The best customer engagement strategies:
- Build stronger relationships with your customers
- Teach your business more about what your customers want
- Give more opportunities to add value to your customers’ lives
Social media posts, emails, forum discussions, and text messages – it’s just a matter of determining what fits your business and your market best. That has become more complicated due to privacy concerns alongside ever-higher customer experience expectations.
In years past, customer engagement strategies might have relied on tracking cookies and inferred data from third parties, but those tactics are becoming counterproductive and even detrimental to businesses. For one thing, customers are savvier than ever about how their data is being collected and how to improve their own privacy. They don’t want a third party to secretly gather their information. For another thing, inferred data isn’t as accurate as data directly from customers.
None of this means there’s no way to gather data, though. Every time someone buys something from you they give you information about themselves. This is called zero-party data and it’s the best kind of data to have. It’s accurate data the customer has agreed to give you and it’s the start of your relationship with that customer.
There’s the privacy-forward part.
Your customers will not be surprised when you address them by name or suggest a product that’s similar to one they’ve already purchased. In fact, many customers will expect you to use their information in your conversations with them.
Customer engagement is also running away from the idea of marketing to customers with one-sided campaigns (i.e. those where you decide what information they need to have about your business). Instead, customers are drawn in by conversations that flow in both directions. They tell you what they’re interested in and you respond or you tell them what you have to offer and they respond.
Customers want to be listened to. They always have. It’s just now they have many more and more direct methods to express themselves. An effective customer engagement strategy uses all the tools available, such as those we mentioned above, but it’s also structured around incorporating customer feedback.
Tips to creating a modern customer engagement strategy
Know where your customers are online
You’ll find your best opportunities to connect with your customers by looking at the options from their perspective. Don’t just assume that you’ll need to be on all the social media platforms. Test your options and use those most popular with your particular customers.
Participate in forums, chats, posts
Instead of observing customer activity or treating them all as marketing campaign opportunities, respond. Inquire. Add value. Your business needs to become a real part of the community.
Be ready to evolve
If nothing else, markets and technology are changing more quickly than ever before. The most successful brands will be able to keep up and find ways to lead.
Elteve is a nimble technology solution that helps businesses easily and effectively utilize the data they already have to connect more deeply and directly with their customers. Sign up now through December 31, 2022 to get free early access to our entire platform and start connecting.
