The change of mindset that maximizes engagement

We are constantly driven to maintain the delivery of the best experiences and solve the needs of people that we barely know: the "user".

In the marketing and design world, we have come up with different ideas on how to approach better this challenge and get to know this character that represents 80% of our total users in terms of needs, behaviors, and emotions.

If we are trying to sell something, we jump to the customer journey template; if we want to look innovative, we revamp the user interface of the app; if we want to appeal to the coolness of the user, we create a social media strategy. All this in the race of increasing revenue, market share, and engagement.

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But we might be missing something: we can't sell, we can't be innovative, and we can't be cool to our user if we don't think of that person as a human being that is touched by our brand... and a hundred more.

The first step towards creating value for our own brand is understanding and creating real value to our users.

So where to start? The most crucial, easy in theory, but most difficult to change, is to shift our mindset from "customer" to user".

What's the difference, anyway? It might be easier to spot if your company has a B2B (Business to Business) model. But when you are in B2C (Business to Customer) this might get trickier, as your customers can usually be the same people that use your products or services.

So, to make this difference obvious:

Customer: Who pays for your service or product.

User: Who solves a need with your service.

And here comes the golden question or rule of thumb for every decision we can make:

How can I solve this need for this user?

Contrary to the usual approach of: How can this person pay me more?

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So now we have the correct mindset set, focusing on people's problems and needs. The next thing to ask yourself is What can I do really really well and I'm known for?

This simple question really solves a lot of decision issues that can cost time, money, and happiness, not just for your internal workers, but also for the end user.

Just focus on unblocking your user on the essential tasks to complete their Job to be Done. A Job to be Done (or JTBD) is the ultimate goal of your user, some examples:

• When your user orders a burger it might be to satisfy her hunger.
• When your user books a flight it might be to visit his family.
• When your user opens a new account it might be to save money for a new home.

Then, you become the means of something greater, that is now embedded in the life of your user, and not just a spare piece of their life.

What can you do to unblock your user's ultimate goal? Do everything you can to lead them into a successful outcome. This will give value to your user, not just in terms of completing an action but also emotionally, thus creating value to your company.

But we all know that this journey does not end as soon as the transaction is complete. We want to be top of mind. The best way to accomplish this challenge is to become omnichannel.

Omnichannel doesn't mean firing off ads and interactions to our users in every single channel. It is about sending the right message, at the right time. And sending it on the best channel too. So, how do we provide our user with the right message at the right time? By doing it asynchronously and seamless.

This means that the interaction is not attached to a specific time frame, where both your brand and the user are communicating. The best example of an asynchronous interaction is messaging in platforms such as WhatsApp or Facebook: you send the message and let the user decide when she wants to read it and engage.

At this moment you might be wondering "I don't know, wasn't SMS promising just about the same?". Not quite. ****

The magic is to get the users to engage in the channels that are already being used to get their Jobs done. And unlike custom brand apps, users have already installed the app that they associate the most with communicating: WhatsApp and Facebook. It's like the portal to the rest of the world. Make the process easier for your user, all in the same platform, that gathers and pushes information from other systems, and see the magic of engagement happen.

All this is possible with automated conversational workflows. At Yalo we can help you achieve more engagement from your users via Whatsapp and Facebook. Let's talk!

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