Between your favorite social media platforms and the Google machine, internet surfers are inundated with content marketing. This makes it much more difficult for brands to stand out and make an impact. The challenge is for marketers to create content that reaches their target demographic and keeps them engaged. Having engaged customers is a great way to build brand loyalty and trust amongst current and prospective buyers.
Customer engagement comes in many forms. From likes and comments on social media to email follow-ups and reviews, there are a variety of ways you can keep your customers engaged with your brand. One example of customer engagement is when a buyer makes a purchase, snaps a photo, and tags the business when they upload it to their Instagram account. Another example is sending an email to follow-up with a new customer asking for a review. Since the above is often easier said than done, let’s dive into the nuts and bolts of what makes a brand more engaging than its competition.
Developing a Strategy for Increased Customer Engagement
Customer engagement is so effective in its influence because it’s organic. People can see themselves having similarly positive experiences to those that engage with that brand. As brand marketers, you can take advantage of that type of response by encouraging it, setting goals, and offering incentives.
Brand Identity
Customer engagement requires approachability. Therefore, your strategy will be inherently linked to the brand’s identity. The content must be consistent with the core values and translate in a way that reminds customers of what they prefer about the brand.
Company Culture
People connect better with stories than they do with trademarks. For that reason, sharing the company culture helps humanize brands. Once customers begin to see the people behind the logo, it helps them relate better to those core company values.
Viral Moments
Customer engagement is a two-way street. There was a fan on twitter that asked a popular fast-food chain for free nuggets. They responded by offering the nuggets in exchange for 18 million retweets. Not only did that moment become viral, but it created a ripple effect that turned into a rush of engagement.
Personalized Communication
Some brands send birthday emails. Others have drafted quizzes to help personalize the shopping experience. On social media, a simple retweet or direct response makes a customer feel seen and personally engaged.
Brand Affiliates
Loyalty and affiliate programs are two ways that brands not only encourage customer engagement but directly benefit from it. For people who have popular websites and personal platforms, they can add reviews to their site that link directly back to the brand’s product page. The customer gets a percentage of the sale while the brands get increased engagement and potential sales.
Calculating Customer Engagement ROI
Every marketing strategy must be linked to a business goal. To increase customer engagement, you must be able to calculate it. If your goal is to increase followers, then that’s a straightforward metric to track. If it’s to increase activity, monitoring your social media analytics will reveal whether there’s been an increase in mentions or replies. Social Listening is a technique that marketers use that shows useful information about the context in which your brand is mentioned. You can also see how many users mention your brand based on keyword triggers. From a revenue point of view, there are even more ways to calculate the return on investment:
Purchase Frequency:
The number of orders over a set period divided by the number of unique customers over the same period. Repeat customers could be indicative of their level of engagement.
Repeat Purchase Rate:
The number of customers who’ve made multiple purchases divided by the total number of customers. An increased RPR reveals the effectiveness of your customer engagement strategy.
Guest Checkout Rates:
The number of orders completed by a guest divided by the total number of orders. Customers who create accounts will make a purchase more often. Therefore, you want a lower guest checkout rate so that you’re able to market more promotions and upsell to customers who have accounts.
Average Order Value:
Total revenue over a set period of time divided by total number of orders over the same period. Increased engagement will result in a higher repeat purchase rate. Repeat customers generally spend more than one-time buyers.