Strategies to Foster Customer Engagement

Most businesses strive towards building a loyal customer base. A core of customers who come back time and again. However, despite strategies around loyalty, not enough is being done to nurture customer engagement in the first instance.

The value of a site, business or product is relative to the user so engaging them on their terms is essential. Not least because personalisation is no longer the gold standard, it’s expected.

But there’s more to customer engagement strategies than just showing them relevant content. That isn’t enough to keep them engaged long term. You need to fully understand your customers, their behaviours, and their interests. Only then you can reasonably expect to grab their attention.

If you’re not passionate about your customers, they will never be passionate about you. Show them you know them and communicate with them regularly. But that’s the bare minimum. The more you do, the more engaged your customers will become.

Using Your Data

Your data is one of the most important assets you have as a business. Without it, none of your marketing efforts would land as well as they could. Nor would you have any idea of how well those campaigns performed. Understanding your data is essential to the successful functioning of any modern marketing department.

Treating your data with the respect it deserves allows you to be more personalised with your communications, offers and promotions.

Consolidate your Data

Companies that combine and store their data in one place are more able to gather and analyse the information in their possession. Businesses have used things like customer data platforms (CDPs) to store and better understand their customer data.

There are many ways you can use your data after it has been consolidated to learn more about your customers and their behaviour. The more reliable the data, the more informed you can be about your customers’ behaviours. The greater the insight, the more likely your customer engagement campaigns are to succeed.

Increasing customer engagement and getting the best possible results comes from personalisation. And that all starts with treating and understanding your data properly.

Segmentation

At this stage, you should be aware that treating every customer the same won’t work. If you assume that everyone wants to see or hear the same thing, your messaging and communications will receive little to no engagement. All you’ll really succeed in is driving your customers into the arms of your competitors.

This is where segmentation becomes so important. Using a customer data platform to segment your customers into various buyer personas will help you better understand who you’re speaking to and why. Then, you can develop timely communications that are relevant to their interests. 

What comes from this is a far more personalised and relevant experience. Your customer engagement levels and the chance that they will convert should both rise as a result of this level of segmentation.

Personalisation

Personalised experiences are what will convert browsers into buyers. Customers want a connection with the companies they shop with. The more they spend, the deeper that understanding of them should be.

91% of consumers are more likely to shop with businesses who provide relevant offers and recommendations. They also don’t fear giving you access to their data as much as you might assume. To receive a personalised experience, 83% of customers are willing to share their data. 

This change in consumer behaviour makes it more beneficial for both parties. You can create more relevant and personalised campaigns, driving customer engagement and retention. And the customer gets the personalised experience they desire.

Channels

It’s not all about what you say, but also how and where you say it. Customers have preferences for where they want to be communicated with, not just for what they want to see.

More than 60% of customers interact through multiple channels. It can be challenging to find the ideal communication channel. Customers, however, demand consistency, so you must provide it.

It’s critical that you evaluate customer engagement levels across all of your communication channels. You must put in the effort to understand what is working and what is not. If you don’t, you might be wasting your time and money on a channel that none of your customers use. Additionally, if the message isn’t getting through to them as effectively as it should, you risk losing that customer.

Strategies For Customer Engagement

57% of a purchasing decision is made by the time a consumer has engaged with you. This demonstrates the importance of emphasising customer engagement and how it can result in a rise in conversions. They are already more than halfway there once they engage.

Your customer engagement attempts will frequently take the form of offering the customer worthwhile content that is of interest. However, there are other, slightly more subtle approaches to keep them interested in you.

Loyalty Programmes

Establishing a loyalty programme is a practical and highly effective way to maintain customers’ interest in your company. They are primarily there to maintain customer interest in your business and keep them engaged. They’ll use your website more frequently as a result of doing this.

An increase in interest in your company and your offerings translates into more customers visiting, interacting with, and buying from you.

To find out who visits your website frequently, you should use the data that is stored on your CDP. These are the clients you should think about inviting to loyalty programmes.

Loyalty programmes increase the frequency of purchases, average spend, customer engagement, and lifetime value. They are a great way to retain customers and thank them for doing business with you on a regular basis.

Reviews and Feedback

Giving customers the chance to provide feedback on products can help them feel as though their opinions are important to your company. Something like this gives them an avenue to interact with your brand.

In addition to this, it gives potential customers confidence in your products. It can be challenging to decide which shops and brands to use when there are so many options available. Reviews are important to prospective buyers because they can’t physically inspect a product before making an online purchase. In fact, 63% of customers prefer to make purchases from sites with reviews.

Sales are facilitated by guiding customers through their decision-making processes. Customers can really benefit from using reviews to gain a better understanding of the product. It can help them decide whether or not to make a purchase and can dispel any uncertainty customers may be feeling.

In light of this, you should take action to address any complaints customers have left about your product. Customers feel heard and valued as a result of this practice.

Even negative reviews can work in your favour. Customers will see reviews as more authentic and therefore more valuable if the social proof is overwhelmingly positive.

Provide a Great Online Experience

You will never get a second chance to make a good first impression. The first few seconds a customer spends on your app or website can affect how frequently they interact with you. Attracting their attention right away with a fantastic experience is crucial.

Customers either leave your app or site satisfied with their experience and return, or they won’t. 89% of users will look elsewhere after one bad experience.

A number of factors can improve the online experience. A crucial one is page speed. Few things are more annoying than waiting for a slow page to load. You will lose some potential customers as a result of the terrible user experience it creates.

Not being upfront about additional costs and shipping times is something that can seriously deter customers from making a purchase. To keep the buyer informed and prevent them from cancelling the purchase, you should make these clear to them throughout the process.

Real-time stock management is also crucial. If a customer orders an item only to learn that it is out of stock or on backorder, they will become deeply frustrated. Don’t have it on your website if you don’t have it in stock. You’re sure to lose a lot of customers if you don’t keep this in mind.

The quicker customers can check out and buy the items in their basket, the better. If your checkout procedure is too drawn-out and difficult, customers will leave and abandon their basket. To avoid losing out on sales, make sure it is as simple and streamlined as possible.

Consistency Is Key

When you engage with your customers, do it on a consistent basis. They have a lot of options out there. So make sure you’re at the top of their list.

You need to make the effort to make sure your customers don’t forget you.

To learn more about how to create effective customer engagement strategies, get in touch with us today to book a demo.