Strategies for Engaging Customers in More Effective Ways

Dangling that line, but no customers are biting? Get Marketing Strategies for Effectively Engaging Customers in ‘Radically’ Different Ways here.

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Customer engagement is one of the most important concerns for marketers today because it puts an emphasis on the very reasons why marketers do what they do: to establish relationships with consumers who will enjoy and profit from your product or service, return frequently, make sure they choose you over the competition and recommend you to their family and friends.

According to research by Salesforce, 83% of customers now expect immediate engagement when they contact a business, up from 78% in 2019. The same research shows that 70% of consumers find convenience to be more important than branding.

Catchy slogans and celebrity endorsements are no longer sufficient; brands must engage consumers, i.e., make a real connection with them in order to attract, convert, and retain customers as well as transform them into brand advocates. In the era of mobile devices and social media, businesses must always be prepared to seize opportunities to communicate with customers wherever they are and whenever they arise. 

If this sounds like a difficult task, don’t fret. There are numerous ways of engaging customers more effectively. You just need to make sure to choose genuine strategies, speak to the correct audience, and give customers strong incentives to engage.

What is customer engagement?

Before moving on to explaining customer engagement strategies, we should first define what customer engagement is. 

Customer engagement refers to all of your online and offline interactions with customers. Ideally, those interactions should cause customers to feel and behave favorably toward your brand.

There are many ways for brands to engage customers and win them over, such as providing an excellent customer experience, great content, and efficient customer support. But this also means that competitors have the same opportunities, which leaves you with one solution: look for other, ‘radically’ different ways to engage customers in addition to these ‘standard’ ones that will set you apart from the crowd. 

Why is Engaging Customers important?

As mentioned before, engaging customers before, during, and after a transaction will enhance their emotional bond with your business. You can keep your hard-won consumers by building stronger bonds between them and your brand. Some of the most important benefits of customer engagement include:

• Improved customer experience
• Better brand experience
• Increased customer trust and loyalty
• Increased sales funnel velocity
• Opportunity to obtain valuable customer insight and feedback

If you successfully engage your customers, they will continue to think about your brand first while making decisions. Additionally, they’ll be more receptive to your marketing initiatives. A few KPIs that will rise when your customer engagement level rises include cross-selling, up-selling, and average order value.

How to increase customer engagement

Engaged customers are good for business because they are more strongly and deeply connected with your brand. The more engaged they are with your brand, the more they will buy from you, ultimately benefiting your bottom line.

So, how can you boost your engagement levels? Here are 8 effective customer engagement strategies for engaging customers in radically different ways and building a loyal following:

1. Try field marketing 

In today’s day and age, consumers can shop instantly with a single click. But no matter how much technology is incorporated into our lives, we will still spend a significant amount of time doing our shopping and conducting business with people in the real world.

Field marketing is a great tool that allows marketers to venture outside their offices and interact with their customers in person. Adopting field marketing tactics, such as events and conferences, roadshows, in-store promotions, and product demonstrations allows you to connect with your target market and provides an up-close look at your products and services. As a result, customers become more personally engaged with your product, which promotes brand recognition and conveys brand values to customers.

2. Use LinkedIn

You are probably already using several social media platforms for customer engagement, but have you tried LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the most well-known professional social networking site which makes it the best venue for growing your B2B business. However, during the past few years, more B2C firms have used LinkedIn to reach niche audiences with their consumer goods. Automotive, legal services, financial services, financial advisers, luxury products, tourism, and higher education have been some of the more active B2C businesses.

Here are a few tips that will help you start a conversation on LinkedIn to boost your engagement levels, regardless of whether your business is B2B or B2C:

• Decide what makes your company stand out from other businesses, then convey it with honesty and authenticity.

• In order to engage followers and customers on any platform, you need to have a strong presence and post frequently. Your posts should inform your followers and showcase the work you perform.

• Start a conversation on LinkedIn. In order to be intriguing to people, you must first be interested in them. Start by engaging with and leaving comments on other people’s content. Long-term, this increases awareness and trust, and it will pay off tenfold.
• Take part in LinkedIn groups. Find groups comprised of your target market, join in, make connections, and start contributing. 

3. Leverage conversational marketing

Customer expectations are rising along with the sophistication of digital marketing. Customers want to communicate with brands and businesses anytime and wherever it is convenient for them. When a customer purchases something online at midnight and there is an issue with the payment process, they want it resolved as soon as possible. 

Of course, some businesses may not always be able to offer that degree of involvement, which is where conversational marketing solutions like live chat may be really useful. Conversational marketing stats show that 79% of companies have experienced positive growth in customer loyalty, sales, and revenue, as a result of their live chat services. 

When it comes to conversational marketing, chatbots and live chat immediately come to mind. But this engagement strategy may also be applied to social media, phone calls, instant messaging, and SMS—basically, anywhere you can engage customers and prospects with personalized, one-on-one conversations that lead to specific offers or product recommendations. 

4. Gamify your customer loyalty scheme

Being able to acknowledge and thank customers for all of their interactions with your business has a special power. Implementing a gamified customer loyalty program is a fun method to boost engagement, reward users for participating, and increase brand loyalty.

Provide a variety of opportunities for your loyal consumers to acquire points, badges, stamps, or any other incentive token. Customers can receive rewards for their purchases, referrals, survey responses, reviews, social media posts, and any other significant brand interactions you want to promote. You can get very inventive with this sales incentive program, and go all-out on a branded experience with a fun logo, inventive tokens, and special awards.

5. Simplify your ordering process

Engagement marketing isn’t just about the way you connect and interact with your customers; it can also be about improving the overall consumer experience. For instance, your ordering and checkout procedures can be simplified to increase client satisfaction and promote return visits.

Although having a large number of options may seem to be good for the consumers, too many choices can create friction in the checkout process, adding to the already high average cart abandonment rate (which is still about 70% according to the Baymard Institute).

Simple recurring subscriptions and one-click ordering are both excellent methods to lower friction and enhance the customer experience. You can create a checkout experience that is centered on engagement by including tailored product recommendations and the opportunity to earn loyalty points.

6. Get push notifications right

Effective customer engagement sometimes means reminding customers of your offerings. And one excellent way to do it is using push notifications.

Short messages known as push notifications “pop up” on a user’s smartphone or computer screen outside of the browser. They can be used to inform clients of exclusive deals, news, or offerings. Push notifications need a subscription, so customers who want to get them are already choosing to interact with the company. The next difficulty lies in creating push notifications with a message or offer that will compel the client to click on it and continue the conversation.

Using push notifications effectively requires careful consideration of both timing and content. The typical app user in the US receives 46 push notifications per day, and 32% of consumers will disable push notifications if they receive more than five messages per week. So, try not to overburden your clients with push notifications. Segmentation is another issue to be on the lookout for. Not all clients will be interested in every notification. Try to divide your audience up into groups that can each get the most effective message.

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

7. Have a design contest

A design contest can be a really fun method to engage customers if you have a creative audience or if you operate in a niche where products are the focus. Ask your customers and prospects to submit a design concept for a new product, product customization, or some branded merch, and then let everyone vote on which concepts they like best.

A design competition works well because it offers creativity, novelty, a genuine sense of community, and the possibility to win. Your customers can still vote, comment on, and show support for other designs even if they don’t want to submit one themselves. Be sure to offer attractive prizes for the best designs or offer designers the opportunity to bring their ideas to reality as part of your brand.

8. Give out free samples 

Everyone enjoys receiving free things, and research confirms that there is a connection between freebies and recurring business. More than 80% of customers who responded to a poll said that getting a free sample increases their likelihood of making a purchase. Additionally, a free product is recognized as the best part of the shopping experience by nearly 50% of consumers.

Numerous well-known companies, including Sephora and Splenda, provide free samples with purchases. So why not give out a little freebie of your own goods to your loyal customers? This can work incredibly well if you sell products like food, vitamins, makeup, perfumes, etc. 

If you can’t afford to give free samples, consider giving away a free e-book or some other digital product in exchange for the prospect’s email address which you can later use to send content and advertisements. 

Final thoughts

Engaging Customers is important for any business and brands must actively work to connect and interact with consumers at every opportunity. A well-thought-out and properly implemented customer engagement strategy will promote client loyalty and sales growth.

Regardless of which engagement tactics you decide to use, be consistent. Create great end-to-end customer experiences from the very first interaction throughout the whole brand journey by crafting messages that are in line with the brand and appropriate for the target audience.