Businesses that rely heavily on customer satisfaction surveys as a gauge of overall customer happiness, without an evaluation of total customer engagement, run the risk of losing valuable sales opportunities.

Time is not an independent variable in business. It is part of the fabric of your product offering. It is part of what we all offer. It is the route to higher profits and happier customers.

Businesses know mobile apps offer tremendous customer engagement opportunities -- if done correctly. Unfortunately, businesses can also eat up marketing budgets -- without the customer engagement payoff -- if mobile apps are not planned out with customer needs in mind.

Per recent guidelines, you will be penalized if your emails do not have adequate levels of deliverability and "engagement". Consider the following options to optimize your lists to increase open rates and engagement.

Business Marketing Association, most BtoB marketers say customer engagement is a high priority within their marketing organization (72 percent), but 43 percent grade their company's level of customer engagement, a C, with even more giving their companies a D or an F.

The opportunity for brands: build loyal social communities willing to share useful information with friends.

Companies can deepen their engagement with customers by championing powerful causes. However, in order for these efforts to be effective, customers must feel that your efforts are authentic and truly helping the charity.

If you are not creating a personalized preference-driven experience for your customers, they'll go looking for that type of experience -- with your competitors.

Traditional marketing has often focused on getting the sale. Instead, marketers should focus on retention and how to keep more customers for longer periods.

News and events provide powerful opportunities to connect with your audience. Twitter makes this easy.

Major email providers such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL have implemented new algorithms for email deliverability based on "engagement." If your emails are not triggering sufficient interaction, they are likely not to be delivered.

The Challenge: What can we learn from a 157-year-old fashion company that's being called "the world's most digitally competent luxury brand"? That a multichannel and personalized customer experience is becoming the expected standard among consumers.

Poor website usability is not the only shortcoming. Per findings from Marketing Sherpa: among 1,100 online retailers evaluated, the study found a near 60 percent average shopping cart abandonment rate.

Marketers everywhere are fighting an uphill battle: trying to deliver more personalized communications but lacking the accurate data to do so. Without that information marketers are still stuck sending 'Spray and Pray' blasts of email.

In the past, brands addressed customer service issues by way of a primary channel -- the 'call center.' But now, companies must also monitor, respond, and engage in a variety of social channels.

No company is immune to the possibility of damaging comments, posts and tweets. So how do businesses prepare for unwanted attention on far-reaching social channels? Here, we look at a few companies that have weathered the storm and provided some valuable lessons.

Creating content that is conducive to social sharing can be tricky. Here's how Disney used smart and creative magic to crack the code.

How has Coke thrived in a social media world, ranking as the world's most valuable brand and attracting the biggest Facebook fan base? Learn from their 7 Social Media Rules for Success.

How can brands turn their social media fans into revenue? For Starbucks, success through social media begins with a commitment to relationship-building, not sales.

Gaining customer attention and engagement is tough. Marketer's attempts at "personalization" have not been effective. Can personalized videos engage customers? AT&T thinks so and has the results to prove it.

As companies grow, relationships with customers usually suffer. Larger customer files, heavier account loads, and less available time, often contribute to a decrease in engagement with customers. This begins the cycle of increasing losses of customers.

Companies have always made promises to customers and prospects. But with today's socially empowered consumers, companies are made or broken based on how well they keep their promises. Is your company trustworthy enough?

Email is an essential element of almost every marketer's multi-channel mix. But, it needs to do a better job of engaging readers. Here are 3 best practices.

During Ad Week, Twitter VP Joel Lunenfeld drew a staggering correlation between a user's activity on Twitter and their television watching habits. What could this mean for multichannel customer engagement?

In the presidential race, both candidates are sending out highly personalized e-mails to voters, using microtargeting to address individual interests. But what privacy issues does this raise for consumers?