In this article, we would like to share great strategies that will help to engage with customers and validate that engagement between the brand and customer is highly important.
All of us know that engagement with customers is an integral part of every company. Engagement with customers helps to learn more about buying habits, preferences, and satisfaction with products. It also involves customers in internal processes of the company, such as launching new products, collaborations with famous people, and sharing news. People have emotions that play a huge role in strengthening customers' connections with the brand. Successful engagement with customers will motivate them to buy products/services more, become loyal customers, and keep the brand at the top of customers’ minds.
“Customer experience better be at the top of your list when it comes to priorities in your organization. Customer experience is the new marketing” – Steve Cannon
Customer engagement is a part of customer experience, to be more precise, customer engagement – is a consequence of a great customer experience. If your customers don’t just buy your products or services, but also want to subscribe on your social media channels, take part in your activities, and be a part of your brand, you are moving in the right direction. Everybody, at least, once in his/her life wanted to be a part of something bigger and take part in activities of the brand. To achieve even better results, the company must know its customers as their own friends, they must know the interests, hobbies, desires of customers.
Firstly, you need to find all important touchpoints, challenges, and ideas your customers want to accept. If you know your customers, you know their needs and behavior, so you will be able to identify opportunities for engagement. Choose characteristics that are important for your company. For example, if you are a clothing company, it’s important for you to know what kind of clothes customers like more, frequency and repetitiveness of buying. Take a look at such factors as location, income, motivations, and questions customers that will help you build customer profiles and understand how to engage with each of them.
“Building a good customer experience does not happen by accident. It happens by design” – Clare Muscutt
Secondly, think about personalized service, as it isn’t only the marketing trend of 2021 but also a powerful engagement tool. Personalization reflects customers’ thoughts, ideas, and needs, customers can create a unique design that nobody else will have. People want to be respected and appreciated, so you need to think about how to apply personalization in the company. If your company sells services, you can show customers an ad of the event near their location or use their names in emails. You can start with a questionnaire or survey to gather some information about the user, so you will know who your customer is. Live chat and chatbots can be useful in sending relevant messages to customers, based on criteria such as location, time on page, or a number of pages viewed, you can also include trending engagement tools, like AR/VR, to get ahead of competitors.
“Our greatest asset is the customer! Treat each customer as if they are the only one!” – Laurice Leitao
Thirdly, your workers should become best friends of your clients. Many customers mention the fact that they become loyal customers and buy products because of workers, who help them during the buying process. Everybody likes a friendly attitude when he/she is treated well and gets positive emotions from purchasing. The staff plays a huge role in engaging customers, and maybe it’s the reason why Amazon is the most customer-centric company on the Earth. When an employee is interested in customer’s needs, wants and problems, puts him/her in the first place, the company’s value is increasing. Workers shouldn’t just focus on selling, developing and making new connections is more important. So, inspire your employees to build deeper, more emotional connections with customers, show them the importance of such actions and behavior.
“It is not your customer’s job to remember you, it is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don’t have the chance to forget you” – Patricia Fripp
Last, but not least, you need to make your brand relatable and meaningful. It’s important to create a brand personality that customers will want to know and engage with. Before engaging with a brand, the customer should know that it exists, and has something useful to offer. Companies must work to create a sense of connection with customers to attract their attention and encourage them to engage. A good sign is when people watch an advertisement and already know the brand, even before the logo pops up. You need to create associations for your brand that will cause special feelings. Take a look at such brands as Netflix, IKEA, or Gymshark to get some inspiration. Your identity might begin with a logo, but it doesn’t end there, your pictures, videos, comments, likes, shares, etc. represent your company, so be as creative as possible. Businesses with strong associations and brand personality can increase brand awareness, get the trust of customers, and authority. Customers can recognize the brand and engage with it more actively.
In conclusion, we would like to mention that you need to be creative and think out of the box to motivate customers to engage with the brand. Develop, improve, and use the engagement strategy every day, so in a few weeks or months, you will be able to see the results. Don’t be like everybody else, be better.
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