8 trends shaping consumer engagement

A business is only as strong as its consumer engagement. That’s the hard truth. Even the best product or service in the market can’t make up for a high customer churn rate or low retention.

With a number of trends in play that are shaping customer engagement innovation, we explore the actions you can take to measure and increase customer engagement while setting your business up for success.

Today’s consumer landscape

Despite the competition and the rising costs of living - the telco consumer sentiment is generally optimistic. The Australian Government is investing in digitisation infrastructure, consistent with other global economies where digital economy growth is exceeding GDP.

The media industry is in a similarly optimistic consumer position, with streaming, user-generated content and other technology driving an industry evolution. Likewise in the tech sector, with new HealthTech, FinTech and grocery ordering businesses that emerged mid pandemic - transforming the way we access health practitioners, bank and shop. 

Consumer behaviour has shifted dramatically as they embrace new technology and generate data at increasingly high rates whilst also becoming ever more conscious and fearful of personal data privacy. This is all in the context of labour shortages, particularly in the technology industry.

Today’s consumer landscape is ripe with opportunity, although not without its challenges.

‍

8 customer engagement trends

The face of consumer engagement is changing. As you set about understanding your customer and measuring customer engagement, you’re likely seeing these trends playing out in real time.

Here are eight of the key trends that are fast shaping the industry.

1. Digital transformation

Customers expect a seamless digital experience and are increasingly choosing to transact online. Businesses must “adapt or die” in order to engage customers online and capture their segment of this growing market segment.

2. Hyper-personalisation

When consumers share their data, they do so with the knowledge and expectation that brands will use that to personalise their individual experiences. This data can also help businesses anticipate future customer behaviour with more accuracy.

3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) power

AI powered customer engagement is becoming more and more sophisticated. AI for customer engagement creates opportunities for businesses to free up internal resources without damaging their customer relationships.

4. Omnichannel engagement

It’s now harder than ever to capture consumer attention. By integrating all touchpoints and channels, omni-channel strategies deliver a more cohesive customer experience and can result in a higher return on investment.

5. User-generated content

Consumers have content-creating machines in their pockets, and they’re not afraid to use them. As consumers step more into the role of the content creator, this presents an opportunity for businesses to actively engage with their customers.

6. The power of purpose

Whether it’s sustainability, social inclusion or ethical practices, consumers — particularly younger generations — want to see brands taking a purposeful stand on the causes that matter to them. Those that keep quiet or don’t have a stance, are now viewed with suspicion.

7. Loyalty matters

Consumer expectations of the customer experience have increased in recent years. Linked to hyper-personalisation and the availability of data, they are looking to brands to take the relationship to the next level.

8. Crisis management

The COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the climate crisis - take your pick, there have been several global crises come up in recent years that have shaken our younger generations. Similar to the evolved customer expectations around purpose - Gen Z and Millennial customers have begun to assess the businesses they work with based on their ability to manage a crisis with a progressive and positive, yet rational and empathetic approach. 

How to improve your consumer engagement

The best strategies for reducing churn rate are quite simple: it’s about understanding why customers churn and then improving your customer engagement. With a solid customer engagement and retention strategy that builds on these trends, you are a step ahead of your competition.

Pendula’s no-code platform powers two-way, personalised conversations, allowing businesses to build solid customer relationships, in real-time, on the fly. By building automations and AI powered workflows, you can create an intuitive and seamless customer experience that can evolve with your business. The result for your business is a streamlined approach that allows you to communicate with the right customers, in the right place at the right time.

Discover the power of Pendula

Keep your business up-to-date with the changing landscape of customer experience and engagement with Pendula. Create automated workflows and free up your people to focus on what they do best. Talk to an expert about how we can help you to transform your consumer engagement, boost customer experience and drive retention all on one platform.
‍

References:
[1] [2] PwC. (2022). 2022 Australian Telecommunications, Media & Technology Outlook [PDF]. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com.au/industry/telecommunications/assets/2022-australian-tmt-outlook.pdf

[3] ACMA. (2022, January 18). Communications and media in Australia: Trends and developments in telecommunications 2020–21 [Report]. Retrieved from https://www.acma.gov.au/publications/2021-12/report/communications-and-media-australia-trends-and-developments-telecommunications-2020-21