Congratulations, you're engaged!* (*Not really)

Many years ago, when I was a young man in love, I asked my wife to marry me.  Outside Central Park, during an amazing evening, I got on my knee, and asked her to be my partner in life.  That night we became engaged!  Now after almost 23 years of marriage, I can say it was the best commitment I ever made in my life.

Today, marketers use the word engagement as a way of enticing consumers, giving them a reason to stay with them.  The problem is that consumers are not making a commitment to marketers. And vice versa, somewhat.  Engaging consumers may arouse the interest of consumers, but they are not ready to sign off on that brand forever.  Hence, the result of what is commonly called engagement is really more INterest and inVolvement, with maybe slightly more engAGEMENT.  Or, what I believe should more accurately be called INVAGEMENT.

Consumers see literally thousands of ads each day. THOUSANDS! How many do they remember? Less than 10! How can you be one of those lucky lottery winners? Why, invage them, of course. In addition, according to a 2014 survey by McCarthy Group, almost 85 % of millenials do not trust advertising. How do you change that? Right, invage them!

Can an invaged consumer become an engaged consumer?  Of course!  Think of the song “Paradise by the dashboard light.”  He’s interested, he’s definitely involved, and there is a slight chance he will commit to her.  In the end, he does commit, in order for them to both get what they want.  So, he did in fact go from being invaged to engaged.

Last year, on my annual baseball trip with my boys, we were at Busch Stadium, in St Louis.  Getting there an hour before the game, the Cardinals tried to keep people “engaged” by asking them to tweet a photo to be seen on the scoreboard (Don’t ask, of course I did it!).   But was I now committed to the Cardinals? As a lifelong Yankees fan??  NOOOO. I was invaged, as I was interested, and involved, and slightly engaged, as I rooted for the Cardinals for that game.

The first goal of a company in the ecommerce space to a consumer, who has never purchased from them, is to make a sale. Next, you want to make that customer a returning customer.  Along the way they should become a loyal customer.  And then the ultimate, a lifelong customer!  This is not involvement or engagement or any other sexy word.  This is what I call Customer Evolution.

A marketer has so many options these days to try to drive sales.  And what they are calling engagement is not a bad idea.  The more time people spend on their site, the better the chance of a sale. They will show them data, maybe play a game, show them items that they believe they will love, etc.  And when the consumer leaves without always making a purchase, they have other options to get them to that ultimate goal, being a lifelong customer.  They can use a programmatic platform, retarget, go the influential route, use email, search (better yet, semantic search!), and much more.  So, have they really successfully engaged that consumer?  No.  They have invaged them.

Don’t get me wrong. What marketers are calling engagement is definitely a great route to go down.  Some “engagement” techniques that I like can be quite effective!  A loyalty program, for example, is one of my favorites.  Especially those that not only send additional discounts and updates about the company and specials, but, also, information and rewards for me, built around my likes and me personally.  IHOP, for instance, offers free pancakes on your birthday.  With three kids who love pancakes, I am there!  I also love when brands connect online and offline opportunities.  If I am in a store, out of nowhere, without a Retail Me Not generic coupon popping up, I will get a message from THAT store, with a message for ME! An omni channel approach makes so much sense, as the consumer is invaged with that brand via web, mobile, in store, etc.  What marketers don’t want to do, though, is bombard the consumer with message after message after message, day after day.  Then it just becomes noise.

If brands want to use the word engaged, they should save it for established customers, to get them to move through the Customer Evolution.   Knowing what they bought, what they looked at, how much they typically spend, who they are, and more, will help keep them moving up the Customer Evolution ladder.  The company and the consumer are committed to each other, in a sense, and the relationship will evolve.  Will the consumer shop elsewhere?  Of course; they are not married!  

Marketers are going to continue to find more and more ways to drive sales, of course.  Dashboard, data, budgets, and so much more, will point them in the direction of the most effective ways to reach their audience.  And they will continue to invage them, letting the consumer know they care about them, and are looking to start them on the path to Customer Evolution. But engaged? Hardly.  Not as much, say, as you are invaged with this article, and looking forward to my next one!