Valuing Wellbeing
In an era marked by rampant switching behaviors, “customer engagement” has come to the rescue of firms with its promised potential of long-term loyalty. However, firms' attempts to engage customers without a clear understanding of its long-term impact on consumer wellbeing may backfire the entire effort by hampering customer perceived value and satisfaction associated with the service. Thus, the chapter revolves around the notion that customer engagement, when designed with the vision of adding meaning and value to customer life, becomes in true sense “optimal.” In support of this argument, the chapter documents the cases of customer engagement campaigns which have failed utterly in the long run due to their adverse effects on consumer wellbeing. Light is also casted upon successful engagement events which have brought meaning and wellbeing to all within its ambit. Using insights from in-depth interviews, four major factors ruining engagement efforts have been identified, namely over-engagement, irrelevant content, over-personalization, and inauthenticity.