Effective engagement leads to brand loyalty

The strategy of forging a people-centric brand identity never grows old.

CULTIVATING brand loyalty is no easy feat with competition raising the stakes. At the recent Retail Asia Forum in Kuala Lumpur, business leaders shared ways to foster effective customer engagement.

One key strategy is building brand identity, as discussed by Siow Sue Swen, manager for Group Customer Engagement at Alpro Pharmacy, at the Malaysia forum on 27 June.

“It’s really about people,” Siow said, noting how personal connections between the business and its customers are important.

Building on this, she suggested offering a comprehensive range of services to meet customers’ diverse needs. Alpro, for instance, is expanding beyond selling products to offering services in clinics, physical therapy, audiology, and more.

“Whilst a customer initially looks for medication, your needs extend beyond just medication to preventative health,” Siow said. “That’s why in all our local pharmacies, we have a wide range of professionals available to address such needs.”

One other key strategy is constant innovation in building brand identity. As an example, she shared how Alpro provides daily medications in labelled plastic bags instead of using traditional pillboxes, simplifying the process for customers and ensuring their adherence to medication schedules.

Monitoring metrics

Moving towards an online perspective, TechLab Ecommerce Marketing Sdn Bhd founder and director, Mugilan Chitambram stressed the significance of measuring engagement by monitoring clickthrough rates (CTR) at various stages of the sales “funnel.”

According to him, CTR is a vital metric that determines if the audience is engaging with the content and moving through the funnel as intended.

“The top of the funnel usually generates about 1-2% of the CTR and if you move on to its middle and bottom, the CTR has to be more than what the top funnel is generating,” Chitambram said.

He further explained that the middle should generate more engagement as it targets a more specific audience based on the top part of the funnel.

“So, if you see a drop in that, it means there is nothing wrong with the digital market strategy but you need to work on your content,” Chitambram added.

Meanwhile, Siow mentioned that their business utilises recency, frequency, and monetary (RFM) analysis to track customer behaviour and deliver targeted promotions and educational information.

Such a method is associated with maintaining high engagement levels whilst ensuring customers feel valued or understood.

ESG Integration

The Malaysia forum’s panel also delved into the rising trend towards environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices and how they can be integrated into building customer engagement.

For Siow, ESG starts by identifying an issue relevant to your brand in order to address it with a more genuine approach.

“In Alpro, we have a medication disposal system. If you have any medication that has expired, is no longer in use, or you don't know what to do with it, you can always bring it to us,” she said.

This practice also helps the business acquire new customers, with Siow explaining how people got to know more about the pharmacy and its services through the disposal system, ultimately becoming the business’s regular customers.

However, Chitambram cited that based on his experience, ESG-based marketing campaigns often do not perform well in online spaces as compared to traditional offline marketing.

He said that whilst these initiatives have good intentions, they may not resonate as strongly with consumers who prioritise discounts and deals over ESG credentials. “So from online space, I would say we need to first create better awareness and education on ESG,” Chitambram said.