Executive Summary A new question is challenging the Modern Marketing Organization (MMO). Yesterday’s question was: “How can we improve the experience our customer has with our company, brand, product or service?" Today’s question is: “How well is the customer engaging with us?” Not how can we “engage the customer,” but how are they engaging with us?” The answer to that question is at the core of Customer Engagement, which views the customer-vendor relationship from the perspective and willingness of the buyer. It is not about just doing business with us; instead, it is to embrace us, prefer us and stay with us even when lower prices and “better” options come calling. It is to help the MMO answer that core question and implement strategies, processes and best practices for Customer Engagement that we have produced this report. Table of Contents - Executive Summary - What is Customer Engagement - Benefits of Customer Engagement - Understanding Customer Engagement - Customer Engagement Map - Customer Engagement Framework - Customer Engagement Maturity Model - Customer Engagement Vendor Solutions - Action Plan - Analyst Bottom Line - Our Best Practices Report Methodology - About Demand Metric

1. Customer Engagement: Best Practices, Insights & Vendor Analysis
© 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Best Practices Report
By: Clare Price, VP Research With: Jerry Rackley, Chief Analyst; Christine Crandell, EVP Membership Success; Kristen Maida, Senior Research Analyst September 2014

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Executive Summary
What is Customer Engagement?
Benefits of Customer Engagement
Understanding Customer Engagement
Customer Engagement Map
Customer Engagement Framework
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Analyst Bottom Line
About the Research Analysts
Our Best Practices Report Methodology
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Customer Engagement Vendor Solutions
Action Plan
Table of Contents
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Customer Engagement Maturity Model
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About Demand Metric

3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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Customer Engagement: Best Practices, Insights & Vendor Analysis
A new question is challenging the Modern Marketing Organization (MMO). Yesterday’s question was: “How can we improve the experience our customer has with our company, brand, product or service?” Today’s question is: “How well is the customer engaging with us?” Not how can we “engage the customer,” but how are they engaging with us?” The answer to that question is at the core of Customer Engagement, which views the customer-vendor relationship from the perspective and willingness of the buyer. It is not about just doing business with us; instead, it is to embrace us, prefer us and stay with us even when lower prices and “better” options come calling. It is to help the MMO answer that core question and implement strategies, processes and best practices for Customer Engagement that we have produced this report.
© 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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Overview Demand Metric’s research, benchmark studies, methodologies and tools have consistently shown that Customer Engagement drives revenue and profits for the organization when Customer Engagement is employed as an aligned strategy of best practices for people, processes and tools in a coordinated, holistic approach. In this Best Practices Report on Customer Engagement we will provide best practices, insights and vendor analysis in five distinct categories:
Personalization Platforms
Voice of the Customer (VoC)
Gamification We will approach this report as organizations should be approaching Customer Engagement: from the viewpoint of the buyer rather than from the seller. We’ll look at the buyer’s journey from the problem identification trigger through the stages of evaluation, validation, purchase, and on to relationship building, advocacy and loyalty.
Our goal is to enable the MMO to create a holistic, end-to- end, measurable approach to Customer Engagement. We present three models to enable modern marketers to take a holistic approach to Customer Engagement. These models are:
The Customer Engagement Map, which follows the buyer through the entire journey, highlighting critical junctures, best practices and solutions while examining relevant platforms, tools and applications.
The Demand Metric Customer Engagement Maturity Model, which shows the progression and pathway an organization should take to mature in its use of Customer Engagement from Undefined to World Class.
The Demand Metric Customer Engagement Framework, which highlights the roles, responsibilities, processes, technology, content and metrics for effective Customer Engagement strategies and practices.
Online Communities & Social Media
Advocacy and Loyalty Platforms
Customer Engagement: Best Practices, Insights & Vendor Analysis

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Our Vendor Solutions section covers the Customer Engagement systems, vendors and applications from the five Customer Engagement functions noted above. Each of these categories is covered in more detail in our Technology Overviews series. Demand Metric’s key recommendation from this report is that Customer Engagement drives revenue and profits for organizations when Customer Engagement is employed as an aligned strategy of best practices for people, processes and tools in a coordinated, holistic approach. We offer this Best Practices Report to enable your organization to make your Customer Engagement initiative the best that it can be.
Customer Engagement: Best Practices, Insights & Vendor Analysis

6. Demand Metric defines Customer Engagement 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. Use Demand Metric’s Customer Engagement Maturity Assessment to find out where your company stands with Customer Engagement.
WHAT IS CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT?
© 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
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Figure 1: Customer Engagement Maturity Assessment
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Customer Engagement: Best Practices, Insights & Vendor Analysis

7. The benefits of effective Customer Engagement span across the MMO, impacting the following roles and departments: Senior Management, Customer Success, Sales and Account Management, Sales Operations, Marketing and Demand Generation, Strategic Communications, Product Management and Customer Care. For Senior Management, the benefits include:
Increased revenue (by product/service, channel and by customer)
An increase in quantifiable Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Profitability (higher return on customer)
A holistic view of the customer
The ability to build strategy and processes around defined customer ROI
BENEFITS OF CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
© 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
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For Customer Success, the benefits include:
An increase in measurable Customer Satisfaction Index
Increased Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
An increase in Net Promoter Score (NPS)
An enterprise-wide dashboard with visual representation of user acquisition and engagement by behavior, experience, etc.
The ability to influence marketing, sales and customer care activities to increase Customer Engagement For Marketing, the benefits include:
Higher market share, profitability
Stronger brand equity
Customer Engagement: Best Practices, Insights & Vendor Analysis

8. Higher content usage
Higher campaign ROI & email metrics
More Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)
Higher contribution to pipeline and conversion rate For Sales, the benefits include:
Higher percentage of quota achieved
Higher renewal rate and revenue
More qualified opportunities
Lower Cost per Lead (CPL)
Lower Cost of Acquisition (CAC)
More Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)
© 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
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For Customer Care, the benefits include:
Lower average time to resolution
Fewer percentage of escalations to Tier 2 and above
Higher Net Promoter Score (NPS) The benefits of Customer Engagement (Customer Experience and Voice of the Customer) can only be fully realized when the entire organization is willing to re-orient its strategy, processes and culture to a new way of thinking that is customer-centric rather seller-centric. It’s not an easy change and it is the goal of this Demand Metric report to help you get there.
Customer Engagement: Best Practices, Insights & Vendor Analysis

9. ABOUT THE RESEARCH ANALYSTS
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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, Senior 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 experience that she developed the Sellers’ Compass™ methodology to lead companies to become customer-aligned and accelerating revenue.
Customer Engagement: Best Practices, Insights & Vendor Analysis

10. OUR BEST PRACTICES REPORT METHODOLOGY
© 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
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Demand Metric’s Best Practices Reports investigate new developments and approaches in a given focus area to provide marketers with up-to- date, practical and efficient solutions to modern day challenges. Each guide identifies a challenge, discusses previous solutions to that challenge, presents new solutions based on in-depth research and suggests a recommended approach to implement new solutions. Each Best Practices Guide involves hours of analyst research, focus area specific surveys and comprehensive interviews with executives in a given focus area in order to recommend solutions for the presented challenges.
Customer Engagement: Best Practices, Insights & Vendor Analysis

11. © 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Best Practices Report
ABOUT DEMAND METRIC
Demand Metric is a global marketing research & advisory firm serving a membership community of over 40,000 marketing professionals, CEOs, and business owners with advisory services, custom research & benchmarking reports, vendor studies, consulting methodologies, training, and a library of 500+ tools and templates. Using Demand Metric resources, members complete projects faster and with greater confidence, boosting respect for the marketing team and making it easier to justify needed resources. Our 1,000+ clients range from start-ups to members of the Global 1000. To read the rest of this Benchmark Report, become a Demand Metric member today!