Solving the B2B2C Engagement Challenge!

Feeling like you need to have super powers to solve the end-user puzzle? Don't worry--with a few quick tips you can keep your focus where it matters most and win big!

First lets define the "success" zone. Your offerings success depends upon the behavior of downstream users. Your success zone is determined by how well you allow your downstream users to engage with your application. 

There are three critical areas to optimize end-user engagement:

1. The Platform
2. The User Experience
3. Engagement (Selling the users on the value of using the application to get the most out of it).

1. The Platform-Users today expect a personalized experience. To do this effectively you must understand their personal needs as it relates to your offering. 

Begin by developing end-user personas. A persona is a fictitious character that broadly embodies a valuable segment of your users. Build stories around the persona’s needs and challenges. Are there specific life event or lifestyle needs?  The platform should enable these personas to choose a viewing experience. Users select meaningful variables that control how their results are displayed.

Other personalized options include where information can be shared--like Facebook or TW. Think about the shared asset. Should it be exported as a whole--offered as embedded code? Should there be bookmark or video sharing options? Do you want to bring new users to your site or bring the shared information out to another location? 

Is it important to your site to include sentiment or rating engagement options? You may want to augment or seed your site with ratings from other locations as a starting point. Until rating is second nature perhaps your want to push a request to them to share their experience with others. Rewarding a sharing is always a great way to entice a new behavior to happen.

 

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Until rating is second nature perhaps your want to push a request to them to share their experience with others. Rewarding a sharing is always a great way to entice a new behavior to happen.

Do you want to reward users? If rewards are possible you may want to include a value system and personal containers to keep track of reward earned or redemptions taken. Do you want users to be able to gift rewards to others as well? Gifting is a powerful personalization that many user types value. 

2. A great User Experience is imperative. The experts are best consulted in this space. A few basics are to make sure the application is intuitive, uncluttered, targeted, and includes training options such as pop-up boxes. Pop-ups are a great way to guide users to the next desired task. Pop-ups can also become annoying -- be sure to offer users the option to "turn these off." 

3. Engagement is perhaps the biggest challenge of the three. Value is in the eye of the beholder. Having a meaningful sponsor, like a CEO making a call to action, can augment value. Some groups of users engage best when they see "esteemed" users engaging. Doctors, are an example of a group of users who are most impressed by other doctors.  In these cases, highlighting the esteemed group of users and their journey with the application can be a great option. In this case—take a baseline value (historic) measurement as a starting point. Then identify regular intervals (90 or 180 days) to measure current values against historical ones and highlight any change. Spotlight wins and how they were made. Make sure winners spotlight themselves with their associates and colleagues. Rewards go far here!

Do you have natural users? These are users who gravitate to using the application early on. Contact them and ask about their experience. How would they improve or change it? Always have a contact form where users can you with questions or comments. Don't be afraid of hearing from users. Remember it’s not that super heroes aren't afraid; they act courageously spite of fear. In B2B2C knowledge is your superpower!