“The more you engage with customers, the clearer things become and the easier to determine what you should be doing.”
This quote by John Russell highlights that meaningful engagement is not just about making a sale; it’s about understanding your customers and building strong relationships with them. It also signifies that it offers long-term benefits by directing your efforts effectively. While customer engagement strategies vary across businesses and industries, adapting to your unique needs and goals, it is always nice to have a standardized blueprint. This is where customer engagement models come in—they provide a structured framework to streamline interactions.
In this guide, we’ll talk about customer engagement models, their types, and why it is essential to have them.
What is a customer engagement model?
A customer engagement model is a strategic framework to interact, engage, and maintain meaningful customer relationships throughout your customers’ journey. As a brand, you can strategize customer engagement to ensure each interaction is meaningful and relevant.
Why are customer engagement models important?
Customer engagement models provide a universal framework that standardizes how a brand interacts and engages with its customer base. It helps understand customers and cater to them with personalized email communication and campaigns, allowing them to align the strategies with customer expectations.
Most companies must realize that they are no longer competing against the guy down the street or the brand that sells similar products. Instead, they’re competing with every other experience a customer has.
Types of customer engagement models
Customer engagement models are categorized based on their characteristics and each type is suited for different types of customers. There are three customer engagement models: High-touch, low-touch, and hybrid. Let’s learn more about them.
1. High-touch
A high-touch customer engagement model focuses on personalized interactions and offers dedicated support to high-value customers. This model is appropriate for brands with high-ticket clients.
In this model, brands may assign dedicated account managers or customer success managers (CSMs) who understand customer needs and offer personalized assistance. These CSMs help them with custom onboarding and equip them with relevant training and resources to use a product/solution and get the most out of it.
Additionally, brands keep ongoing communications through calls and meetings to foster strong customer relationships and address their concerns.
2. Low-touch
Low-touch customer engagement model uses automation to engage a wide audience without much human intervention. This model is appropriate for brands with simple products and services that can be easily understood and used.
The customers in this model can complete a self-service onboarding by accessing tutorials, FAQs, and knowledge bases that help them to get started independently. Brands may use automated communications through emails, chatbots, and in-app notifications to communicate with customers and send them timely updates. A low-touch model reduces operational expenses by minimizing the need for customer support teams, marketers, and other teams that engage with or create content to interact with customers.
3. Hybrid
A hybrid customer engagement model combines the elements of high-touch and low-touch models. It offers personalized support to high-revenue customers while automating processes and communications for smaller accounts wherever possible.
In a hybrid model, high-value customers receive dedicated support from CSMs when required and automated interactions with smaller businesses wherever possible. This approach combines personal touch with automated interactions to ensure all customers feel valued. This model also personalizes certain aspects of a low-touch customer base, such as personalized content, to make them feel more connected to the brand.
Which customer engagement model does Mailmodo implement?
Mailmodo implements a hybrid customer engagement model that integrates high-touch and low-touch models to interact and engage with customers throughout their lifecycle. Here’s how:
Mailmodo assigns dedicated customer success managers (CSMs) who help customers set up products and resolve their queries, ensuring a smooth transition into the platform. The CSMs help them with personalized demo calls to walk customers through key features, ensuring they understand how to use the platform. Additionally, Mailmodo offers 24/7 support so customers can reach out with any queries.
Once the customers have been successfully onboarded, Mailmodo sends emails, product updates, and useful content through automated emails. It also has intricate email workflows for customer journeys and sends automated emails based on their interactions. Also, it sends triggered campaigns depending on customer actions, such as signing up or making a purchase.
Mailmodo also personalizes content according to individual preferences. Further, it uses dynamic segmentation to group customers based on their behavior to ensure the right messages reach the right audiences. By integrating automated workflows, triggered campaigns, and personalized content, Mailmodo establishes meaningful customer relationships.
Customers can raise tickets for their technical and operational challenges through a support ticket system to resolve them. Further, they get access to a dedicated Slack channel for direct communication with the support team, ensuring two-way communication in real-time.
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How to choose the right customer engagement model?
Choosing the right customer engagement model is important and depends on different factors such as product type, audience, and the value of the clients. Here’s which channel you should be choosing depending on the factors.:
1. High-touch: This model is ideal for high-ticket clients, brands with substantial needs or higher revenue potential, and high-priced products/ services that demand personalized service. Choose this model when your product requires an intricate setup process or significant customization; you can opt for a high-touch customer engagement model. For example, if you’re a cloud-based storage provider, you may need to handle the complex setup process for your clients to offer them a smooth experience.
2. Low-touch: Low-touch model is ideal for smaller businesses or individual users. Choose this model when you can use automated engagement methods such as self-service resources and automated emails to engage with customers, allowing them to access support resources without direct intervention.
3. Hybrid: A hybrid approach best suits companies with varied customer segments, such as large enterprises, small businesses, or individual users. For example, platforms that offer different service tiers can personalize their engagement strategies, i.e., use high-touch for larger clients and processes that need human touch and low-touch for smaller businesses and processes that can be automated.
Conclusion
Customer engagement models are important for driving meaningful interactions and ensuring long-lasting customer relationships. A well-defined model ensures every interaction is purposeful and impactful across every touchpoint. This helps brands to fulfill customers' evolving expectations by delivering personalized experiences leading to increased customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty.
