The value of highly engaged customers to a business’ reputation and bottom line knows few limits. But let’s consider the actual stats:
- Fully engaged customers represent a 23% share of profitability, revenue, and relationship growth, compared to the average customer.
- They buy 90% more frequently and spend 60% more per transaction.
So, how, exactly can your organization ensure engagement from its customers? Effective customer engagement relies on building meaningful relationships — and these relationships are supported through an effective customer engagement strategy.
This guide provides the blueprint for that engagement strategy, explores the ways in which automation can elevate your marketing efforts, and outlines how Chat Marketing can help you foster brand loyalty and keep your customers coming back.
Why is customer engagement important?
Think about the relationship most of us have with our favorite brands. They are our go-to’s, and many of us buy from them by default. Our loyalty represents reliable revenue for these brands, so long as they put in the work to make us feel appreciated.
And when we say work, we’re talking about the effort a business makes to forge an emotional connection with its customers.
“The number of interactions you have with a customer might not be hugely important. However, conveying shared values that your customers can relate to and get behind offers something totally different.”
Harvard Business Review
For example, 89% of shoppers stay loyal to brands that share their values. Holding a customer’s attention and creating a shared bond with them on that emotional level gives you the power to influence them into action — like signing up to receive your newsletter or referring a friend. Down the line, that ongoing relationship can continuously boost your bottom line.
Enter your customer engagement strategy. Employ your strategy effectively and prepare to hit this sweet spot, with these six tips.
How to build a successful customer engagement strategy
1. Create a brand personality
Differentiating your business through a voice that matches your audience’s values humanizes your brand. A relatable brand personality is engaging, inviting and memorable. Take the meditation app Headspace. They consistently use charming illustrated characters, endearing, conversational copy, and an uplifting color palette across all of its channels to create a cohesive, joyful experience.
Their consistent look, feel, voice and message connect with their customers who value mindfulness, balance, and contentment. They turn to Headspace for a refuge from the chaos of daily life. Headspace’s brand voice entices customers to engage with the app.
2. Share your brand voice online
Build your brand’s personality on social media as if it were your personal account. Think about your business values and how you can communicate them through your content.
Molly Mahoney of The Prepared Performer has one of the best examples of chatbots done right. She does a fantastic job of using a chatbot to communicate her personality while engaging with customers.
The message about Molly out coaching and spreading joy can put a smile on almost anyone’s face. That’s the effect #mollybot aims to achieve through Messenger.
A chatbot with a personality makes your brand easy to identify for customers. It also provides a direct line of communication with people, so you want to make sure it represents your voice and business identity. To get started, ask yourself, how can you replicate that kind of conversational engagement, in a way that’s relevant to your unique business identity?
3. Personalize customer experiences
Personalization makes customers feel important. When you show them that you care on a consistent basis, you’ll encourage them to engage with your brand.
Achieving that personalization can be easier with the right tech. For example, you can send product recommendations to your customers based on past purchases or search history, demonstrating that you’re on top of their needs.
For example, you can score leads and send relevant content or promotions to them based on past actions in your bot. Or can also track conversions to determine who your most loyal customers are, and deliver exclusive deals to them to boost engagement.
Improve engagement with your customers. Get a ManyChat bot for free.
4. Create useful content based on customer feedback
When you listen to your customers and understand what they really want, you can create helpful content to nurture these relationships.
Make your content customer-centric with articles, eBooks, emails, and whitepapers that solve issues that prospects and customers care most about. Get content right, and you’ll consistently deliver value and positioning your brand as a trustworthy source of advice and insight.
To learn more, we recommend reading How to Get Customer Feedback: 7 Effective Tips. It covers all the different ways you can collect feedback with Chat Marketing.
5. Focus on great customer service
The ability to deliver great customer service is essential for effective engagement. According to Smart Insights, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for great customer experience.
Nobody likes waiting, especially when they have a problem that needs to be fixed. Live chat resolves this issue beautifully. Customers gain rapid support, giving them a satisfying experience and a reason to stay loyal to your brand.
In addition to hosting Live Chat on your website, you can also use:
- Facebook Messenger: Ideal if you have a large customer base on Facebook. You can also track valuable information about a customer, such as their previous orders and queries, to deliver more personalized support.
- SMS: A customer can text you a question and you can respond to them in real-time. The added benefit is that customers can get the support they need on-the-go without having to download a live chat platform.
6. Opt for omnichannel automation
The reality is: 79% of top-performing companies have been using marketing automation for three or more years. And with good reason; automation enables your business to streamline customer engagement so you can connect with people easily.
Automation also gives you the power to deliver content at every point in the customer journey, encouraging them to keep moving through the buyer funnel towards a purchase.
With a Chat Marketing platform like ManyChat, you can automate conversations on:
- Facebook Messenger: A great platform to share interactive content thanks to its auto-fill form feature and customizable buttons. What’s more, you can send heavy files (GIFs, videos, etc.) without impacting delivery rates, unlike email or SMS.
- SMS: Highly visible (on average people check their phones 80 times a day), SMS is the perfect medium to send time-sensitive information, such as limited-time offers. You can also use SMS to re-engage prospective customers after they’ve gone cold in the middle of a flow.
- Email: When you need to send information more than two sentences long, email works best as SMS and Messenger are built for shorter formats. It also serves as a solid alternative for customers who don’t like communicating over SMS or Messenger.
The gift that keeps on giving
Now that you have the insight into the value of highly-engaged customers, the proverbial ball is in your court. Moving forward with a customer engagement strategy can benefit your business far into the future — and keep longtime customers coming back. From there, you can really dial into automation and Chat Marketing to keep taking your customer engagement to the next level.
