The KPI Lie: How Outdated Engagement Metrics Are Costing You Customers

by Steve Bocska
Steve is the CEO and founder of PUG Interactive Inc., a company specializing in maximizing lifetime customer value through relationship orchestration. With over 20 years of experience in the gaming industry, Steve focuses on applying loyalty, engagement, and gamification to enhance user experiences in non-game contexts.

 

Once upon a time, the marketing world was enamored by ad campaigns that sold products with catchy slogans and shiny packaging. Campaigns like “Where’s the beef?” and “Just Do It” dominated consumer attention, reeling in audiences with scarcely more than clever words. But today, those exact same brands are learning the hard way that slogans and clever ads are no longer enough to sustain consumer loyalty. Brands now need more—much more.

It’s been fascinating watching the marketing titans of the world—Coca-Cola, Nike, and McDonald’s—being forced to pivot. The question today is no longer “What’s our campaign this quarter?” but “How can we build long-term, authentic relationships with our customers?” The shift is monumental, opening the door for the age of genuine customer engagement. Engagement is the new holy grail of marketing success, and for good reason. Businesses that fail to engage their customers are losing them, fast.

Engagement Metrics: The Big Black Hole

Yet, despite all the focus on engagement, there’s a glaring issue: very few companies know how to measure it properly. You can pump money into loyalty programs, branded apps, social media, or community activities, but how do you know it’s actually working?

The answer, for most, is you don’t.

And this is where we find the root of today’s engagement crisis: measuring customer engagement is broken. The tools and KPIs (key performance indicators) traditionally used to gauge success—such as clicks, impressions, or points—are embarrassingly outdated. It’s like judging the success of a modern symphony by the number of chairs in the audience. True, you can easily count the clicks, but do they really measure loyalty, retention, and—most importantly—customer sentiment?

No. And this is where many brands fall into the abyss of wasted marketing dollars, following the same flawed metrics that have failed time and time again.

The Dangerous Myth of Points and Badges

The gamification craze of the last decade threw gasoline on this fire. With marketers attempting to “gamify” their way to loyalty, the result was an industry flooded with points systems, badges, and leaderboards. But here’s the truth: badges are a dead end. They create a fleeting sense of accomplishment, not sustained engagement.

Worse yet, they’re often implemented with no real understanding of what motivates customers beyond a superficial level. Slapping a badge on a customer profile doesn’t make someone feel connected to your brand—it makes them feel manipulated.

It’s no surprise then that many of these campaigns lead to what I call “Loyalty Backlash”—that moment when customers realize they’re being manipulated by meaningless rewards, prompting not just disengagement, but outright rejection of the brand.

Solving the Engagement Metric Problem: Enter SNES

So, how can companies navigate this engagement trap? By shifting their focus from outdated metrics to meaningful ones. At PUG Interactive, we developed Steve’s Net Engagement Score (SNES) to do just that. SNES ditches the overreliance on clicks or badges, opting instead to examine understand the deep psychological drivers of engagement.

SNES is built on three primary factors: interesting choices, consequential actions, and time pressure. By focusing on these elements, you get a clearer picture of true engagement. Here’s why:

  • Interesting Choices: Engagement happens when customers are presented with meaningful decisions that reveal their preferences. This extends beyond mindless button-clicking, allowing you to craft experiences that allow customers to self-identify with your brand and make personal, impactful decisions.

  • Consequences: The impact of a customer’s choice must matter. Without consequences, engagement is shallow. Consider video games—players are drawn in because their choices have real stakes. Apply this to your brand, and you’ll see engagement rise as customers navigate meaningful outcomes.

  • Time Pressure: Deadlines, time-limited rewards, and challenges increase focus and urgency. Instead of shamelessly manipulating customers with gimmicks, you’re using natural psychological drivers to create a more immersive and satisfying experience.

When brands optimize these three factors, the SNES score rises—and that score reflects a far more accurate measure of community engagement. We’ve used this method across industries, from luxury travel to FMCG, and seen remarkable outcomes in not only loyalty but in customer lifetime value, conversion rates, and sales.

Why Your Current KPIs Are Killing Your Brand

The sad truth is many companies remain stuck in the KPI dark ages. They obsess over clicks, views, and impressions—all metrics that are increasingly irrelevant in today’s engagement-driven market. If these are your go-to metrics, you’re almost certainly missing the bigger picture: the health of your customer relationship.

In the absence of meaningful metrics, marketing budgets get burned up without anyone truly understanding the return on investment. It’s no wonder that 80% of customer engagement initiatives fail!

The Path Forward: Accountability, Insight, and Real Engagement

To survive and thrive, today’s marketers must embrace engagement metrics that measure what truly matters. No more shallow points systems or meaningless leaderboards. Instead, brands need to focus on metrics that capture the nuances of human behavior, emotion, and decision-making.

Steve’s Net Engagement Score is one of the most effective tools for embracing accountability and uncovering the real drivers of loyalty. The brands that do will build deeper, lasting relationships with their customers. The ones that don’t? They’ll keep pouring money into campaigns that might get clicks—but will never win hearts.

Are you ready to measure real engagement? Or are you content to keep chasing the vanity of clicks and impressions while your customers slip away?