• The Open University
  • The Open University Business School

Business Fundamentals: Customer Engagement

Learn how to design business and marketing activities to engage customers through relationships instead of one-off sales.

72,911 enrolled on this course

A group of business professionals discussing customer engagement
  • Duration

    4 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours
  • Accreditation

    AvailableMore info

Discover how to engage customers through relationships

When did you last do business with someone you didn’t trust? Or who broke a promise? Building a relationship with your customer involves time, communication and commitment, but the benefits are a sure way to help your business succeed and grow.

This online course introduces the principles of relationship marketing, revealing long-term relationships as the way to unlock value for marketers, customers and other stakeholders.

Even if you have never considered marketing to be relevant to you personally, the ideas shared in this course will reveal how you can benefit from it – at work or elsewhere.

What topics will you cover?

  • How to gain the most relevant insights about customers and their needs
  • Designing the most appropriate products for your intended customers
  • Prioritising the customers who are most likely to be interested in your products
  • Identifying the most profitable applications of relationship marketing
  • Understanding the different ways you can get customers to be loyal and when to use them
  • Maximising the effectiveness of digital marketing for relationship building

Who is this accredited by?

EOCCS
EOCCS:

This course is accredited by EOCCS, the first international quality benchmark for online courses in business and management education.

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Discuss and apply the key principles of relationship marketing to your customers
  • Improve your own performance in organisations of which you are a member
  • Develop your analytical and prioritisation skills
  • Assess and appreciate the ethical issues surrounding marketing relationships

Who is the course for?

This course is intended for anyone looking to develop and strengthen relationships with their customers or other stakeholders and does not require any previous experience of studying relationship marketing.

For further information about registration, the final assessment course, your eligibility and the BA in Business Management, visit the Open University website.

Academic credit

If you are aiming to use your study of courses in the Business and Finance Fundamentals program to obtain academic credit, please be aware that the final planned presentation of the Open University Assessment Course BXM191 Business and Finance Fundamentals in Practice starts October 2020. Please ensure that you allow yourself enough time to obtain all eight Certificates of Achievement from courses in the program before registering for the Assessment Course. The start dates of the relevant FutureLearn courses in 2019 and 2020 are available here.

What do people say about this course?

"I really enjoyed this course, lots of information, plenty of ideas to try out in our business, thank you to all. Thank you to all who shared their views, all were very interesting, I learned lots of new things."

Who will you learn with?

Haider is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the Open University and a visiting Professor at other Universities. He has consulted & taught globally and published in the Journal of Marketing Management.

Who developed the course?

The Open University

As the UK’s largest university, The Open University (OU) supports thousands of students to achieve their goals and ambitions via supported distance learning, helping to fit learning around professional and personal life commitments.

  • Established

    1969
  • Location

    Milton Keynes, UK
  • World ranking

    Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020

The Open University Business School

A pioneer in flexible learning for over 30 years, The Open University Business School delivers transformational, high quality business and management education which is quality assured.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

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