Customer Engagement
Customer Engagement is a four-part approach to understand your customers, know how to reach them, understand what they value, and engage with them using the right propositions.
Organizations face a new environment where they are under pressure on multiple fronts at the same time. This is not new, but what is new is the degree of pressure and the speed of change is at an all-time high. Some hugely disruptive trends to focus on are:
- The new competitive and regulatory landscape – Accelerated consolidation to survive, new mature & emerging markets competitors, more regulation/more “active” governments, pressure to meet sustainability targets
- Changing customers – More value-oriented and less loyal, evolving values such as ‘Green’, ‘Trustworthy’, etc. , more diverse with distinct needs, never satisfied and more powerful
- Uncontrollable touchpoints – Reduced impact of traditional channels, ‘Anywhere, anytime’ consumers go mobile, All of touch points define customer experience, but it is impossible ‘to control’ them all.
- Consumers in control – Consumers are connected & empowered, Brand stewardship is now a team sport, Marketing, Sales and Service converge, Digital = real-time, requiring ‘agility’
Market Opportunity/Value Mapping
- Strategic market and customer segmentation targeting sales revenues, customer loyalty and market share
- Competitive analysis to understand competitive landscape in terms of required market and brand positioning
- Market entry strategy including geographic coverage, product portfolio, price, dealer management, performance bench-marking and financials
Brand Strategy & Value Proposition
- Brand growth strategy, starting with brand vision and re-defining portfolio of product innovations
- Redefinition of current brand strategy/vision and translation to product, communication and channel interaction strategies
Product Mix Management
- Product expansion to cover key segments of industry/customer mix propositions
- Optimized product portfolio yielding cost savings without decreasing sales revenue from portfolio
- Customer-centric pricing to boost annual revenue
Customer Experience Strategy
- Customer experience strategy resulting in a differentiated and consistent customer approach
- Design of key process leading to detailed implementation plan
Profiles of most important customer segments
Brand position needed to connect with key customers
Optimal Product portfolio
Key customer interaction processes to prioritize
A clear understanding of customer preferences and purchase behavior
Customer-specific value propositions that resonate best with various customer segments
Optimize your sales efforts, channel terms and communication spending to increase your returns on sales
(The following is a non-exhaustive list of engagements provided as a sample of total experience)
Offering Design for the world’s largest communications holding company serving over 71 million customers in the US alone. The firm had finalized a plan to develop and offer its own branded consumer home services across a 50-state footprint., and required assistance in Consumer Marketing. In eight weeks, the team developed a behavior/attitudes driven customer segmentation scheme, identified and sized key markets at a city level, and developed product definitions along with a spread-sheet based financial model. The team also identified competitive gaps by developing a comprehensive competitive analysis of all players offering similar or competing services to consumers. With the complete knowledge of the competitors strengths and weaknesses, and an understanding of their offerings, the client was able to develop a product-services portfolio that was able to meet customer’s needs better than that of competitors, and also easily aligned to its brand values and positioning.
Marketing Strategies for publications of a Major Indian Media Organization – The consultants analyzed the media environment, mapped the strengths and weaknesses of the client’s brands, and suggested brand-specific marketing strategies as per the capabilities of the organization and the overall direction indicated in the Corporate Plan.
Department of Posts, Government of India – Collaboration Opportunity Assessment for the world’s two largest postal systems – United States Postal Service (USPS) and India Post. The consultants examined opportunities in the India – USA air transportation market with focus on CEP services, provided insights on customers and competitors, and outlined the offering features and downstream capabilities required for market success.
Design of Mixed Use Development for a major real estate development firm in Oman. This required a review of development options in terms of concepts for retail, commercial, and residential space (hotel as well as non-commercial options such as apartments, villas, etc). The team reviewed the entire market in each of these segments, explored consumer preferences and made recommendations regarding possible concepts and usages.