Brands are failing to engage with 77 per cent of their customers. That’s the staggering statistic revealed by direct marketing agency, Targetbase Claydon Heeley, in its newly-published customer engagement survey.

The agency set out to prove that the more customers are understood by a brand, and therefore are engaged with a brand, the more likely they are to repurchase and recommend to others. Undertaken through online research company CCB fast.MAP Ltd, the study looked at the relationship between ten top UK brands and their customers and unearthed some new and thought-provoking statistics.

Steve Grout (pictured below), UK CEO, Targetbase Claydon Heeley, said: “We knew that an appropriate in-depth and independent survey could look at the brand/customer relationship from both sides and, in doing this, we have revealed that success for one brand looks very different to success for another.”

A cross-section of market-leading brands within different sectors were selected: Barclays, Boots, British Gas, BT, Easyjet, Google, Lloyds TSB, MBNA, M&S and the Post Office (Royal Mail). The top three performing brands, Boots, M&S and Google, were those that scored highest for customer engagement – they all achieved top scores for different reasons.

Boots’ high score for the emotional engagement of ‘makes time to reward me’ propelled it into the top three, however M&S achieved its top three spot by scoring highly for the emotional elements of ‘relates to me best’ and ‘cares about more than just my money’. Google found itself in the top three by scoring highly for the rational engagement element ‘best at what they do’.

Boots’ score for the emotional element is 317.4 per cent higher than the average score achieved by the nine other brands in the survey. In other words, it outperforms the average score for all other brands, by excelling in one particular area. Conversely, Lloyds TSB scores little more than the average in most elements of engagement, and comes fifth with its engagement score.

The survey highlighted that for customers, reward is about more than tactical promotions. Easyjet achieved the highest score for sending customers deals and offers, at 73.6 per cent, but only scored 8.8 per cent for ‘makes time to reward me’. Boots, on the other hand, scored a lower 64.7 per cent for their offers, but a high 45.4 per cent for the reward element.

MBNA achieved the lowest score for customer engagement in the survey, ranking bottom for the rational engagement elements of ‘is best at what they do’ and ‘represents good value’. It also showed the lowest score for emotional elements.

Targetbase Claydon Heeley found that a one per cent increase in engagement leads to a three per cent increase in customer value. Grout summed up: “What customers think and feel and therefore say about a brand, can be as powerful as what they do.”

Steve Grout