5 Ways to Encourage Customer Engagement
In marketing today, the interaction between customer and company is key to building a relationship of trust and loyalty. By having an online presence and encouraging two-way communication, you can increase sales through customer satisfaction and promotion. An engaged customer not only buys more, but also spreads the word about your products and services to future loyal customers.
Here are 5 ways to encourage customer engagement online:
- Non-Promotional Content: Customers don’t want to be sold to constantly, and you want them to stick with you even if they aren’t buying anything. In addition to promoting your products and services, use SEO to create related content that would interest your clients, such as helpful how-to blogs and videos.
- Calls-to-Action: Provide buttons or links that encourage your online visitors to do something active with that content, such as download a free e-book or attend a webinar. These not only encourage engagement, but also act as incentives for the visitor to subscribe, like, follow or provide an email address, opening more avenues for further communication.
- Social Media: Social media is a familiar and personal channel between you and your customer. Use social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn to promote your non-promotional content and call-to-action incentives. Here, your customers have the opportunity to have a voice through comments, likes, shares and more.
- Email: The goal of all these interactions, of course, is to turn unknown visitors into loyal customers. Not every like on Facebook equates a future deal. Once a visitor has willingly provided an email address through a call-to-action, you can send them relevant content to make things more personal and continue to gain their trust. Email also gives the customer opportunity to reply.
- Surveys & Feedback: Making space for your customers to truly have a voice means being open to negative feedback as well as positive. Use surveys or questionnaires to ask for input. This reminds the client that you care what they think and wish to improve your products and services for their sake.
