Transforming Engagement: Focusing on Metrics that Drive ROI

Unlock Revenue Growth by Mastering Engagement ROI

Gillian Setiawan

MarTech Blogger | Jan 15 , 2025

Is your customer engagement strategy costing more than it’s delivering? If you’re unsure, you might be measuring the wrong metrics.

In today’s BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance) sector, brands are investing heavily in loyalty programs and engagement tools. However, many fail to link these investments to measurable revenue growth and ROI.

Often, the disconnect lies in how engagement is evaluated. Too frequently, vanity metrics, like social media likes and app downloads, are prioritized over those that impact the bottom line. So, how can brands shift their focus to what really matters?

Vanity vs. Actionable Metrics: Understanding What Matters

Measuring customer engagement is integral to firms aiming to enhance user experiences. But, focusing on metrics that don’t provide actionable insights leads to wasted effort. As such, understanding the distinction between different types of metrics is then key.

Vanity Metrics

Vanity metrics may look impressive at first glance, giving the illusion of success, but they fail to provide real insights into business performance. These metrics fail to help companies fine-tune their strategies, ultimately leading to missed opportunities.

For example, social media follower counts. While having a large following can look impressive on a dashboard, it doesn’t guarantee sustained engagement or increased sales. A company may have 100,000 followers, but if only a small fraction interacts with posts or converts to paying customers, that large number is ultimately meaningless.

Actionable Metrics

Take customer lifetime value (CLV) as an example. CLV measures the total revenue a business can expect from a customer throughout their relationship. By combining this metric with a customer’s engagement patterns, companies can create personalized experiences that foster loyalty and long-term profitability. Armed with this data, a business can then prioritize high-value customers, segment its audience, and craft tailored marketing campaigns that better resonate with specific customer segments.

Actionable metrics, on the other hand, are what really drive decision-making and revenue growth. These metrics allow brands to see exactly what works and what doesn’t, enabling them to tweak marketing strategies accordingly.

Why Do Some Marketers Opt for Vanity Over Actionable Metrics?

Time Constraints

Marketers are often under pressure to deliver immediate results. With tight deadlines looming, vanity metrics like social media likes or follower counts are often easier and faster to report.
Challenges of Accurate Attribution

In today’s multi-channel environment, customers interact with brands across various touchpoints, making it difficult for marketers to accurately attribute which actions directly lead to desired outcomes. This complexity often leads marketers to default to vanity metrics, as they offer a straightforward narrative that feels easier to report, despite not accurately reflecting customer behavior or engagement.

Best Practices for Measuring ROI

To effectively measure the ROI of customer engagement initiatives, here are some key strategies BFSI brands can implement:

Establish Clear Objectives

Defining what success looks like and aligning objectives with overall business goals ensures a focus on metrics that truly matter. For example, if the objective is to boost engagement, metrics like engagement rate or conversion rate would be key. If the goal is customer retention, then customer retention rate or satisfaction should be prioritized.
Utilize Advanced Analytics

Harnessing data analytics tools is critical for gathering actionable insights.While basic analytics tools canoften be found on website platforms or social media accounts, advanced software solutions provide deeper insights into customer behavior. Tools like augmented analytics platforms, for example, offer predictive insights, helping brands understand not only what is happening but also why it’s happening and what’s likely to happen next.

Continuously Monitor and Adjust

Regularly reviewing customer engagement data and making necessary adjustments keeps business strategies agile and responsive to evolving trends. For example, tracking metrics like conversion rates or customer engagement scores in real-time allows brands to pivot and adapt campaigns based on performance, staying ahead of the curve.
Invest in Training

Training employees to understand the value of actionable metrics over just vanity ones is essential. By ensuring that teams can distinguish between the two types of metrics, businesses can foster a more strategic, data-driven approach to decision-making, thereby driving better bottom-line results.

A Case Study: Boosting ROI with Perx

Launched in 2022, the leading neo-bank in Singapore rapidly distinguished itself as one of the world’s fastest-growing digital banks, attracting over 700,000 customers (14% of Singapore’s bankable population).

Looking to enhance customer acquisition and retention, the bank collaborated with Perx to develop an innovative gamified engagement strategy utilizing automated Stamp Cards. This initiative created an interactive in-app experience that incentivized customer transactions, while the Perx rule engine facilitated ongoing engagement by rewarding users for completing specific actions.

To assess the impact on ROI, the bank closely monitored key performance indicators (KPIs) such as card usage, product adoption, and customer referrals. As a result, the bank experienced significant increases in product adoption, more consistent card usage, and a marked surge in customer referrals. Most notably, the bank achieved a 33x reduction in customer acquisition cost (CAC) through Perx’s effective referral campaign mechanics. Recognizing these successes, the bank has continued its partnership with Perx, confident that the platform continues to enhance its KPIs.

Overall, this success story underscores how a well-executed marketing strategy, guided by clear KPIs, can provide valuable insights into campaign performance and ultimately drive impressive returns on investment.

Conclusion

While investing in customer engagement tools is a critical first step, the true value comes from understanding how to measure their impact. Ultimately, BFSI brands that focus on actionable metrics, such as customer lifetime value and retention rate, can better link their engagement strategies to tangible business outcomes, driving both revenue growth and long-term customer loyalty.

The Perx Advantage

At Perx, we specialize in helping brands turn engagement into measurable results. Our gamified campaigns, loyalty programs, and strategic partner and reward management solutions guide customers toward actions that generate real revenue. With our augmented analytics platform, we also go beyond vanity metrics to help you measure real business impact.

Ready to boost your ROI? Book a demo today and see how our engagement solutions can help you drive revenue and growth.