3 Technologies To Increase Consumer Engagement

We’ve been hearing the term ‘consumer engagement’ thrown around quite a bit the last several years. But what exactly is consumer engagement? And more to the point, why does it matter?

I had an operator tell me last year that of all of the important things he focused on day-to-day, consumer engagement was an area he wanted to act on and know more about. “Too often we [operators] are talking to ourselves about back of the house issues and opportunities and we haven't spent the time and energy on the front of the house...the consumer!”

Consumer engagement defined

So what is it? Thanks to our trusted friend Wikipedia, consumer engagement can be defined as customers interacting and engaging with one another, with a company or with a brand. Pretty broad. For our purposes, Outbrain put it perfectly, “Customer engagement is about encouraging your customers to interact and share in the experiences you create for them as a business and a brand. When executed well, a strong customer engagement strategy will foster brand growth and loyalty.”

The industry has several examples already. I recall the Coca-Cola Interactive Vending Machine that was deployed in the U.S. a few years ago was noted to be designed to enhance the consumer vending experience. And just a few months ago Avanti Markets released a mobile app which it promoted to specifically drive consumer engagement. In a statement about the mobile app Lori Salow Marshall, Avanti Markets President, said, "Consumer engagement is key. Enabling support in the app with FAQs, feedback forms and support requests that are routed based on the type of request, will give our Operators a new way to connect with and delight their consumers."

Consumer engagement can help customers feel as though the brand/company knows their needs; there is a persona surrounding a brand and that can drive loyalty…and ultimately drive the consumer to spend more.

Technology is a great way to build consumer engagement in vending, micro markets and OCS.

Smartphones—There are so many ways operators can use a consumer’s smartphone to build engagement. That can include having an app that pushes promotions and loyalty features. Consumers are glued (yes, that is a scientific term) to their smartphones (64 percent of U.S. adults own a smartphone according to Pew Research).

Digital signage, touchscreens—Digital signage is huge for our industry to build consumer engagement. There are so many more options to use this technology today than there was just a few years ago, too. At a recent NAMA OneShow, Brendan Kehoe from Crane Merchandising Systems reported on customer engagement and showed examples of how convenience stores are using a combination of advertising, special pricing and promotions to engage customers. He noted that operators must create a user experience by including advertising, promotions, shopping carts and social media on the signage at the machine. "[The screen must] always ask 'Do you want more?'" said Kehoe. 

Social Media— What a great and free way to build consumer engagement! Operators, however, can’t just have an employee schedule status updates. Someone needs to be actively interacting with ‘followers’ to create a personal/engaged experience. There are a lot of corporate brands using Twitter to build a unique brand profile and image. For examples, I encourage you to read this TIME article. Social media can also be used for your customers to share their vending, micro market and OCS experience with others. In fact, to encourage this type of ‘sharing’ operators may consider giving a ‘perk’ to those who share via social media.

Consumer engagement isn’t just a thing for retail, c-stores, grocery, etc. Operators should all try to create a strategy around building consumer engagement.

How do you create and build consumer engagement? I want to hear. Shoot me an email ([email protected]) or send me a Tweet @VMW_Zimmer.