If I were to ask you “how do you measure customer engagement,” what would you say?

That’s just one of the questions that Forbes asked CMOs in a new Forbes Insights report entitled: “The New Rules of Engagement: CMOs Rethink Their Marketing Mix” (free download). And, while CMOs seem to understand the importance of engagement–67% said is was “very” important and 30% said it was “somewhat” important–they can’t quite put their finger on how to measure it.

The chart below highlights the metrics CMOs are using to determine just how successful they are in engaging their customers. Some of them look “about right” but others perplex me.

For example, customer retention and sales aren’t very good measures of engagement, are they? Apple doesn’t do much to “engage” its customers but its retention and sales are through the roof because it builds awesome products. Likewise, just because someone opts-in to your email newsletters, doesn’t necessarily mean they are engaged. They could have filters set up to simply show them the email if you mention a discount coupon.

Perhaps the most confusing stat is the low importance placed on social media activity? Maybe I’ve been sipping too much of the social media Kool-Aid, but wouldn’t social media activity be a very important metric for measuring customer engagement? After all, isn’t that where a company truly gets to “engage” with its customers?