I read an amusing article in Fortune Magazine a few weeks ago.  In his humorous column, Stanley Bing says he can’t handle the volume of emails he has been receiving from Toyota since he bought his car:

“I have on my desk as I write this a stack of e-mail printouts half an inch high, and that’s from less than six weeks! It’s too much! My in-box is clogged with your importunings, offerings, and requests for validation. Stop! I beg you!”

The column got me thinking about the topic of customer engagement.  Done right, keeping customers engaged can translate to significant profits for businesses.  But if we go too far, customer engagement efforts can be counter-productive.

We frequently ask consumers about companies’ customer engagement efforts in focus groups.  And that’s when something interesting happens.  Initially, consumers say things like “I throw away all junk mail” or “I don’t have time for that kind of email.”  But when we talk to them further, it turns out they remember various communications they received.  And after discussion, when we ask if they’d prefer to receive less communications, many say they would actually be annoyed if the company did not tell them about various promotions.

This is a great example of a situation where focus group discussions are preferable to one-on-one interviews.  In interviews, people tend to give the “politically correct” answers, the things they think they should be saying.  But in group discussions, people hear something someone else says, and it reminds them of things they might not have thought of otherwise.  And once one person “admits” to something, the others feel more comfortable opening up.

Back to customer engagement: how much is too much?  We need to consider not just the frequency of communications, but also their content.  Pay close attention to unsubscribe requests, perhaps including an option for customers to tell you why they unsubscribed.  And of course, ask your customers how they want to engage with you and why.

To learn about your customers’ engagement preferences, give us a call at (818) 752-7210.

Sources: “Toyota, I Love You, Goodbye,” Fortune, May 2, 2011; Bureau West research