Customer engagement. Management practices in the consumer goods and services sector

Customer engagement is a customer’s voluntary contribution of resources to a firm’s marketing function, extending beyond financial patronage. In other words, it is a customer behavioural manifestation toward the brand or firm that goes beyond transactions and results from motivational  drivers.  Customer  engagement  in  this  book  refers  to  the  engagement  of  individual customers, that is, consumer buyers, final consumers, or consumer end-users, either initiated by companies or the customers themselves. The authors reveal both the current practices of firms as well as their plans for customer engagement, and answer the following research questions:1. How should the customer engagement phenomenon be defined from a managerial point of view?2. What are the forms of customer engagement which need to be managed in business practice? 3. What are the basics of customer engagement management?4. What are the external conditions for customer engagement management ?5. What is the intensity of customer engagement in business practice?6. What are the consequences of customer engagement for firms? 7. What are the firms’ efforts in managing customer engagement?The current book advances the understanding of customer engagement as an object of management endeavours by companies in the business practice of the consumer goods and services sector and is therefore insightful for marketing academics, practitioners and students.