel concluded by recapping four strategies to improve in this segment:

• Making a strong first impression,
• Gradually exposing the depth of the product,
• Announcing features and improvements, and
• Engaging customers during trials.