What is customer engagement?
Customer engagement is key to the health of your company. The more and better you engage with your customers the better your bottom line looks over time. Lets consider how to engage more effectively.
HubSpot says that “Customer engagement is the ongoing interactions between company and customer, offered by the company, chosen by the customer.” This extends beyond the bounds of a customer making a purchase and encompasses every touchpoint- from the first interaction with the business to well beyond the sale.
Customer engagement is the difference between a lifetime advocate for your brand, and a large audience that will pass you by.
74% of customers feel loyal to a particular brand or company, Zendesk states in their 2020 CX trends report. Loyalty is tied to a customer’s ongoing choice to do business with you, refer others to you, and have a positive relationship with you. Zendesk also found that roughly half of customers say they would switch to a competitor after just one bad experience. In the case of more than one bad experience, that number rises to 80%.
Clearly, poor customer engagement leads to a loss of loyalty. Unfamiliar brands are missing credibility that allows customers to move to the next option without much thought.
So how does a business increase customer engagement to drive loyalty and sales?
Points to Consider
- Are you optimizing all touchpoints? It is easy to remember the website, your physical location, and social media. But are you considering your overall voice messaging? Retargeting platforms? The competence of your staff? The time customers spend waiting for replies to their queries? Lack of optimization leads to a poor experience, destroying brand image and credibility in the eyes of the customer.
- Are you proactive or reactive to customer engagement? Do you wait for something to go wrong before beginning to work on customer engagement? Instead, be proactive. Consider a live chat function on your website for easier communication between potential customers and your team. Think about adding videos with voices that tie in to your Auto Attendant and On-Hold platform. Begin outreach in the local business community, creating relationships to improve business effectiveness. Allow your customers to sign up for a mailing list and keep them up to date with the latest business happenings, industry events, and news. Keep your brand on people’s minds by positioning yourself as an industry leader who cares about their customers before during and after they engage with you.
- Are your Personalizing customer experiences? Personalizing customer experiences lead to greater engagement as the customer feels appropriately valued as an individual. Whether it be giving each customer a survey to gather feedback before the sale occurs, or personally following up each of your leads with a phone call after the sale to receive feedback on the level of service delivered, it pays to go above and beyond to ensure that your customers are engaged with your brand.
Why keep customers engaged?
Effective customer engagement can turn a lead into a long-time customer, a powerful tool in marketing. These brand advocates will be early adopters of new service or product offerings, and they will use word of mouth to effectively increase brand awareness and widen your customer reach.
Customer engagement gives your brand a voice that is personable and relatable. Your advertising will keep on advertising! Your brand is positioned at the front of the customer’s mind due to continued positive experiences, and the perception of offering value beyond the initial sale. This inspires loyalty and continued patronage.
How can On-Hold Systems help?
On-Hold Systems can assist in optimizing voice channels effectively while taking the pressure off of staff with customized voicing solutions. Through On-Hold Systems innovative process, you can engage with your customers and gather an understanding of their purchase decisions, and identify ways to position your company and products to solve their problem and add value to their engagement with your company.
The customer advocacy possibilities are endless if you actively engage with your customers, allowing them to feel appreciated and valued as individuals, rather than faceless callers. Allow every customer to have a trouble-free, seamless experience with your brand at every touchpoint. Above all else, keep your audience engaged and satisfied.