Customers come and go. One day they’re loyal; the next, they’re looking at what’s hip and new.
This is the reality businesses face. Of course, accepting this fact is just the first step to overcoming it. The next step is to create a strategy to boost customer engagement so you don’t lose your share of the market.
Here, you will learn what customer engagement is, why you need it, and the benefits of having a customer engagement platform implemented for your business.
What is Customer Engagement?
Before you begin strategizing for better customer engagement, you must know what it is exactly.
Essentially, customer engagement describes how connected a brand is with its customers emotionally. This encompasses interactions between the two parties made via different channels, be it online or offline.
A customer engagement strategy is crucial in maintaining customer loyalty and leveraging to increase company sales and revenue.
Why Is Customer Engagement Important?
Based on research from Gallup, a fully engaged customer brings in 23 percent more revenue to a company compared to an average consumer. This means that if you don’t have a strategy to keep your clients engaged, you could be missing out not only on higher profits but also on better customer relations.
Some firms use marketing platforms to reach more customers, while others do it manually or through social media. Whichever path you choose to take, you need to do something to maintain continuous engagement with your customers.
Still unconvinced? Here are the top four benefits your company can get from boosting customer engagement:
1. Help keep customers loyal
When customers are engaged, they will continue doing business with you through and through. This is because they find value from what you offer and have established a sense of trust with your product or service.
Remember that when emotions are already tied to a user-provider relationship, it becomes harder to break. Just look at Facebook. No matter how much the platform changes (and even if users complain about it), the social media giant is still the most used social media platform worldwide.
Consider customer engagement as a long-term investment in your firm. While it may take time to establish strong customer relationships, all your efforts would pay off eventually as long as you stay on track.
In other words, the effect is long term. You’ll have loyal customers following you wherever you go. There may even come a time when you no longer need to do hardcore marketing just to boost conversions.
2. Encourage word-of-mouth marketing
When customers are loyal to a brand, it means they like something about it. And when they like something, they are bound to talk about it with their friends, family, and even strangers.
Keep in mind that there’s nothing more powerful than genuine peer referral. Also called “word-of-mouth marketing,” this basically means you’ll have a “person” magnet attracting others until your customer base starts to expand.
3. Provide insights to help enhance customer experience
Customer engagement is also a great way to enhance customer experience and personalize your offering.
Since you already established a habit and have a deep history with them, you will have enough insights into what they like and dislike. Although it may not seem like much, it’s actually a big deal in business.
These customers will stick around and tell their friends about you. You should use what you learn from engaging with them and make that into something that could improve their experience further until it becomes an unending cycle.
But why would you even bother with customer service?
According to AdWeek, 71 percent of consumers end their relationship with a brand because of poor customer service. This means you’ll end up losing customers instead of gaining more if you don’t use the information you get to improve how your company assists customers.
4. Let you save on client acquisition costs
With new platforms and marketing automation companies offering innovative ways to acquire new customers, it has become easier even for small businesses to get new customers.
But if you’re aiming to become a bigger brand, you’ll need something much more sustainable than paid ads for clicks that often have higher acquisition costs.
Since the business world has become even more crowded, acquisition alone is not enough to ensure the continued growth of your business. Instead, you need to figure out how to keep those already in the boat fully engaged, strengthening the emotional bond they have with your brand.
Again, this is about keeping customers loyal. It is also about banking on their loyalty and trust to gain more customers.
Keep Customers Engaged
Maintaining customer engagement is vital not only for profit but for the growth of your company as well.
Get a good grasp of what you’re in for when you engage your customers with this article and begin writing down your strategy to make the most out of your learning.
