How Social Business Can Leverage This Type of Consumer Centric Engagement Concept.
Every bit someone running a small business concern, you lot might think your most of import mission is bringing in new customers—don't get us wrong, this is crucial.
But another priority should be belongings onto the customers you lot already take. And that's where customer engagement comes in.
Client engagement is the human activity of edifice a relationship with the people who are ownership what you're selling. It'south the sum full of all the ways you connect with your customers: the emails, the phone calls, conversations on social media, and more. Creating a strategy around these interactions tin aid you lot keep your customers happy—and bring in new business, too.
How well do yous know your target audience? Do you lot know how your customers prefer to communicate with you subsequently they've bought something from you lot?
Read on for some good customer date strategies that you tin can put in place correct away.
Today, we'll cover:
- What is a client engagement strategy?
- The benefits of client engagement strategies
- How to track customer engagement
And 10 client date strategies from existent companies:
- Run a "tag a friend" contest on social media
- Engage beyond different channels
- Shout out your reviews
- Check on your tranquility customers
- Reward engagement
- Actuate your fan society
- Make expert on feedback
- Use that information
- Go on your promises
- Involve customers in social causes
🔍 How can you lot spot a disengaged customer? We'll tell you. Observe out how to identify (and win back) a disengaged customer with our free checklist.
What is a customer engagement strategy?
A customer date strategy is a program to increase client satisfaction past having more positive interactions with them. It tin can be through whatever channel, from in person, to online, to over the phone.
Great strategies take customer engagement from reactive to proactive. They should include both how your team interacts with customers when they achieve out on their own and means your visitor tin take the initiative and actively engage with your base of operations.
The benefits of client engagement strategies
By the end of 2020, customer experience will be the #one reason people cull to practise business concern with a visitor1. That's right—how someone feels about your brand could edge out both cost and quality.
The quality of your client relations also impacts how likely someone is to recommend you lot to a friend or family fellow member. Word of rima oris tin can be a vital source of referrals for small businesses, so it might exist worth your while to create some customer appointment strategies (with help from the ideas we've laid out below for inspiration, of course).
Now, permit's wait at a few ways to mensurate customer engagement and make sure y'all're on the right track.
Give thanks yous for your interest in RingCentral.
4 ways to runway customer engagement
This ane's tricky, but depending on which strategy yous use, here are some ways to know whether they're working:
1. A spike in social interactions
One measurable way to tell that your customers are picking up what you're putting down? More likes and comments on your social media pages. Facebook Pages, Twitter, and Instagram all come up with their own piece of cake-to-use Insights section, where you can monitor your appointment over certain periods of fourth dimension.
2. More positive reviews
Customers who feel engaged (whether it'due south because you're super responsive and accept a great offset telephone call resolution rate or only considering you lot have a great brand) are more than likely to be happy and more likely to sing your praises. Go along an eye on Yelp, Google, Facebook, and other sources for cracking customer reviews.
3. Happier customers
This seems obvious, only tin can "happy customers" be measured? That's what customer surveys are for. Surveys don't have to be long and complicated, and if yous send them out regularly (in one case or twice a year—yous don't want to burn out your base of operations), they can be a swell indicator of how engaged your customers are.
Try to ask the same or like questions each fourth dimension, specifically nearly satisfaction levels and how likely they are to recommend you lot. This lets you measure improvement over fourth dimension. And go on track of that response charge per unit, too—nothing says "date" similar a client taking the time to fill out a survey for a company!
4. New business, courtesy of your biggest fans
Like we said earlier, client engagement strategies can lead to the holy grail of small business success: better word of oral fissure and more than referrals. Be sure to inquire your new customers how they heard most you, and thank those existing customers who helped get new customers through the door.
10 customer date strategies for your concern
one. Run a "tag a friend" contest on social media.
If you aren't agile on social media, you lot might be missing out on some easy opportunities to engage with current (and time to come) customers. (Here are a few social media best practices to proceed in mind.)
Small-scale businesses today employ social media to post weekly specials from their menu, show off new items for sale, and share urgent changes to their store hours. These days, many small businesses' social pages are more current and helpful than their actual websites, considering it's easy for customers to follow their favorite businesses and become notifications whenever businesses post.
If you're just starting out on social and want to build that base, try a "tag a friend" campaign.
Real example of a tag-a-friend campaign: Kopari Beauty celebrated hitting 100,000 followers with a tag-a-friend giveaway to thank their customers. Here'southward how they worded it:
How to practice it: Post a photo on Facebook or Instagram of the prize you're giving away. Peradventure it'south your most popular product that customers order once more and again. Then ask your followers to tag a friend in the comments to be entered to win the prize. Be clear about the terms of the contest: the close date and fourth dimension, if information technology will be a random drawing, or if the person who tags the near friends wins.
đź’ˇ Pro-tip:
Make the number you want to hit a goal you can reasonably reach within a calendar week or so, to keep the contest fresh in people'southward minds—if you simply take l followers correct at present, shooting for 100,000 might be a piffling ambitious.
ii. Engage across different channels.
Agility is your friend in the engagement game. Being able to reach and respond to your customers beyond a variety of platforms can assistance you build a reputation of being responsive, gracious, and ready to assist at whatsoever time. Only it can exist fourth dimension-consuming to keep upwardly with all the moving parts if you don't have the right communication tools.
Real example of engaging across channels: RingCentral's omnichannel contact center is customer date technology that puts all of your customers' communication channels in one place. You lot can monitor social media, answer to emails, have phone calls, and even text your customers from one single platform (learn more nearly omnichannel client service):
How to practise it: Having a platform that does it all volition go a long mode to helping you streamline all of your communications.
3. Shout out your reviews.
Did you get an awesome new review on Yelp or Google? Screenshot that bad boy and share information technology on all of your social platforms, thanking—and tagging—the author for their kind words. Doing so will not only toot your horn for yous (though word of mouth is your best friend), simply it'll too encourage other customers to do the same and give them an example to pull from as they write.
Real example of a review shoutout: The Greek Olive, a small-scale business out of South Africa, took a customer review, turned it into a quote on a clean background, and made an centre-catching Instagram mail service that has us craving tapenade:
How to practice it: A mail service like this is like shooting fish in a barrel to make. In that location are lots of quote-making apps available right on your smartphone for free, like Quotes Creator, which is available for both Apple tree and Android phones. And so beginning mining those public reviews to brand some cute posts.
4. Check on your quiet customers.
Give the squeaky wheels a intermission and seek out some of your silent customers, to thank them for their business and come across if they have whatsoever concerns. Chances are these shy folks volition be happy for the acknowledgement, so long every bit yous arroyo in a manner that doesn't forcefulness them to talk to someone in real life.
Existent case of checking on repose customers: RingCentral Contact Centre™ includes both electronic mail and SMS capabilities in one platform, so you lot can attempt out some different approaches for these quieter patrons to see what works best for them:
How to practice it: Endeavour a simple "thank you for your business" email (more examples of marketing emails here) or even a text bulletin, if your concern is set for that. People commonly like being thanked, and you can include a line about being available to help them in the future to encourage an open aqueduct of advice going forward.
5. Reward appointment.
Sometimes, you won't take to attain out and encourage appointment. Your customers will sing your praises on their own… and isn't that the dream?
Real example of rewarding appointment: Information technology'due south difficult to vanquish Southwest Airlines in the rewards game. They have an excellent social media team that finds people who are enjoying their flight experience and sends them fun footling gifts that are at the door when they get back dwelling:
How to do it: It's a proficient idea to have some small engagement rewards on manus and ready to roll out the door as soon as you see an opportunity to engage: a lilliputian token that thanks fans for their support and encourages them to proceed chatting up your business.
6. Actuate your fan club.
Who loves you, baby? Chances are y'all know who your best and most excited customers are. Call up of creative ways you lot can get them involved in spreading their enthusiasm as brand ambassadors.
Real instance of activating your fan club: Lively was a small lingerie company that was able to compete with the big guns in the game. How did they do information technology? Over the years they've engaged over 100,000 "Boss Babe Ambassadors," regular customers who wearable and love their products. The customers become some social clout, and Lively benefits from showing existent women rocking their pieces:
How to do it: Create a VIP Client Society to thank these folks for their support, and bring them in for early admission to new products or services to get their feedback before you go live. Odds are skilful that they volition be flattered that they were chosen and will get even more vocal almost how great y'all are.
7. Make good on feedback.
Listening is an essential part of engaging with customers, and improving your services or a product based on client feedback tin can go a long way toward building trust in, and excitement for, your brand.
Real example of making skilful on feedback. Remember Sonic the Hedgehog? In 2019, Paramount Pictures revealed the start look at their CGI version of Sonic for an upcoming film starring the popular SEGA character. The internet went wild… but non in a good way.
The designers had given Sonic homo-looking teeth: the stuff of nightmares. And fans were not shy about sharing their opinions. Instead of ignoring the feedback and pushing ahead, Paramount actually listened and spent the time (and greenbacks) on some serious digital plastic surgery for Sonic, to the please of gamers everywhere:
Before (*shudder*) / After
How to do it: An like shooting fish in a barrel place to commencement is survey results. Share an overview of the results via email with the folks who took the time to counterbalance in, and clearly outline two to three changes you plan to make based on the feedback. Then, once the changes are in place, follow upwardly to let the survey-takers know that you've listened and taken action.
8. Utilise that data.
What kind of data are you collecting as a company, through surveys and other sources, and how can you use it to personalize and improve the customer experience?
Existent example of leveraging data: Netflix'due south algorithm does an incredible job of using the data of what we watch to deliver even more content we will enjoy:
How to practice information technology: Say y'all look through your order information and notice a client always buys the same product every other month. Endeavour mailing them that production on the firm, before it'south time for them to re-society, with a note thanking them for their business organisation.
9. Keep your promises.
Nosotros've told you lot about a lot of cracking customer service stories, but nosotros have to include what happens when you don't deliver on the promises you brand to customers.
Real example of not keeping promises: Y'all might take seen the contempo documentary about Theranos, the Silicon Valley startup that promised to revolutionize blood testing. Simply the inquiry and development never quite defenseless upward to the sales and marketing. In the end, this approach left customers and investors disappointed and the visitor itself unable to recover.
How to do it: Make certain your promotional promises line up with the actual product you're delivering. A adept way to observe out is to read your customer surveys and reviews to run into how your services are being perceived.
ten. Involve customers in social causes.
People want to experience adept about the coin they spend, and they want to share the practiced they practise with their social networks. Bake social responsibility into your business concern programme, and exist sure to include ways for your customers to participate, and y'all might see a real increase in excitement for your brand.
Existent example of involving customers in social responsibility: TOMS Shoes started with social responsibility equally a cornerstone of their business. Their mission of donating a pair of shoes for every pair they sold took off, and now they are able to do so much more than than just shoe donations with the assist of their customers. They even have an entire page dedicated to "Your Impact," which showcases all the causes you assist as a TOMS client. And doesn't that make you lot want to purchase a pair of their shoes?
How to exercise it: You can prepare regular volunteer opportunities that let your team and clients to work side by side in the community, even make your function front a drop-off for food banking concern donations a few times a year. (Turn it into a competition that y'all share on social media to hit a couple customer appointment strategies at once!)
Client engagement strategies: start here
With and then many businesses leading the charge on client date, in that location's no need to reinvent the wheel, or practice it all at one time, in guild to make a difference.
Accept i or 2 items from this list that seem manageable, and put them to work for you. Exist certain to ready some reasonable goals, and define how you lot'll measure out progress. And don't forget to cheque in regularly to encounter how these strategies are doing, and try something new if you demand to. With a little time and effort, you could see a real increment in customer engagement.
Whatever your customer engagement plan is, we're here to aid. If you're prepare to simplify and supercharge your customer engagement, check out RingCentral Digital Appoint™ and put all of your communications in i easy-to-utilise platform.
ane "Customers 2020: A Progress Report." walkerinfo.com/knowledge-eye/featured-research-reports/customers-2020-a-progress-report
Originally published October 12, 2020, updated Nov 17, 2021
Source: https://www.ringcentral.com/us/en/blog/customer-engagement-strategies/
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