Customer engagement is one of the buzzwords of the modern business world. And for a reason – having customer engagement enables you to grow your business, sell more, and even introduce new products and services. In this article, we’re going to show you four bulletproof customer engagement strategies that you can use in 2022. Let’s get right to it.
Probably every business owner wants to have engaged loyal customers that buy and return frequently. However, customer retention is one of the biggest challenges of today’s business world. How can you deal with it? With a solid customer engagement strategy, of course. Your every action has to be purposeful and well-thought-out.
What is a customer engagement strategy?
In short, a customer engagement strategy is a plan that aims at involving your customers into communication with your brand. To do that, you need to tick several boxes. For starters, you need to provide high-quality products. Secondly, your offer has to be relevant to modern consumers. And thirdly, you need a positive image of your brand, something that will allow you to stand out from the crowd. Today, customers value brands that are foremost authentic.
image source: https://www.oberlo.com/blog/branding-statistics
When you get there, you can think about a comprehensive customer engagement strategy. Without all the elements we mentioned earlier, you won’t be able to retain customers for long.
Why is customer engagement important?
Primarily because it enables your business to grow. Brands with engaged customers are more stable, develop even in uncertain market conditions, and simply sell more than other companies that neglect the issue of customer engagement.
You can maintain strong relations with customers with a decent customer engagement plan. And when they trust you and want to communicate with you, they will follow you almost everywhere.
The best engagement strategies for growing businesses
There are many ways to show customers that you value them and to engage them in a conversation with your brand. The vast majority of customer engagement strategies begin with customer data. Yes, you need to know your customers and their needs and answer them as well as possible. Below, you will discover four effective customer engagement strategies. What do you need to know about them?
Use analytics data
We frequently say that nowadays, marketing is data-driven. This means that we don’t guess what to do to get more customers. We use available information and, based on that input, we know what works and what doesn’t. It goes further as customers simply expect you to know them. In a Gladly’s report from 2020, customers indicated three of the most important things brands should know about them:
To get that information, you need analytics software that will track your customers’ activity and gather all the necessary information about customers/users. That’s your starting point in every customer engagement strategy.
Know customer journey
You need to know your customers, but also the path they have to walk in order to buy something from you. It is helpful to map such a journey (or journeys) and indicate the most important stages of it, from interest to post-purchase service.
Today, more and more often, these customer journeys are divided into four stages, especially in the e-commerce world. These stages make up a framework introduced by Avinash Kaushik, one of the Google experts. It’s called See-Think-Do-Care and it shows how the customer journey works. You can read more about it here.
Loyalty programs for customers
Many brands, including e-commerce ones, decide to start a loyalty program. Usually, it’s a good idea. With such a program, you can gather even more information about your customers, but above all, make them feel special. Loyalty programs or VIP clubs create a sense of being a part of something exclusive and limited. Thanks to these clubs, brands can introduce new products, offer special discounts, and share additional benefits.
Personalization
Personalization is a regular guest on our blog. That’s because this strategy is immensely effective. You can personalize almost every element of your offer:
- Product recommendations
- Communication with customers and marketing campaigns
- Products and services themselves
- Content you produce
- Website and mobile apps
The goal is to make people feel taken care of. No one wants to feel like a statistical number, right? When you introduce personalization to your offer, you show customers that you value them and want to help them solve their problems or achieve their goals. Surely, people feel much better entering a website that greets them and shares some essential news, like, for example:
Hey Peter, it’s great to see you again! Check out our new arrivals.
This strategy is simple but extremely effective. That’s why it’s more and more common and not just in the e-commerce sector.
We showed you four useful tactics that can be a part of your strong customer engagement strategy. Implement these elements into your offer, and you’ll see the results!