Online Consumer Engagement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Online Consumer Engagement - Essay Example Customer engagement is one such strategy that can significantly improve customer satisfaction. As the name suggests customer engagement is the commitment of the customer with the company or the product. As Mc Ewen suggests, "if you don't make a connection with your customers then satisfaction is worthless" (Mc Ewen, Fleming, 2003). Regardless of how high a company's customer satisfaction level may be, if their customers are not able emotionally connect with the company or their products to high levels of customer satisfaction of no use. Internet today is playing a very crucial role in affecting consumer behavior. Most companies have identified that starting B2B and B2C. channels over the Internet not only reduces costs in terms of paperwork, front desk time, personnel time etc., it also gives the customers the freedom to view previous products at the comfort of their homes get reviews about the products talk about it online to other customers and then make a well-informed decision. O nline Publishers Association presented their finding that the Internet is the most dominant source for initial awareness, further learning, deciding where to buy and purchases when compared to any other media (Online Publishers Association, 2007). Thus, today customer engagement is essential not only in the physical store but also over the Internet. This is referred to as online customer engagement. The following sections aim at identifying the various nuances associated with online customer engagement. Online Consumer Behavior What drives customers from one website to another What makes the customers stay longer on a particular website when compared to others What influences the customers to buy the same product on one website when compared to another Please, and many other such relevant questions can be answered by understanding consumer behavior on the Internet. Brynjolfsson and Smith called Internet as "the great equalizer" because the technology capabilities of the Internet medium reduce buyer search and switching costs and eliminate spacial competitive advantages that retailers would enjoy the physical marketplace (Brynjolfsson and Smith, 2000). In 1999, a research carried out by International Data Corporation and RelevantKnowledge showed that users are not loyal to one web portal. At that time, it did show that Yahoo had a higher loyalty rate than others; however, no other portal had a substantial loyalty rate (Spring, 1999). Spring analyzed that the reason for this lack of loyalty at that time was d ue to the fact that not every portal realized the importance of building "closer and tighter relationships with consumers". Several researchers over time have analyzed the various factors that affect Online Consumer Behavior. An inclusive, but by no means exhaustive list is presented below. Usability: The definition of usability as stated by ISO is "a set of attributes of software which bear on the effort needed for use and on the individual assessment of such use ..." (ISO, 1991b). With respect to e commerce, it is the set of characteristics of the website that make online engagement of the consumer a good experience.