Customer Engagement Initiatives and Their Effectiveness

ConnectionsBlut, M.; Kulikovskaja, V.; Hubert, M.; Brock, C.; Grewal, D. · 2023Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science

Topicscustomer engagement·meta-analysis·task-based initiatives·experiential marketing·engagement platforms·cognitive emotional behavioral engagement

Task-based initiatives give customers a task to complete. Experiential initiatives offer an immersive experience. Imagine splitting your engagement budget between an always-on app and a one-off launch experience. Which initiative fits each, and where will engagement carry through to intentions and behavior?

Task-based initiatives have stronger average links to emotional and behavioral engagement than experiential initiatives.

Data chart

Task-based initiatives have stronger average links to emotional and behavioral engagement

Average correlation across studies between each initiative type and each kind of customer engagement, in correlation units from -1 to +1; zero means no linear link. All displayed values are positive.

Task-based initiatives link more strongly to emotional and behavioral engagement.
Links to cognitive engagement are nearly equal.

Task-based initiatives have stronger average links to emotional and behavioral engagement, while links to cognitive engagement are nearly equal.

Table 3, p. 953: averages weighted by sample size and corrected for measurement reliability. Exact values, task-based versus experiential: cognitive engagement 0.37 versus 0.38; emotional engagement 0.48 versus 0.38; behavioral engagement 0.21 versus 0.12. The cognitive difference is not reliably established. When all four marketing strategies are estimated together, neither initiative has a reliable direct behavioral-engagement link; the link runs through cognitive and emotional engagement (Table 4, p. 955).

Action guide

Match each initiative to how customers interact.Favor task-based initiatives for continuous interactions in lean formats, and experiential initiatives for one-off ones.
Run engagement initiatives alongside your product and brand investment.The two work through different kinds of engagement.
Require a separate measure for each step.Have your team report cognitive, emotional and behavioral engagement, then intentions, then behavior.
Choose platforms for the outcome you want.Match each kind of engagement to frequency, richness, digital or physical setting, and who starts the interaction. For emotional engagement's link to behavior, favor one-off and lean interactions; for intentions, favor physical settings. Pilot instant feedback and live interaction to encourage customers to start interactions; neither feature was tested.

Evidence

Task-based initiatives link more strongly to emotional engagement than experiential ones (average correlations of 0.48 versus 0.38). Links to cognitive engagement are almost equal, with no reliable difference.
Links to behavioral engagement are weak for both initiatives, though stronger for task-based ones (0.21 versus 0.12). When all the links are estimated together, neither initiative has a reliable direct link to behavioral engagement. The path runs from cognitive and emotional engagement to behavioral engagement, then intentions, then behavior.
Product performance and brand associations have higher average correlations with engagement than either initiative. When all four strategies are estimated together, task-based initiatives match them on emotional engagement and experiential initiatives trail.
Continuous rather than one-off interactions strengthen the task-based link to emotional engagement and weaken the experiential link to behavioral engagement. Platform type, digital or physical, and who starts the interaction make no reliable difference to how initiatives build engagement.
Rich interactions weaken the task-based link to behavioral engagement compared with lean ones. Richness makes no reliable difference for experiential initiatives.
Behavioral and emotional engagement link less strongly to intentions on digital platforms than physical ones, and more strongly when customers start the interaction. Emotional engagement links more strongly to behavior in one-off than continuous interactions, and in lean than rich ones.

Key takeaway

Customers' emotional and behavioral engagement links more strongly to task-based than experiential initiatives, on average.

Limitations

The studies cover digital or physical platforms, not mixed channels or emerging technology. They measure customers' engagement, intentions and behavior, including purchases and spending, not a firm's sales, profit, return on investment or costs.

Source

Blut, M., Kulikovskaja, V., Hubert, M., Brock, C., & Grewal, D. (2023). Effectiveness of engagement initiatives across engagement platforms: A meta-analysis. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-023-00925-7

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-023-00925-7