Simply getting new customers isn’t enough to grow your business. You need an engaged client base that remains loyal to your brand to generate reliable quarterly revenue growth. In increasingly competitive marketplaces, strategic customer interactions enable you to foster relationships, reinforce brand loyalty, and ultimately increase your revenue potential in the future. Engaged clients are more likely to hire your company again and be a source of referrals for growing your brand.

Here are eight ways to make it easier to manage customer engagement campaigns for your brand.

What is client engagement?

Customers engaged by a brand will continue to build a relationship after a transaction. They are more likely to return to the same company when they need products or services. Many factors go into cultivating a loyal customer, and marketers define success in engaging customers in just as many different ways. Generally, we can define it as the emotional investment and connection customers feel during specific brand interactions. Some well-known brands have optimized engagement by understanding their audience and personalizing the customer experience.

You've probably experienced some of these well-known customer engagement examples.

Spotify

The streaming music service drives customer brand engagement with their Daily Mix and Just For You playlists. When users open the app, they’re met with an assortment of playlists and recommendations customized to their music preferences.

Mastercard

The credit card company takes a different approach to customer engagement by focusing on what they can do better for their customers. They retain customers by building loyalty through easier checkout processes and an unparalleled commitment to data security. 

Warby Parker

The online glasses retailer has proven that focusing on what customers care about can drive ongoing growth. They moved from exclusively online to brick-and-mortar stores by personalizing the virtual shopping aspects of the customer experience.

Sephora

The beauty retailer incorporates customer feedback surveys into their app checkout process. They can capture pain points and solicit customer preferences during the transaction, improving responses and enabling them to retain loyal customers even after poor shopping experiences.

Benefits of building a customer engagement strategy

You don’t have to be a multinational brand to experience benefits when you increase customer engagement marketing for your organization. And developing customer engagement activities doesn’t have to be a significant investment of capital or time. You can often improve engagement in your target audience with tools already available on your website. Some of the benefits for brands:

• Meeting expectations: 66% of consumers expect companies to understand their unique needs.
• Retaining customers: nearly all – 95% of customers – will remain loyal to a brand they trust.
• Increase customer lifetime value: engaged shoppers have 23% higher profitability, revenue, and growth than the average consumer.
• Improve customer experience: an incredible product isn’t enough anymore; 80% of consumers believe their experience with a brand is just as meaningful. 

Holistically, your marketing budget should focus on new and existing customers with both traditional and customer engagement campaigns. 

8 customer engagement strategies for more loyal customers

Implementing a customer engagement marketing strategy doesn’t require reallocating some of your marketing budget. Many of these tools for increasing loyalty in target customers are solutions provided by B12 as part of your website.

1. Start a client loyalty program

Loyalty rewards are one of the best ways to build relationships with current customers and prospects. It also costs much less to keep customers than to find new ones. Most customers – 83% – are more likely to do business with companies that offer rewards and incentives for return shoppers. Consumers get discounts, early access to new products and services, and promotional items, while brands benefit from increased engagement. When a brand rewards customers for loyalty, they:

• Are more likely to engage with marketing, including opening emails 
• Are excited to buy to gain points and achieve new loyalty perks
• Have a higher lifetime value for a brand.

Over 90% of businesses offer these programs for a reason; customers are more likely to choose a brand over competitors based on their loyalty program. They’re also essential for personalizing customer experiences, client retention, and an effective customer engagement strategy.  

2. Regularly collect feedback 

Knowing how customers feel about your business and service is essential to staying responsive to changing needs and preferences. The way brands cultivate feedback is crucial to making engagement easier for customers and providing them with relevant data. Only one in 26 customers will complain to a company; the rest just churn. Including a survey as part of the checkout process is a seamless touchpoint for both online and offline engagement that enables customers to provide meaningful feedback. Your audience is less likely to respond to a survey that arrives via email days or even minutes after their negative experience. Instead, let customers give instant feedback as part of the checkout process or as they’re navigating your website. Letting clients know they’re heard and sending automated responses enables you to address pain points quickly to retain your client base.

3. Personalize customer experiences

More than ever before, customers expect personalized experiences from brands. By incorporating feedback opportunities into your newsletter, checkout process, and website, you can learn what’s important to your customers and tailor your services to their preferences over time. Customers have access to greater transparency from retailers than ever before, and traditional differentiators aren’t as compelling as they once were. As many as 52% of customers expect tailored experiences from brands. Some brands that have taken personalization to a new level include:

• Gatorade’s Gx Sweat Patch conducts workout analysis for sports drink suggestions
• Product tracking and recommendations from the Whole Foods App
• NikePlus combines its loyalty program with personalization for shoes and benefits

A simple survey on your website can help you offer tailored services, products, and experiences over time. When personalization is effective, it boosts customer engagement and up to a 15% increase in sales conversion.

4. Create relevant content 

When it comes to content marketing, understanding the customer is essential for effectively using your marketing to drive brand engagement. You can learn more about your customers using your feedback surveys and personalization structures. Content marketing should address your customer’s concerns. Over 80% of marketers count on the resounding benefits of content marketing:

• Build trust in your brand
• Establish client relationships and improve customer retention
• Generate new leads and increase conversion

One of the most important aspects of content marketing is consistency. Whether through a blog, newsletter, YouTube channel, or social media channels. High-quality, original content will drive customer engagement and establish your brand as an authority in your industry. 

5. Track customer engagement metrics  

As you do more to improve customer satisfaction, using metrics to measure customer engagement is crucial to understanding what’s working. High-quality data gives you insight into customer behavior and your strategy’s efficacy. Some of the key metrics where you should gather data include:

• Retention and churn rates
• Customer satisfaction (CSAT)
• Customer loyalty (NPS)

A website that collects data allows you to focus on analyzing and implementing new strategies to respond to areas where you’re not performing optimally. Most customers, as many as 86%, are happy to pay more for a better experience. Fueled by data, you can confidently grow revenue in the areas where your customers are responsive.

6. Provide a reliable response 

Honing your customer engagement strategy means delivering the services that customers want. Eighty-two percent of consumers want immediate responses from brand interactions. Providing reliable, prompt responses to customer communication doesn’t mean sitting by your computer or phone to answer emails and website form submissions. There are many immediate engagement options that you can implement as part of your lead funnel. 

• Frequently asked questions and resource pages for resolving simple issues
• Form submission pages for questions with auto-responses
• Chatbots on the website for basic questions and concerns

Consumers are more aware than ever of the technology available for brand responsiveness. About 88% of customers expect brands to have accelerated their digital initiatives after COVID-19. Remaining responsive through your website without consuming your business’s time makes customer engagement more manageable and more satisfying for prospects and existing customers. 

7. Meet clients where they are

The data you collect about engagement strategies shows how clients want to interact with your brand. While you may prefer sending email newsletters to announce new products and services, you have to change your strategy if your brand is more effective at using social media to engage customers. Maintaining consistent branding across channels is as important as meeting clients where they are – 76% of consumers expect consistent interactions. There are benefits to your revenue by cultivating multiple channels of interaction for your brand, including email, mobile, and social media. Almost three-quarters of consumers use multiple channels during a single transaction.

8. Focus on connection 

Having digital tools to support your customer engagement marketing strategies frees you to focus on your brand’s differentiators and deliver value during every customer interaction. Content marketing, social media, your website, and digital initiatives are all opportunities to reinforce brand loyalty. Attracting new customers can cost a brand as much as five times more than retaining one. Building authentic connections with each client gives your company the solid foundation it needs to survive setbacks and challenges and position for growth in the future. 

How can I build client engagement into my online presence? 

Instead of trying to retrofit customer engagement into your website and social media channels, choose a website provider that comes with features and integrations for customizing the customer journey.

Online tools allow companies to incorporate customer engagement strategies into everyday business processes. Prioritizing immediacy and responsiveness helps busy brands improve customer engagement without diverting attention from other projects. B12 provides a powerful toolbox of client engagement tools for a seamless, cohesive experience for prospects that drives conversions. 

Client intake forms

Generate inbound leads with a contact form and get to know your customers with embedded service-specific surveys. Using B12 forms is a powerful way to grow your audience base that’s reinforced with structures to continue to build customer engagement. 

Email automation and marketing

B12 saves business owners time by providing customizable, industry-specific templates you can automate for every step in the customer lifecycle. When your emails match your website, every confirmation, update, and appointment reminder is an opportunity to reinforce brand loyalty.

Online payments, invoicing, and scheduling

Customers expect convenience from brands, especially when it comes to payment options. B12 delivers automated invoices and online payment options. Increase on-time payments while remaining responsive to customer expectations. An embedded online scheduler is a powerful tool for inbound lead generation. Increase your conversion rate by letting ready-to-buy customers schedule consultations and services on your website without ever having to talk to an employee. 

The importance of customer engagement

More than just growing an audience, businesses need highly engaged customers. They’re the ones who open emails, engage with loyalty programs, and simply put, spend more and buy more often. The lifetime value of an engaged customer base can carry your organization through unexpected challenges and give you the foundation you need to grow your business success with confidence. A website with embedded client engagement tools is a cost-effective way to launch strategies to build loyalty and customer relationships that will cultivate ongoing profit growth.