Keeping Employees and Customers Engaged

ENGAGEMENT
Engagement has to be the most overused buzz word in communications today. People are running around talking about how they must engage their employees; how they must engage their customers. But it is rare that you actually hear anyone expand on the why - why must employees be engaged? why must customers? And, what does engagement really mean?

Definitions of Employee Engagement and Customer Engagement

According to the "knower of all things" - Wikipedia, employee engagement is:
"Employee engagement, also called Work engagement, is a concept that is generally viewed as managing discretionary effort, that is, when employees have choices, they will act in a way that furthers their organization's interests. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work."

The thinking follows that someone who is involved and enthusiastic makes a better employee and will also be easier to retain thereby avoiding all that recruitment cost and time.

Customer Engagement (according to Wikipedia) is:
"the engagement of customers with one another, with a company or a brand. The initiative for engagement can be either consumer- or company-led and the medium of engagement can be on or offline.

Customer engagement marketing places conversions into a longer term, more strategic context and is premised on the understanding that a simple focus on maximising conversions can, in some circumstances, decrease the likelihood of repeat conversions (Customer engagement interview with Richard Sedley). CE aims at long-term engagement, encouraging customer loyalty and advocacy through word- of-mouth.

Online customer engagement is qualitatively different from offline engagement as the nature of the customer’s interactions with a brand, company and other customers differ on the internet. Discussion forums or blogs, for example, are spaces where people can communicate and socialise in ways that cannot be replicated by any offline interactive medium. Customer Engagement marketing efforts that aim to create, stimulate or influence customer behaviour differ from the offline, one-way, marketing communications that marketers are familiar with. Although customer advocacy, for example, has always been a goal for marketers, the rise of online user generated content can take advocacy to another level."

Therefore, the advantages of having engaged customers goes directly to building loyalty as well as advocates for your product or service which in turn builds your market awareness and increases your customer base. The focus here then is in increasing profit margins.

Engaged Employees
According to a June 10, 2009 IPSOS press release "Canadian Employees Feeling Anxious and Less Motivated About Job", employees are not only feeling anxious in these stressful economic times, they are less motivated and thereby less engaged.

“The atmosphere of looming cutbacks combined with an uncommunicative senior management does little to inspire team spirit amongst the ranks,” says one survey respondent. Another stated: “After having 50% of staff laid-off there remains a combination of survivor's guilt and the nagging question ‘Am I next?’”- IPSOS

Another quote in the release highlights how employees feel
[“Why should I keep giving my all when they keep taking away? Salary has been cut by 15%, flex day has been eliminated, work day has been extended. And…not even a sorry...just ‘this is what is happening, like it or leave’,” adds another.]

Getting Engaged
Employees and customers need to feel that they are being heard, that someone cares and that things will get better. If you want that long term commitment then you need to really listen.

What are best practices for websites and communications?

Who decides what are best practices? especially for websites and communications?

Frankly, its a combination of majority rule (in a battle for readership quantity counts) as well as expertise (writing, usability and design are not everyone's forte) and standards (because 15% of the population has some accessibility challenges and they need to be kept in mind as they may be vital depending on who you target).

Read my articles on website design and communications on Prescientdigital.com. Check out my presentation on developing Personas including a case study with CSI.