Experience & Engagement Dissected in The
Marketing Paradigm
By Lyle Bunn
July 2015
This article dissects the engagement and customer experience providing a
framework to understand and develop it. It then describes how digital placebased messaging fits into this marketing model.
Human beings look at experience as a composite of its parts.
We naturally dissect and see the parts as the sum: In much the same way as we
would beak down the elements of a tree into trunk, branches, leaves, flowers or
fruit, humans also see experience as the sum of its parts.
Some elements of the component parts are primary to us, while many other
factors contribute to the sum of the composite experience. Experience is
“contextual” where context is defined by relevance and the ease and value in
conducting a transaction, which is the goal of the engagement experience.
Experience has an orientation around time including what has come before,
which biases our opinion, b) the contribution of a possible interaction toward
fulfilling our needs and wants, and c) how the transaction is fulfilled.
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Through the experience our minds seek information and our hearts seek
certainty. We assess experience by trying to determine how cause and effect will
impact on us.
Engagement along the paths to purchase is an experience. It is both linear and
advances in unusual directions much like a game of snakes and ladders. Each
interaction should extend the relationship of a consumer and the brand. The
experience is based on perceptions (i.e. prior knowledge) going into an
exchange, what we might gain from the current exchange and what could be
expected in future, as the current transaction becomes part of the inherent value.
In being part of a continuum, experience should inspire alignment with the
features, benefits and value of the product, service or brand that is the basis of
the interaction.
Experience is both social and economic. Others have created the situation in
which we find ourselves and we commonly share it with others. It is economic for
both its immediate-term transaction and as an input to an ongoing relationship
with the brand.
Experience is the sum of transactional parts: It is a transaction that should
support relationship and vice versa. Each transaction should lead to deeper
interaction.
Experience is both transaction and relationship-based, offering a brand the
promise of reduced cost of sales and sustained revenues over the relationship
period.
Engagement is the reward given to brands through their offer of a valuable
experience. Engagement is integral to the path to purchase.
It is organizationally challenging to create the customer experience because of its
component parts and the relationship of these.
Engagement and customer experience are important to agencies because it
presents a new operating paradigm.
Engagement on premises fits into the “owned” category of the paid-ownedearned media model. Owned media tends to be the domain of the internal
marketing organization as it includes on-site signage, digital interaction, contact
management and outcome analytics.
Paid media seeks to increase traffic to a physical or online destination, which
increasing awareness, reminding and reinforcing our perception of the relevance
and value of a brand.
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The traditional advertising agency within the three global agency conglomerates,
base their business model on fees charged to brands on advertising spot
planning and placement. Upstream from this activity is the planning and creation
of messages. Madison Avenue is entirely focused on he $196 billion spent
annually by brands. Media buys are intended to increase the awareness of the
brand and assure high traffic on the path to purchase. Store traffic, internet
enquiries and e-commerce offer yardsticks for the success of “paid” media which
inherently urge consumers to try it, buy it and feel good about using it.
New “experiential” agencies are jumping straight into design revenues as they
create the store/branch of the future and retrofit proven approaches. Point-ofpurchase merchandising has long tapped into this need for product attention –
and engagement.
The contribution of digital place-based media is significant: Digital signage,
interactive video walls and kiosks improve brand, product and service awareness
and cause transactions to occur.
According to Industry Weapon, 76 percent of consumers have entered a location
because the sign was interesting, while an additional 75 percent of consumers
have told friends about a store simply because they were impressed by the
signage. Finally, 68 percent of Americans made purchases of a product or
service because of the appealing nature of the digital signage
According to the International Data Corp., the use of digital signage in retail
outlets will grow from $6 billion in 2013 to $27.5 billion in 2018 for a 35.7 percent
five-year compound annual growth rate, showing the importance brand outlets
place on digital signage and their interactive capabilities.
According to InfoTrends, digital signage has increased brand awareness by 47.7
percent, purchase amount by 29.5 percent, sales volumes by 31.8 percent,
repeat buyers by 32.8 percent, and in-store traffic by 32.8 percent.
Engagement is the coin of the realm for marketing and communication. For
shopper, patron, traveler, staff or students, it is a strategic, tactical and
operational imperative. The alternative is hit-and-miss or under-performing
marketing. Engagement means that:
• Targeted audiences of people with buying or decision-making authority or
significant influence are noticing the message.
• They are entering or are on the path to purchase or decision-making.
• Awareness, alignment with and their amplification of the brand or its
message are increasing.
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• Actions are being taken that will improve their knowledge of the offering(s),
such as inquiry, visit to a website, mobile downloads or commerce, and
the expression of their support through social or viral marketing.
Location- based display messaging is ideally suited to generating or enhancing
engagement because messages are typically presented at times and locations
best suited to achieving this engagement.
This benefit is realized when the right message is presented to the right audience
at the right time at the right place. In audience, time and place being already in
place, the key is in the messaging.
Messaging success starts with profiling audience needs and wants, and then
aligning the message to satisfy these. Message composition will assure that
these resonate with the viewer, while the call to action puts the person on the
path to having the benefits. It is all engagement, toward achieving those
marketing and communications goals.
Lyle Bunn (Ph.D. Hon.) is an independent analyst, advisor and educator in the
Digital Place-based Media industry. He has more than 300 organizations and
helped to train over 10,000 end user and supply professionals. He has published
more than 300 articles, whitepapers and guidebooks. See www.LyleBunn.com
Additional suggested resources from www.LyleBunn.com - RESOURCES:
Converging Platforms Mean High Value Engagement Through Digital Media. Lyle
Bunn Dec. 2014
Dynamic Media in Retail Guidebook. Lyle Bunn. (40 pages)
Digital Media in Retail Banking Guidebook. Lyle Bunn (39 pages)
Digital Media in Food Services Guidebook. Lyle Bunn (42 pages)
ROI or Die.. Using Analytics to Improve Digital Media Performance.
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