Engaging the Customer is Key

This week I read the required articles (except for the article Big Data and You: People Still Matter because it would not load) and the required video. In addition I read the following articles:
- Advertisers Get a Trove of Clues in Smartphones
- The Kimberly Clark Video
- The World Most Valuable Brands. Who is Most Engaged
- The Future of the Internet (I did not read the entire report but skimmed the main findings)
- The history of the internet video by Frank Acito

While these suggested readings did mirror many of the main points presented from the required readings, these readings added an additional layer of complexity to this issue. The New York Times article about mining information from smartphones made me question my original opinion, which I wrote about in an earlier blog, about the ethics of using our information to market to us. Not all customers are created equal, and the article pointed that out when it used the example that someone who had previously spent less money would get less of an appealing deal or advertisement than someone who has spent more money. While I understand the theory that a company should appeal to customers who have a history of bringing good business, I do think this practice misses the opportunity to cultivate loyalty among people who have the resources to provide good business for the companies, yet have not been properly engaged on the products or services. Not focusing on these customers who may have great potential, or rather not even being able to differentiate which customers have potential and which ones don’t, seems like a wasted opportunity.

The point in the Kimberly Clark video that stuck with me was when he spoke about the video the company made to attract moms to spend more time shopping in the baby section of Safeway. Everything about how they reorganized that section of the store was catered towards busy parents who have specific needs. While the other articles start to make this data mining seem a bit removed from the actual customer as an individual, this video reminded me that it is always about the customer and making changes that engages them. Once they are engaged they are more likely to make purchases and maintain loyalty. The article The World Most Valuable Brands- Who is Most Engaged made that similar point. That article mentions Starbucks as the gold standard of customer engagement. They recognized early on that customers will be passionate about a company when they feel like they have skin in the game. If customer suggestions can turn into new products or specialized gift cards, as they did in the Starbucks example, then customers are more likely to keep shopping there. While collecting large amounts of data can seem overwhelming, it is important to remember that the goal should always be customer engagement. Ideas that engage, whether they come from billions of data points or from one on one conversations, are the key to success.