To facilitate this, we can link the levels of engagement to Cialdini 's influence techniques . Cialdini (2007) describes six basic techniques for influencing: reciprocity, consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity:
Reciprocity : When I do something for you, you feel called to do something back.
Consistency : Things that people have done or said before feel familiar and they want to stick to them. It is about commitment to one’s own behavior.
Social proof : People always look at what others are doing (peers, references) and based on that they vote or spend money.
Liking : We like to say yes to people we like.
Authority : People are obedient to authority, someone with a lot of power.
Scarcity : Things seem more valuable when they are scarce.
You will then get a combination of the customer engagement objective, linked to the community objective, supplemented list to data with the necessary influencing technique:
diagram
Dynamic customer journey
The advent of the internet and social media in particular has put pressure on the traditional sales funnel . The target group is not only influenced by the experiences of others in the phase in which they are orienting themselves on a purchase. In fact, we are constantly stimulated by experiences that are shared in our network. As a result, we can easily be pulled along by people from our network to the phase in which they are.
The traditional funnel shape is therefore no longer sufficient. We are in an influence loop where we can enter at any stage and influence others. Brian Solis describes the basis of this idea with the dynamic customer journey.
Solis_Dynamic_Customer_Journey
The last phase of the journey consists of the post-commerce phase. In this phase, loyalty forms the basis for a good relationship with the target group. If the target group is satisfied and feels involved with the brand, they will express this to others. In this way, the target group provides the involvement that is necessary to guide other potentials in the target group through the customer journey. They become representatives of the brand. And as described earlier, nothing works as powerful for a consumer as a recommendation from someone they know.
Square Onion Community Model: From Every Stage to Offline Action
By using the principle of the dynamic customer journey, it is possible to go from any starting point of a community to the next phase, to always end up with an offline action. With that thought in mind, I developed the Square Onion Community Model. The process starts with creating awareness in the formulation phase and ends with creating loyalty in the post-commerce phase. As soon as the target group has arrived at the post-commerce phase, they can move on from there to the awareness phase because they then influence others again.
In my next blog I will elaborate on the model itself. I will describe all phases of the model and show the model graphically.
My thesis has been submitted and the defense will follow in April. After the defense I will offer my thesis to people who are interested in it. Are you such a person, mail me and I will put you on the list!