7 Proven Customer Engagement Strategies You Should Be Using

What is customer engagement anyway?

There are all sorts of metrics to measure it, whether it be page views, time spent on the website, or email open rates… But if we take away all the marketing mumbo jumbo, what is customer engagement really, and why does it matter?

Customer engagement is the strongest indicator of customers’ feelings about your brand.

That’s right, customer engagement is investing all this time and money into trying to improve something mushy gushy: feelings. Because really – feelings do matter. They’re one of the biggest factors in brand loyalty.

If people like your brand, they may come back to buy again.

If people love your brand, they’ll definitely pick you over competitors.

And if people can’t get enough of your brand, they’ll not only be dedicated to you, but will spread the word to all their friends, too.

So, in a nutshell, engagement is a way of measuring customer sentiment towards your brand, in order to predict future loyalty.

Here are top picks for the most effective customer engagement strategies that your business should be using.

 

Show Personality in Content

The best way to build continued customer engagement is through strong branding.

Strong branding makes customers want to engage on an emotional level with you, which is the most long-lasting and strong connection, customers can have with you.

[Solid branding starts with an excellent copy]

Smart branding masters know how to leverage every copy opportunity to align with their messaging.

Why you should use this engagement strategy: A touch of personality in your customer engagement strategies, can help reinforce your brand.

 

 

 

Share Customer Reviews on Social Platforms

When you think of engaging online content, reviews may not be the first thing that comes to mind.

But customer reviews are a powerful way to re-engage current customers while also increasing your online conversion rate into real-time sales; asides just boosting your social media platforms, and raising brand awareness.

Why do people like to interact with customer reviews, anyway?

For one, people can relate to content written by real customers more than brand messaging.

Honest reactions from their friends, family and social connections are more warmly received than generic branded content.

Additionally, adding customer reviews to social channels increases online engagement with your followers and fans.

Why you should use this engagement strategy: Customer review traffic provides more engagement than many of the other leading traffic-driving channels.

 

Connect with Customers Through Social Q&A

In the brick-and-mortar days, customers could ask both store workers and other shoppers, their opinions about a certain item before buying.

That customer experience is now preserved in the digital age today, through social questions and answers: giving your potential / new customers, the leverage to question you about your brand.

Your customers more than likely have questions for you, whether they’re on your company itself, or your products and services. Establish a forum where they can be heard.

 

[Host Google hangouts and Twitter chats or even create a simple Facebook post that asks your audience what they want to know about your company or product]

Allow customers to ask questions and at the same time, provide them with real-time answers.

Why you should use this engagement strategy: This approach does not only provide your customers with reliable, real-time responses to their questions, but it also fosters their sense of connection to your brand.

 

Surprise Customers with Ultra-Personalized Outreach

You can imagine the joy you’d get if your favorite restaurant or store mailed you a coupon on your birthday.

Today’s technology allows digital marketing to take this personalized engagement many steps further.

People are constantly overrun by content and customer marketing slogans.

[There are many strategies for standing out, but the most effective is simply to offer something surprising to customers, something that they don’t expect.]

Enchant your customers with your ability to offer real-time, personalized deals and surprises.

Doing this for your customers, might cost your business a little. But the rewards you’d get, the repeat businesses and referrals, far out-weigh the cost.

 

Run Collaboration Contests for Product Inspiration

 

Ask your customers for opinions on your current product as well as future ideas. You’ll be surprised at just how willing they are to give their insight, and in doing so, become engaged with your product and brands.

Here are ideas for collaborative contests you can launch:

• Offer rewards for creating their own versions of your product. Domino’s Pizza Mogul campaign offers customers who design their own pizza a slice of the profit pie. Customers are invited to make their own pizza and then share and sell their recipe on social media.

Collaborating with customers allows them to feel as a part of the buying process. They feel a sense of ownership to seeing your company succeed, which is one of the main reasons this engagement strategy tactic is so cute.

• Launch fun contests that will instill creativity and drive amazing engagement (likes, tags, shares, participation); in turn, proving you with traffic to your website; and an opportunity for contestants / audience to get to know your brand.

 

Encourage Brand Advocates to Become Community Leaders

Your most engaged fans are those following your brand’s activities regularly on social media.

Although already engaged, these are the most important customers to build relationships with. Done correctly, these brand fans can become powerful brand advocates who can create viral engagement through word-of-mouth advertising.

Building a customer community is one of the most effective yet often overlooked ways to increase long-term engagement. There are many customers who may not show their loyalty through repeated purchases but are great brand advocates whose word-of-mouth referrals bring you new traffic backed by the trust of social proof.

So how do you find and reward these brand fans?

• Start on social media. Find customers who are re-sharing your posts consistently.
• Start conversations with them to begin a relationship, and consider other ways you can leverage their passion for your brand.
• Add coupons on social media pages to reward customers who actively follow you. You can then see which customers redeem these coupons and reach out to them with follow-up offers.
• Think about how to get your brand fans to work for you.

Why you should use this engagement strategy: Having customers who are passionate about your brand, spread that message to others, is a metric with boundless potential.

Reach out to as many brand activists as you possibly can. Leverage social media, positive reviews, and any other platforms you are able to identify your happy customers.

 

Make Customer Service Omni-Channel

Today, we’ve all got digital fever and often forget that to rise above the noise and stand out, it may just mean going back to the basics. An omni-channel strategy rises above social media platforms; it uses traditional customer service methods to stand out.

• Build up real, long-lasting engagement by talking to your customers. Call your clients for in-depth conversations. Learn who they are, not just what they want to buy. This can give you valuable insights into what they really want.
• Put extra attention into unhappy customers. It may be tempting to simply send an automatic response to unsatisfied customers, but the best company knows that putting the most effort into these customers, gets the real rewards. The best customers are those who have problems that are resolved, not those who have never had a problem.

Why you should use this engagement strategy: By being available to your customers through all available channels, online and offline, you ensure to never miss an opportunity to impress or delight them.

The best approach is to combine traditional customer service methods with new-age technology.

Conclusion

There you have it – the top new customer engagement strategies to help you get customers connected with your brand. If you have any question, we’d love to hear it. Also, you can add your ideas in the comments section below.

 

_{Credit: Excerpts from Yotpo}