The rise of technology, the use of mobile devices and the significant growth of social media have given customers a new capacity for action. With just the press of a few buttons, customers can have all the information they want at their fingertips.
Along with this, they also have the option to leave scathing reviews or comments which can negatively impact any business. This is especially true for small businesses that tend to have fewer reviews.
With these ever-changing and rapidly changing platforms, businesses and their marketers need to think about how they are going to grab the attention of their customers. Most importantly, they need to know how they are going to keep them interested, make a purchase, or sign up.
So what can you do to increase the number of customers interacting with you and your business? Here are some of the most effective customer engagement tips you can try.
Too many businesses use their social media accounts to simply create an online presence. In reality, however, there is so much more potential on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram than reposting content, commenting, and advertising and promoting a product or service.
It's important to connect, share, research influencers and experts, and most importantly, create a conversation with all of your followers. You need to create exciting and engaging content that you can post to all of your channels.
These posts should be something people can react to, comment on, or get involved with. Ask for feedback on your current products or services to see if there is anything your customers are asking for.
Create a Twitter poll, for example, so customers can vote on what they'd like to see you offer next. You can also use a poll to get your customers involved in creating a new product, like voting on names or colors.
As mentioned earlier, the use of social media has increased dramatically and you should keep this in mind when offering support to your customers.
Does your company offer help through your social networks? If the answer is no, why?
You need to integrate all the channels you use to provide support. Phone, SMS, email and all social media channels can be streamlined into one multi-channel solution. That way, if a customer contacts you through multiple platforms, you'll be able to see all of the interactions in one place.
This multi-channel solution allows anyone to contact or respond to a customer on the customer's desired channel with all previous details at their fingertips. This gives you the opportunity to offer a completely informative and personalized service.
Excellent customer service is essential these days. One bad experience and everyone will know about it.
It's human nature to want to vent our frustrations over a negative interaction we've had. There are so many platforms where we can instantly notify so many people.
Poor customer service can potentially cripple a business, especially small businesses that don't have many reviews and rely heavily on good reviews to maintain their reputation.
By providing good customer service, you will gain a lot of trust from your customers. They'll think you care about them and be genuinely proud to take care of them.
Make an effort to get to know your customers, but make sure you don't overdo it. Some customers don't like it when they feel like they're being watched and followed on the internet.
Something as simple as sending a discount on their birthday can create a bit of excitement when they receive it. Offer offers and discounts on what specifically interests your customers. No point handing out discounts on products they don't want or aren't interested in.
A personalized marketing approach will make them feel like you notice them as an individual and not just as a customer.
It's so important to keep up to date and keep up with the trends that your customers are following and creating. The implementation of a business intelligence tool will ultimately allow you to unearth useful information to improve the experience of your customers.
Something as simple as Google Analytics will allow you to study the behavior of your customers. You will be able to understand how much time they spend on your website and on which pages.
