Many of us who hang around in marketing circles often mention the word “engagement.” It’s a term that expresses a connection between a consumer and a brand and is a highly sought after end result of our marketing activities. There isn’t any question that we need it to happen but there does seem to be some question with respect to how it should be measured. That was the topic covered but a survey from the CMO Council and reported by eMarketer. 
The survey asked marketers about the primary metric they used to measure engagement. As you might expect, many of the marketers (more than a third) focused on revenue metrics. That’s not a bad idea since there is not a heck of a lot of interpretation needed. Either someone bought, and revenue went up, or they didn’t. Customer lifetime value, revenues per customer and overall revenue increases were the primary type of metric they used. Then there were those who focused on things such as clicks, conversions, shares, traffic and web analytics. These are campaign metrics, and another 30% of respondents said that these were the primary type of metrics they used. Lead generation metrics, finance metrics, and service metrics had far fewer choices as a primary metric for measuring engagement.
Here is the thing. As the eMarketer piece said:
Though not the most popular way to gauge successful engagement, customer service is important—and many consumers feel that good service makes them feel more positive about brands. In fact, nine in 10 internet users worldwide said so.
That gets me asking if we are trying to grow our businesses by aligning ourselves with our customers’ concerns and needs, should we not be measuring success using metrics that reflect those concerns and needs? The above data suggests that many of us aren’t. Sure, I get that if revenues are growing we’re probably doing something right, but maybe that’s a short-term gain based on a promotional offer or a single new product. Have revenues grown because you’re keeping customers happy or despite the fact that they’re unhappy? Today’s food for thought!
Consult Keith 