14 Surefire Ideas to Boost Your Customer Engagement Strategy

How to find out which personalization tactic works for you?

There is no simple answer to this question, because way too many factors may contribute to the success of any given call to action.

An approach worth trying, however, is a popup A/B test. An A/B test allows you to test 2+ popups against each other to determine which one is most effective.

For example, you can test a generic discount popup against a location-based one. In such test, equal percentages of your audience will see the popups, and you’ll be able to assess their effectiveness by checking the popups’ Statistics.

At the end of the test, you’ll only keep the winning popup.

4. Increase customer engagement through social media

Social media are but an extension of your brand that enables you to connect with your audience on a long-term basis. And it should be a crucial part of your customer engagement strategy.

Here are some tips for you to make these social connections pay off in the future.

Respond to customers’ queries on social media

Most customers expect nearly immediate responses from brands when they contact them for support on social media. And this is directly related to sales, because 70% of customers who received help through social media will come back to you as customers in the future, according to Ambassador.

By keeping your response rate high and response time low on Facebook, for example, you receive a badge that encourages more people to start communicating with you.

As reported by Gartner, companies that leave their customers’ inquiries unaddressed on social media see their churn rate increase by 15%.

Want to go further? Use the app called Mention to track your brand name mentions on social media and react timely.

Share feedback-provoking content

If you really want to boost customer engagement, you’ll have to go beyond publishing company news and promotions. Share lifehacks to make the most of your products or services. Ask questions, aim for the topics that may spark a discussion. Most importantly, make sure that the content you share brings value to your followers, not just to your brand.

Here is a great example from the Bike-Discount Facebook page:

Although this is a review of a product sold in the Bike-Discount store, it brings a great deal of value to the readers by being based on thorough research and a real-life test-drive. And Facebook is a great choice of platform to share visual content like this.

Run social media contests to grow exposure

If we had to pick one great thing about social media, that’d be potential exposure. Due to the algorithms of social media platforms, a post that receives a lot of engagement gets highly visible – therefore gaining even more engagement. And what are the most attention-driving types of posts? That’s right, contests and giveaways.

Here is just a couple of ideas on what you can run on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram:

• Photo caption contest

• Hashtag challenge

• Comment competition

• Sweepstake promotion

There are many affordable tools that make arranging social media contests a no-brainer. Check out Rafflecopter, Gleam, and Shortstack, for example.

How to measure the effectiveness of your social media interactions?

When you have a business account on social media, you can see the level of engagement each post receives. For instance, on Facebook, along with likes and views, performance reports include engagement. Plus, you can see whether your metrics are better or worse in comparison with any given period.

If you’re planning to actively use social media for your customer engagement strategy, Buffer is a great app worth your attention. Not only does it allow you to conveniently schedule social media posts, but it also provides a detailed overview of every channel performance in one place.

5. Use testimonials to increase conversions

Testimonials appeal to potential customers because they offer credibility. That’s why asking for testimonials should be an essential part of your customer engagement strategy.

BrightLocal estimates that 88% of people trust online reviews written by other consumers as much as they trust recommendations from personal contacts.

And this is good for business. What people say about your brand matters more than what you say about it. People are far more inclined to engage with content that revolves around consumers just like them.

If you are looking for a tool to embed reviews on your website, there are dozens of apps to help you with that. For instance, Flockler allows you to automatically publish your brand's social media feed or display posts with your brand hashtags.

TrustPilot helps you encourage customers to leave a review on the Trustpilot website and then enables you to showcase those reviews.

How can you tell if the practice of sharing customers’ experience is effective?

According to a Flockler case study, displaying social media posts and testimonials can boost conversions by 20-30%. So, if this is the only change made to a website, you should be able to see an uplift without any special analytic tools.

You can also use heatmap tools to see how much attention testimonials drive on your website. CrazyEgg lets you do just that. It also enables you to run A/B tests to compare conversion rates on a webpage with and without testimonials.

6. Optimize your email marketing campaigns

Almost 70% of people aged between 18 and 34 prefer companies to establish communication with them through email, according to MarketingSherpa research.

But does it mean every email gets opened and read? Certainly not. Many email marketing campaigns show low ROI because marketers fail to connect with the audience through this channel.

If you’ve already built an email list, but your subscribers engage with your emails less than anticipated, here are 3 basic recommendations:

Provide more value

Try seeing your email subscribers as your brand VIP club where members get exclusive offers. First, it will be a better incentive to subscribe. Second, it will make your customers anticipate your emails, knowing that they may include sweet deals.

A lot of ecommerce brands follow this customer engagement strategy. Here is how Sephora does it, for example:

Use automated email flows to be more helpful

When shopping online, people can be forgetful. It’s a good practice to guide them through the funnel by sending instructions at each step.

But you don’t need to do anything manually. Automated email campaigns are perfect for this task.

Here is a bare minimum you should consider using:

• Abandoned cart emails

• Order confirmations

• Shipping notifications and tracking links

According to SaleCycle, around half of all abandoned cart emails are opened, and over a third of clicks lead to purchases back on site.

To get an idea, take a look at this cart abandonment email by DoorDash, a food delivery service:

The structure is simple and clear, with a big flashy CTA button in plain sight. It has captivating copy and a cute design. It really makes you want to go back to that cart!

Use personal occasions to increase open rate

Experian reports that birthday mailings have the highest open rates (around 64%) compared to other types of marketing emails.

But you don’t need to limit yourself to birthdays. There are tons of occasions you can come up with, including customer milestones, special events, or even half-birthdays. Everyone likes to be acknowledged, and most will be excited about receiving celebration emails.

Here is a good example by Birchbox, an online beauty shop:

It includes customer recognition, adds value, and even uses scarcity. Well done, Birchbox!

Which metrics should you look at?

When you start tweaking emails, there is a lot to experiment with: copy, timing, design, personalization. But there are just two key actions you want your customers to take. You want them to open your email and click through your call to action. These are the two most important metrics showing whether your subscribers are willing to engage.

The email marketing software you use will most likely provide you with the numbers on both metrics, and even help you compare them to your industry benchmarks.

Compare numbers after each campaign to see the trend. If your open rate and click-through rate increase – you’re doing everything right. If not – well, there’s room for improvement.

To improve open rate:

• Polish your subject line, consider using questions or emojis

• Try sending emails at a different time of the day or even on a different day of the week

• Make sure there is either your name or your brand's name in the Sender field

To improve your CTA click-through rate:

• Write a clear, concise call to action

• Make sure there is only one primary call to action in your email

• Use personal approach and scarcity tactics to nudge people

Which customer engagement strategy will work for you?

Customer engagement improvement is an ongoing process that takes time and dedication.

Some of the ideas we’ve reviewed – such as adding a live chat to your website – will take minutes to implement, and you’ll be able to see results within days. Others may take longer and be just as efficient.

As long as you’re trying new tactics, you’ll get a better understanding of what makes your customers tick. And then you’ll be able to build a stronger customer engagement strategy around that.