Digital customer engagement wins in a downturn

The digital agency cScape has published a book on customer engagement, entitled 'Winners and Losers in a Troubled Economy', which brings together guides and tips from experts on online customer engagement strategy.

The book is split into six main sections, each addressing the issue of maintaining and attracting customers on the internet during troubled economic times.

Engagement a key issue
Following on from its analysis of the factors that most impact the market during economic downturns, cScape chose to address the area of customer engagement in the online world. The company identified that, from every previous downturn, there were clear winners and losers.

Richard Sedley, co-author of the book (and director of cScape's Customer Engagement Unit) explained: "The focus of this book is on how digital media, if used correctly, can create engaging customer relationships. It is our contention that by embracing customer engagement and adopting the use of digital media as the backbone of customer interactions, companies stand a far better chance of not just emerging from a downturn unscathed, but also of becoming a winner."

Six key strategies
In brief, the six digital customer engagement strategies examined in the book are:

1. Cutting back during a downturn is a survival tactic not a winning strategy: Start by asking not what your customer can do for you, but what you can do for your customer.
    
2. Developing customer engagement is a retention and acquisition strategy: Customers have practical and emotional needs both should be met to achieve long-standing engagement.
    
3. Digital media provide the best means for achieving customer engagement during a downturn: Dialogue, not monologue is the true language of online business.
    
4. Customer engagement is the best predictor of future success: Customer engagement is a relationship built on mutual benefit.
    
5. Responses to economic downturns are not pre-determined: Research and test before you assume that customers will spend less online.
    
6. An economic downturn will create winners and losers: The winners will be those businesses that best use digital media and best engage their customers.

The full book has been made available for free download from cScape's web site for the first 1,000 registrants - click here (free registration required, and after the first 1,000 copies have been downloaded, the book costs 13.95).