When it comes to winning over customers, successful businesses know that everything depends on their customers' experience throughout each aspect of the business.
Whether it is customer service questions, chat interactions online, a blog post or in a physical office location, customers do more than assess a businesses goods and services. They are subconsciously forming a perception of how they feel about each encounter and how the company's employees treat them now and how they will be treated in the future.
1. Give them your True Self: People connect with your business because they connect with a person or an idea, this is what separates you and makes your service special. If you sound just like everyone else, you will get passed over because you have given them no real reason to be your customer. Be different and interesting at the same time by sharing honest stories on your blog and social media posts.
2. Send a Handwritten Card: Yes I know you are thinking to yourself, "isn't this about engaging customers online?" It is, but it is nice in a fast paced email driven world to make someone feel special. If one of your customers just bought one of your high-end products or services, or it's their birthday, it's time to put your CRM tool to work. When first entering this customer into your CRM database put valuable information so you can deliver special pieces of content to them. They will be forever grateful!!
3. Unique Way to Change Your FAQ's Page: Make your FAQ page more about your customer; do a Q&A survey that allows them to ask key questions and then use these questions and cite the person asking it on your FAQ page!
4. User-Friendly Design: Your website should never be just a static piece of material, it is your billboard to the world. Using Growth Driven Design principles should be at the forefront of your website goals for creating a richer user experience.
5. Customer Driven Social Media Campaign: Run a contest to have your customers take themed photos with your product in the photo and hashtag it in exchange for a Free Gift and post it on your social media channel. Kabbage asks a trivia question each week to get our customers talking.
6. Special Event: Use a Customer Only Social Media Page or Email List to invite some of your best customers to an exclusive event and deliver a great experience to thank them for their business.
7. Free Bonuses: Everyone has experienced an upsell at some point, whether it's "can I super-size that for you?" or "would you like the platinum package on your new Cadillac?" Blow your customers mind by giving them a free bonus, just because!
8. Let My People Speak: Kabbage.com asks a trivia question each week to get our customers talking and keep them engaged. Think about ways that potential customers can speak about your product. This helps build your market research strategy by better knowing your audience and can even develop into a viral concept.
9. Speak to them Personally: whenever one of your customer service representatives talk to a customer or potential customer make sure they are using the persons first name. This works in email as well, personalizing your email to that individual is vital. As Dale Carnegie pointed out in his book How to Win Friends and Influence People, there is nothing sweeter to a person's ear than their first name.
10. Provide Useful Information...Always: Across all of your content distribution channels, provide relevant content that people will want to read. Always ask yourself before you post something, "Would I want to read this piece of content?" "Why would I want to know this?"
11. Post High-Quality Visual Media: Whether you are sharing something from your Instagram account or providing how-to tips for your customers, make sure your video or image quality is top notch. This shows a detailed eye for precision and your customers will be more apt to view your content in the future.
12. Make sure you have the Right People on the Bus: In Jim Collins book, "Good to Great" he talks about having the right people on the bus, he is referring to the right employees at the right positions. Highly successful companies strategically seek candidates who are the right fit for each role and the company's culture. This strategy bleeds over into the customer experience. The right customer-minded employees help answer customer questions and engage them to become product evangelists.
13. Watch Your Customers: Keep an eye on your customers’ social media accounts and help promote their blogs or certain charities. Spotlight one loyal customer a month, tell your audience what they are doing, and they might even reciprocate the attention back to you.
14. Share with Them: Using Instagram or Facebook to show off your product or even just share a quote or funny picture so that your business is always in the back of their mind is keep to positive customer engagement. also, when you can ask a question and reach out for feedback.
15. Respond to Review: Yes whether positive or negative, not only will it make that person feel special but it also shows other potential customers that you are listening to their feedback on a regular basis and are willing to make changes if necessary
16. Have A Video Product Tour: Share a video on youtube detailing your product offering, what is does, common questions on the product, how they can buy it and what it looks like against your competitors.
17. Email to Share: Use email to give your subscribes information and product release details ahead of time. This is a great little bonus for them subscribing to your newsletters and emails
18. Engagement at Every Turn: Whether you are writing a blog post, email or Facebook post, make sure it leads somewhere. Take them to the next step in the process; people always want to be led somewhere. If you don't give them an opportunity to further the engagement, they will look elsewhere.
19. Embed Social Media on Your Website: Adding social media icons to your business website encourages customers to share your posts on their social networks. Include a few different social buttons to give them options on where to share.
20. Make Sure Your Messages Are Customer Centric: Your customers decide if and when to
21. Mutually Beneficial: The relationship you build is a two-way street. On one hand, your customers feel heard, and they can see the ways they're contributing to your company. At the same time, you get free feedback and have the opportunity to improve your business, thereby by attracting more customers.
Use these 21 tips to increase customer engagement to approach your interactions going forward. You never have to use all of them but when you need a fresh perspective, or you have some difficulty try to capture more leads, go through this 21 part checklist and make sure you are hitting on some key points.
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