But what exactly does digital customer engagement mean? Let’s break it down in plain and simple terms. 

What is digital customer engagement?

Digital customer engagement is connecting with your customers in the digital space using various internet tools. It involves building relationships, creating customer loyalty, and providing a memorable experience for your customers. 

As a customer, you must have received a personalized birthday wish via email or a website must have prompted you with a live chat for immediate assistance. That’s all part of digital engagement. 

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, where competition is fierce and attention spans are shorter than ever, mastering digital consumer engagement is crucial. It is the key to standing out, staying relevant, building long-term customer relationships, and thriving in the online marketplace.

Now, we move forward to understand why it is important to prioritize digital engagement.

Benefits of digital customer engagement

In today’s age, digital customer engagement is not just a buzzword; it’s the lifeblood of your online business. If you want to thrive in the competitive digital marketplace, engaging with your customers on a personal level is not an option but a necessity. 

Let’s dive deeper into the benefits of digital customer engagement and answer the question: Why is digital customer engagement important?

Builds strong customer relationships

In the digital world, customer engagement is like a secret ingredient that makes your brand unforgettable. 

When you engage with your customers in a meaningful way, you become a trusted friend they turn to again and again. Think about your favorite local coffee shop. The barista knows your order by heart and greets you with a warm smile. That’s not just great coffee; it’s exceptional customer engagement. In the digital world, it’s about knowing your customers’ preferences, addressing their needs, and making them feel valued and heard. That’s the kind of connection that keeps customers coming back to your website or app for more. 

Boosts customer loyalty

Customer loyalty is the holy grail of business, and digital customer engagement is your treasure map. Engaged customers are not just one-time buyers; they’re your brand advocates. They’re the ones who sing your praises to their friends and followers on social media and keep coming back to choose you over the competition. They’re not just promoting a new product; they’re sharing valuable tips, responding to comments, and creating a community around their brand. 

Drives growth

Digital customer engagement isn’t just about warm and fuzzy feelings; it’s a growth engine. Engaged customers are more likely to convert, spend more, and stick around. When you engage with your customers effectively, you’re not just boosting sales; you’re increasing the lifetime value of each customer. 

For instance, imagine you run an online store, and a customer visits your website. They have a question about a product, so they click on the live chat option. Within seconds, they’re chatting with a friendly and knowledgeable support agent who answers their questions. That seamless experience not only clinches the sale but also creates a loyal customer who’s likely to return for future purchases. 

Enables the business to adapt and thrive

In the fast-paced world of the internet, change is the only constant. Customer preferences evolve, new technologies emerge, and competitors are always one click away. That’s where digital customer engagement shines. 

Imagine you notice a sudden drop in website traffic, and you’re not sure why. With the right digital engagement tools and analytics, you can quickly identify the issue, address it, and get back on track. It’s like having a GPS for your online business, helping you stay on course even when the road takes unexpected turns.

Digital customer engagement strategy

Having a well-thought-out digital customer engagement strategy sets the direction for all your digital channels and online presence. It ensures that you are not only connected with your audience but also leave a lasting impression.

We will look into some of the key strategies and tactics that can spearhead your digital customer engagement:

a. Web experimentation

You must constantly experiment with your website to enhance digital customer experience and engagement. By analyzing user behavior, you can identify pain points, areas of improvement, and new opportunities. Web experimentation involves making data-driven changes to your website to optimize its performance. 

A key web experimentation method is A/B testing. It can help you compare two versions of a webpage to see which one performs better. Such experiments can lead to substantial improvements in conversion rates, user engagement, and overall customer satisfaction. For example, the following image showcases two variations and control (original version) of the product page that are A/B tested to improve conversion.

b. Customer experience personalization

Customer experience personalization is like having a digital concierge that tailors every interaction to the individual customer. It’s about using data and insights to create a personalized experience that resonates with each customer. 

For example, if a customer frequently shops for running shoes, your e-commerce website can showcase the latest running shoe arrivals the next time they visit. These personalized touches go a long way in keeping customers engaged and coming back for more.

c. Content marketing

Content is the lifeblood of your digital engagement strategy. It’s the bridge that connects you with your audience, providing valuable information, entertainment, and solutions. Various forms of content, from whitepapers to webinars, play a pivotal role in creating digital customer engagement:

Whitepapers, reports, and ebooks

These in-depth pieces of content demonstrate your expertise and thought leadership. They offer valuable insights and solutions to your audience’s pain points. By providing free access to well-researched whitepapers, reports, or ebooks, you not only educate your audience but also establish trust and credibility. For example, VWO provides an in-depth A/B testing report that helps marketers get valuable insights about experimentation.

Online courses and webinars

Hosting online courses and webinars showcases your commitment to helping your audience grow and learn. These interactive formats allow for real-time engagement, enabling you to answer customer queries, address concerns, and build relationships. By consistently producing high-quality content that aligns with your audience’s interests and needs, you become a go-to resource. This keeps your audience engaged and encourages them to stay connected with your brand throughout their customer journey. For instance, Bain & Company conducts regular webinars on important business topics to regularly engage with their clients.

d. Integrated customer support

Exceptional customer support is the cornerstone of any successful digital engagement strategy. In the digital age, customers expect quick and convenient ways to get their questions answered and issues resolved. A robust contact center, equipped with knowledgeable contact center agents, is essential for delivering top-notch support. These agents are the human touchpoints in your digital space, available through multiple channels like chat, email, or phone. They play a crucial role in providing real-time assistance and creating positive customer experiences.

Moreover, a well-integrated contact center can also collect valuable data on customer interactions, allowing you to better understand customer pain points, preferences, and behaviors. This data can inform future engagement strategies, helping you continually improve customer relationships and build a base of loyal customers.

e. Multi-channel engagement

In today’s interconnected world, your audience engages with you through multiple channels. An effective digital engagement strategy embraces this multi-channel reality. By being present and responsive across all these channels, you create a seamless and consistent customer experience. Whether a customer reaches out via Facebook Messenger or your website’s live chat, they should receive the relevant experience as per the funnel stage.

f. Mining data-driven insights

Data provides valuable insights into customer behavior, preferences, and pain points. By continuously analyzing this data, you can refine your strategies, uncover new opportunities, and improve customer relationships by using a digital customer engagement platform.

For example, an educational portal is striving to create a vibrant online learning community. It uses a customer engagement platform to collect and analyze customer data from multiple sources and derive valuable insights. By tracking student behavior, preferences, and learning patterns, they tailor content and resources to individual needs, ensuring a personalized educational journey. This data-driven approach not only fosters greater student engagement but also boosts overall satisfaction, making the educational portal a trusted and preferred destination for eager learners

Digital customer engagement examples

Top-performing companies in the world utilize digital engagement strategies to keep delivering the best customer experience. Here are three examples to inspire you.

Nike

With thousands of product offerings in its arsenal, Nike understands the importance of tailoring the customer experience. They’ve built a digital engagement strategy that’s akin to having a personal shopping assistant right at your fingertips.

Here’s how it works: When you visit Nike’s website, they invite you to choose your interest. Whether it’s a specific sport, product category, or athlete, you’re in the driver’s seat. 

Once you’ve made your selection, the magic happens. Nike’s platform serves up a curated selection of products that match your chosen interest. It’s like having a virtual shopping aisle customized just for you. This approach makes the browsing experience not only convenient but also highly engaging.

Customers can explore products that align with their passions and preferences, creating a sense of connection with the brand that goes beyond just making a purchase.

IMB Bank

One of the best banks in the world, IMB Bank, wanted to improve customer engagement on its digital platform. Recognizing the need to enhance its digital customer engagement, this global banking giant utilized VWO.

IMB Bank began its journey by analyzing the user journey on its digital platform. Through funnel analysis, they uncovered a significant bottleneck – approximately 37% of users were dropping off at the first page of their personal loan application form. Armed with this insight, they decided to roll up their sleeves and launch an A/B test using VWO.

The existing personal loan application form page (control) was tested against a variation. The variation introduced several strategic elements, including highlighting unique selling propositions (USPs), showcasing awards, mentioning the time taken to complete the steps, enhancing the overall form design for easier navigation, and providing clear instructions at each step to enhance user clarity.

The results? A 9% increase in users completing the form.

IMB Bank’s success story with VWO is a shining example of how leveraging digital engagement strategies can yield not only higher engagement but also impressive conversions. 

Spotify

In the ever-evolving world of digital music streaming, Spotify orchestrated a brilliant strategy known as “Spotify Wrapped” back in 2016 that has become music to its users’ ears. This annual campaign is a testament to the power of personalized engagement. 

Spotify Wrapped offers users a delightful recap of their year in music and podcasts, presenting a customized list of their top tunes and most-played podcasts. It’s like a musical journey down memory lane, perfectly tailored for each user. Also, users can easily share this recap on their social media platforms, igniting discussions and fostering connections with friends.

This campaign isn’t just about celebrating the music; it’s a digital engagement masterpiece. By curating a unique experience for every user and encouraging them to share their musical journey, Spotify not only engages its audience but also creates a sense of community. 

Spotify Wrapped has become a yearly tradition that users eagerly anticipate, strengthening their bond with the platform. It’s a shining example of how personalization, user-generated content, and social sharing can drive digital customer engagement.

Digital customer engagement trends in 2023

After 2020, brands are finding new ways and deploying new technologies to acquire, engage, and retain customers. Here are three major digital engagement trends to watch in 2023.

Generative AI

In 2023, companies will be using Generative AI to transform digital customer engagement. From personalized content and recommendations to innovative chatbots and product design, Generative AI is redefining the rules of engagement.

Thanks to Generative AI, companies can analyze data streams such as purchase history, browsing behavior, and social media activity to curate content and recommendations that cater to individual interests and preferences. For example, Netflix uses generative AI to recommend new movies and TV shows, and Amazon uses it to generate personalized product recommendations for its customers.

Moreover, conversational AI and chatbots powered by Generative AI provide 24/7 customer support, answering inquiries and collecting feedback naturally and engagingly. These AI-driven interactions create a seamless and personalized customer journey.

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)

AR and VR technology create immersive experiences that blend the digital and real worlds. AR adds digital elements to our physical surroundings, while VR transports users to entirely virtual environments. Businesses are using this technology in innovative ways. For instance, furniture companies are allowing customers to virtually place new furniture in their homes using AR. Clothing brands are enabling customers to try on outfits in a digital mirror. 

AR/VR is also revolutionizing customer support. For example, a car company can use AR to allow a customer service representative to see what a driver is experiencing through their windshield, providing real-time instructions to troubleshoot an issue. These technologies offer a unique way to visualize products, fostering a deeper connection between customers and brands.

Hyper-personalization

Hyper-personalization is all about delivering unique, tailored experiences to individual customers by leveraging data, analytics, AI, and machine learning. It helps redefine digital customer engagement and keeps customers coming back for more.

Businesses collect a wealth of data, including demographics, purchase history, browsing behavior, and social media activity, to fuel hyper-personalization. This approach serves as a dynamic catalyst for digital customer engagement by delivering relevant, captivating content. For instance, retailers can send personalized emails suggesting products based on past purchases, while streaming services recommend content aligned with viewing habits and preferences.

Hyper-personalization nurtures stronger, more personal relationships by demonstrating a profound understanding of individual needs. It’s a game-changer for businesses looking to stand out in a crowded market and build loyal customer bases.

Watch the webinar to learn more about personalization:

Conclusion

In the fierce competition to stay at the top of the business, the ability to establish personal, timely, and relevant interactions with your customers is essential for distinguishing your brand. It requires demonstrating not only a deep understanding of your customer’s unique needs but also having the right products and services to meet those needs.

Digital customer engagement is not simply a technological undertaking to experiment with; it is something that enables you to develop strong relationships with your customers, foster meaningful engagement, enhance your cross-channel marketing efforts, and maximize your return on investment to unprecedented levels.

FAQs

This blog explores customer engagement examples from leading brands and the strategies they employ for success. We are sure that learning from their stories will inspire you to create winning customer engagement strategies for your brand as well. 

So, let’s start. 

Spotify

Spotify, with customized playlists created for every listener based on their listening preferences, aces customer engagement like no other! From mood-based collections to regional and occasion-based playlists, Spotify’s recommendations are a musical marvel. As it replaces your need to curate playlists manually, you can simply sit back and enjoy your favorite songs wherever and whenever. 

Have you heard about Spotify Wrapped? It is a popular online customer engagement campaign where you can see a roundup of all your most-played and cherished songs from a particular year. It was first launched in 2016 and is still going strong. In fact, it is such a hit with users and this campaign has become a part of Spotify’s brand identity. 

But it doesn’t stop at playlists. Spotify’s commitment to user satisfaction extends to its pricing plans as well. They offer a wide range of pricing plans catering to individuals, duos, families, and even students. This inclusive approach ensures Spotify meets the diverse needs of its audience, making it a top choice for those craving personalized listening experiences at flexible pricing. 

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is one of those B2B companies whose customer engagement marketing strategies are always on point. Since creating an account with Mailchimp, I’ve received some compelling newsletters from the company. Recently, I received an email revolving around promoting their upcoming virtual conference. 

What stood out to me was the detailed information about the conference’s savings, giving a clear picture of what attendees can expect. This provides value to their audiences more than promoting their own product. 

This strategy may not lead to immediate revenue boosts, but it reinforces Mailchimp’s reputation as a valuable resource. It is a good move, as it can contribute to long-term revenue goals by re-engaging users who may have been dormant for a while and enticing them to explore Mailchimp’s tools once more. 

Sephora

There is no beauty enthusiast who has not heard of Sephora. This French multinational retailer is at the top of its game because it has put customer engagement at the heart of what it’s been doing. Its personalization strategy is top-class without a doubt. But what is specifically more commendable is its loyalty program – Beauty Insider. 

This program operates on a points-based system, where customers earn points with each purchase, which they can later redeem for beauty products, samples, or exclusive experiences. This incentivizes frequent shopping, instilling a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction among customers.

Beauty Insider members enjoy exclusive access to sales, discounts, and promotional events. With this excellent customer engagement example, Sephora shows how to make your existing customers feel valued. 

Sephora also extends thoughtful birthday gifts to its members, fostering a sense of appreciation and potentially encouraging purchases around their special day.

Further, Sephora’s online platform fosters customer engagement among Beauty Insider members, enabling them to share reviews, ask questions, and participate in beauty forums, solidifying a sense of belonging and loyalty among customers. 

Uber

Uber’s consistent drive to innovate, adapting and enhancing experiences to align with evolving customer behaviors, positions the company as a leader in the industry. However, recently the issue of trip cancellations and offline driving left many Uber passengers in India dissatisfied.

In response, Uber India promptly launched a customer engagement campaign named ‘If you’re off the app, then you’re off the map’. This was aimed at re-engaging its customers and winning back their trust. 

This initiative not only discourages offline trips but also places a strong emphasis on transparency and passengers’ safety. By doing so, it reassures the passengers that their well-being is Uber’s top priority. This also simplifies the process for passengers to report any instances of offline trips. 

Reducing offline trips and trip cancellations directly impacted Uber’s revenue. When rides are completed off the app, Uber loses out on commission and fees. By curbing these practices, the company protects its revenue stream and works toward profitability.

Regaining the trust of passengers will likely encourage them to choose Uber for their rides. This customer engagement example is expected to boost revenue and foster enhanced loyalty among its customer base.

IKEA

In today’s world of marketing where companies often go to great lengths to prove why they’re the best, IKEA has taken a different approach with its latest customer engagement campaign – Proudly Second Best.

Instead of focusing on their products, they’re highlighting the special bond between parents and children. A lot of their customers are parents who shop for cribs, stools, and high chairs. 

IKEA highlights the subtle truth that no piece of furniture, even if it’s their product, can be as important as a parent. Their products can help improve family lives but can’t be a substitute for parent-child bonds. 

This furniture brand taps into a universally emotional theme in this campaign, which is poised to significantly increase customer engagement. The campaign positions the brand as one that cares about family dynamics and relationships, leading to a more positive brand perception and increased customer loyalty.

The messaging clearly showcases IKEA’s commitment to understanding, valuing its customers, and fostering trust and authenticity. Now, this is an excellent customer engagement example all brands must learn from.

Liked the examples so far? We’ve got some more for you. Below, you’ll find some more case studies showcasing how brands made the best use of visitor behavioral analysis and A/B testing to improve customer engagement on their digital properties. 

Bizztravel

Goal

The Bizz Travel Group is a popular name in the Dutch online travel business. They are experts at making their leisure products and selling them on their websites. The company wanted to conduct an A/B test to identify the best way to arrange navigation on their website to improve visitor engagement with the information available and nudge them ahead in their booking process. 

Quantitative analysis showed that many visitors used site searches to look for ski villages like Gerlos and Val Thorens.

Some 23% of visitors landed on the homepage, while the majority entered the site at deeper levels. On average, visitors click about 5 times before finding a link to a ski village. This led the team to conclude that almost 75% of visitors never see the homepage of the website. 

Test

Based on these observations, the Bizztravel team decided to streamline the website navigation to ensure visitors could easily locate the desired content and engage with it to make selections.

They introduced a revamped page header, designed to make navigating to specific pages effortless from any part of the website. This was expected to reduce the likelihood of them leaving the site due to frustration and cognitive load.

Qualitative tools like heatmaps were used to analyze user behavior, revealing which areas of the website attracted the most attention and guiding the selection of key offerings for the header. Therefore, this is a great example of customer engagement that has made effective use of both quantitative and qualitative analytics. 

Changes like including direct links to ski villages, special marketing theme pages, and the top 10 ski village getaways by Bizztravel were made in the variation. It featured a menu that made it easier for visitors to find what they needed without searching through a messy page. Consequently, this was expected to improve customer engagement.

Result

The primary goal of this A/B test was to track visits to the thank you page. As expected, the redesigned navigation showed a 21.34% improvement in the conversion metric. 

Hyundai

Goal

Technology companies provide us with good examples of customer engagement. Hyundai (Netherlands) aimed to improve conversions from the lead-generation page on its website with the help of Traffic4U, an international online marketing agency. 

Hyundai had individual landing pages dedicated to each of its car models, offering visitors the opportunity to request a test drive or download a brochure. While these landing pages primarily receive traffic from paid ads, they also attract some direct and SEO-driven traffic.

To tap into the potential of this incoming traffic, they set some objectives.

Firstly, they aimed to boost the volume of brochure requests and test drive inquiries, optimizing their conversion rates. Secondly, the company sought to increase the click-through rates from the landing pages of each specific car model as the initial step of the customer conversion process.

Lastly, Hyundai intended to gauge user engagement levels, effectively measuring the opposite of the bounce rate. This was to ensure that visitors were actively interacting with the landing pages.

Test

Traffic4U opted to conduct a multivariate test for each individual car page on Hyundai.nl. This was because Hyundai’s car-specific landing pages featured several components, including car headlines, visuals, descriptions, testimonials, and more.

A multivariate test could help gain insights into which of these elements influenced a visitor’s choice to request a test drive or download a brochure. For example, the hypothesis was that large car images, rather than thumbnail images, would be more effective in capturing users’ attention and engaging them on the page.

Similarly, an extra CTA button was expected to better highlight the desired action and nudge visitors toward it. Further, SEO-friendly text was implemented in place of non-SEO text for long-term SEO benefits. 

Result

The test results were phenomenal with the click-through rates increasing by 208%! This test is regarded as one of the best customer engagement examples because it won silver in the annual WhichTestWon awards. 

Hubstaff

Goal

Established in 2012, Hubstaff provides software solutions for time tracking and project management and is a big believer in experimentation for customer engagement. So much so that it has up to 5 experiments running on its website at any time. 

Previously, Hubstaff’s homepage had only small modifications. However, the team wanted to overhaul it completely for better results. Visitors to Hubstaff’s homepage were immediately directed toward trial and paid plans. It was crucial for the team to prioritize SEO best practices to attract the right organic traffic. 

Test

The homepage revamp aimed to achieve an optimal conversion rate by strategically arranging content and visuals to effectively showcase the key product features. 

If this test turned out to be a success, the team would proceed to implement the new design across the rest of the website as a part of their customer engagement strategies. 

The team planned to conduct a split URL test and established some key metrics to test its effectiveness – visitor-to-trial conversion, on-page customer engagement, hero form submission (create account), pricing page views, and full-funnel user journey. 

Result

After running the test for three months, the variation emerged as a winner with a 49% increase in visitor-to-trial conversion. Although the number of clicks decreased, the sign-up data showed that the new page actually generated more sign-ups, leading to a decrease in the number of clicks. 

Medienreich

Goal

A German-based company called Medienreich Training specialized in software training and offered its services to participants from the same organization or across different companies. Its objective was to boost conversions, with a primary focus on improving customer engagement with the offerings on its website. 

Medienreich presented its training services categorized into three sections – Open training, Individual in-house training, and Individual company training. To improve user engagement with the training they offered, the company decided to run an A/B test as a part of their customer engagement program.

Test

Medienreich’s online marketing team decided to swap the three categories with its top-selling courses like Photoshop, AutoCAD, InDesign Excel, PowerPoint, and more.

The team realized that structuring the information in the right sequence is essential for creating the right kind of impact on users. For example, visitors would first like to know the types of courses offered by Medienreich and not the details from the outset.

The homepage should feature content that is valuable and relevant to visitors and should be easy for them to access. Hence, they wanted to avoid cluttering the homepage with information that may seem important to them but not necessarily to potential visitors.

Result

They tracked ‘engagement’ as the primary metric and ran this test for 20 days. And the variation indeed improved user engagement by an impressive 40.87%. Due to this change, the year-on-year value of the homepage improved by a massive 106.42%. 

Details only become important once you have correctly presented the names of available courses first. This is what helped grab the attention of users and engage them, pushing them further down the conversion funnel. 

Overall, what we learned from this customer engagement example is that your homepage serves as the gateway to your website, so it must contain details to entice prospects and not turn them away. 

Get inspired to build your customer engagement strategy

Enjoyed reading the customer engagement examples we shared? Enhancing customer engagement should be seamlessly integrated into your digital strategy because if you overlook engaging with your audience, your competitors will seize the opportunity and win them over.

To harness the power of behavioral analytics and experimentation for an enhanced customer engagement strategy, consider taking a free trial of VWO today. 

Frequently asked questions

Table of Contents

• What are customer engagement platforms?
• Importance of customer engagement platforms
• What are the 5 stages of customer engagement? How do customer engagement tools help in each of them?
  • 1. Awareness
  • 2. Interest
  • 3. Consideration
  • 4. Purchase
  • 5. Retention and advocacy
• Top 10 customer engagement tools to try
• Measuring customer engagement using a customer engagement platform
• The synergy of customer engagement software and marketing
• Final thoughts
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are customer engagement platforms?

A customer engagement solution consists of a suite of tools and technologies designed to facilitate interactions between businesses and their customers across various touchpoints. These platforms streamline and enhance the customer journey by providing personalized, relevant, and consistent experiences. Whether it’s through social media, email, in-app messaging, or other channels, these customer communications platforms enable businesses to connect with their audience in a meaningful way and increase customer engagement.

These platforms offer a range of functionalities, including:

• Personalized communication: Effective customer engagement tools empower businesses to tailor their interactions based on user preferences, behavior, and demographics.
• Multichannel reach: Whether it’s through social media, email, web chat, or SMS, customer engagement software enables brands to connect with customers through their preferred channels.
• Data-driven insights: These tools provide valuable analytics that help companies understand customer behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns.
• Automated campaigns: Automation features allow businesses to schedule and deploy targeted campaigns, saving time and ensuring timely interactions.

Importance of customer engagement platforms

Why is customer engagement software essential in today’s business landscape? Let’s explore a few key reasons:

• Enhanced customer experience: Customer engagement software enables businesses to deliver personalized experiences, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Data-driven decisions: By collecting and analyzing customer data, these platforms empower companies to make informed decisions and create more effective marketing strategies.
• Brand loyalty: Regular interactions foster a sense of loyalty among customers, making them more likely to stick with your brand in the long run.
• Increased conversions: Personalized and relevant interactions can lead to higher conversion rates as customers feel understood and valued.
• Improved customer feedback: These platforms facilitate the collection of feedback, enabling businesses to address concerns and continuously improve their offerings.

What are the 5 stages of customer engagement? How do customer engagement tools help in each of them?

To improve customer satisfaction, you need a process. This process involves several stages, each representing a different level of interaction and relationship-building between a brand and its customers. Customer engagement tools play a crucial role in facilitating and enhancing these stages. Here are the five stages of customer engagement and how customer engagement tools help in each of them:

1. Awareness

This is the initial stage of customer conversations where potential customers become aware of your brand’s existence. Customer engagement tools contribute to awareness by:

• Social media management: Tools like Hootsuite or Buffer help schedule and manage social media posts across multiple platforms, increasing brand visibility.
• Content creation: Tools like Canva or Adobe Spark assist in creating visually appealing content that grabs attention and communicates your brand’s message effectively.

2. Interest

 At this stage, customers show an interest in your brand and begin exploring your products or services. Customer engagement tools help by:

• Email marketing: Tools like Mailchimp or Sendinblue allow you to send targeted emails to your leads, providing them with valuable information and updates.
• Web analytics: Tools like Google Analytics help you track user behavior on your website, providing insights into what interests them the most.

3. Consideration

During the consideration stage, customers evaluate whether your offerings meet their needs. Customer engagement tools assist by:

• Live chat: Tools like Intercom or LiveChat enable real-time conversations with potential customers, addressing their questions and concerns.
• Personalization: CRM platforms like HubSpot or Salesforce offer personalized content recommendations based on customer preferences and behavior.

4. Purchase

This is when customers make a purchase or decide to avail of your services. Customer engagement tools support customer success at this stage by:

• eCommerce solutions: Tools like Shopify or WooCommerce provide a seamless purchasing experience, from cart management to secure transactions.
• Retargeting: Tools like AdRoll or Facebook Pixel help you show targeted ads to customers who have shown interest but haven’t completed a purchase.

5. Retention and advocacy

After the purchase, the goal is to retain loyal customers and turn them into advocates for your brand. Customer engagement tools contribute by:

• Customer support platforms: Tools like Zendesk or Freshdesk enable efficient handling of customer inquiries and complaints, enhancing post-purchase experience.
• Surveys and feedback: Tools like SurveyMonkey or Typeform help gather feedback, allowing you to make improvements based on customer suggestions.
• Loyalty programs: Tools like Smile.io or LoyaltyLion help you set up and manage loyalty programs to reward and retain existing customers and boost customer loyalty.
• Social media listening: Tools like Mention or Brandwatch monitor social media for mentions of your brand, allowing you to engage with customers and address their feedback.

In each stage, customer engagement tools play a role in nurturing the relationship between the brand and the customer. They enable personalized interactions, streamline communication, gather valuable insights, and enhance the overall customer experience. By leveraging these tools strategically at each stage, businesses can effectively guide customers through the engagement process, ultimately leading to increased customer loyalty, advocacy, and business growth.

Top 10 customer engagement tools to try

Here are 10 customer engagement tools that deserve a spot in your arsenal:

• VWO: VWO offers A/B testing and personalization capabilities, allowing you to optimize website experiences for different customer segments.
• Amazon AWS (Amazon Web Services): AWS provides a scalable and reliable cloud infrastructure that can power your customer engagement applications and services.
• Netcore: Netcore offers a comprehensive customer engagement suite, including email marketing, AI-driven personalization, and multi-channel communication.
• Moengage: Moengage specializes in mobile engagement, providing personalized messaging, push notifications, and in-app messaging to engage users.
• Twilio: Twilio’s communication APIs enable businesses to integrate messaging, voice, and video capabilities into their customer engagement strategies.
• Zendesk: Zendesk offers customer support solutions that enhance engagement through ticketing systems, live chat, and self-service portals.
• Intercom: Intercom focuses on real-time customer communication, offering solutions for chat, email, and customer feedback management.
• HubSpot: HubSpot provides a holistic platform for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service, facilitating seamless engagement across the customer journey.
• Salesforce Service Cloud: Salesforce’s Service Cloud offers tools for customer support, case management, and omnichannel engagement.
• Freshdesk: Freshdesk is a user-friendly helpdesk software that streamlines customer support, enabling efficient issue resolution and engagement.

Measuring customer engagement using a customer engagement platform

To ensure the effectiveness of your customer engagement strategies, it’s essential to measure and analyze their impact. Here are some key metrics to consider:

• Click-through rates (CTR): Measure the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link within your communication.
• Conversion rates: Track the percentage of engaged customers who completed a desired action, such as making a purchase.
• Customer feedback: Gather qualitative insights through surveys and feedback forms to understand customer sentiment.
• Time spent on site/app: Monitor the duration customers spend interacting with your website or app.
• Social media engagement: Analyze likes, shares, comments, and overall engagement on social media platforms.

By regularly monitoring these metrics, you can refine your strategies, gauge customer satisfaction, and optimize your customer engagement efforts for better results.

The synergy of customer engagement software and marketing

Customer engagement and marketing are inseparable partners in today’s business landscape. Marketing efforts are driven by customer engagement, and effective marketing strategies contribute to enhanced customer engagement solutions well. This symbiotic relationship creates a cycle of value creation, where engaged customers become brand advocates, further driving business growth.

Final thoughts

In the digital age, customer engagement is more critical than ever before. It’s not just about selling a product; it’s about building lasting relationships and providing memorable experiences. Customer engagement software offers the tools you need to connect with your audience, understand their needs, and tailor your interactions accordingly. By exploring options like VWO, Amazon AWS, Netcore, Moengage, and Twilio, you can take your customer engagement strategies to new heights, fostering brand loyalty and driving business success. Remember, the key lies in personalized interactions and meaningful connections.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

At least not in the current times.

Customer engagement, in its truest sense, is more about anticipating the needs of your customers and encouraging two-way interactions throughout their journey with you.

This is what people expect, especially in the B2B world. Today, companies are not looking for one-time transactions but are more interested in building long-lasting relationships that are not just healthy but also mutually beneficial.   

Why is customer engagement important to B2B companies?

Over the years, we’ve witnessed a tremendous shift in the way companies, especially the B2B ones, communicate with their audience. 

But, despite all the changes and trends, customer engagement remains a crucial factor that can make or break a company’s success. 

In this section, we’ll take a closer look at why customer engagement is important and why B2B companies need to focus on creating better customer engagement strategies.

Establish a stronger connection

Unlike most B2C transactions, where customer relationships are relatively short-lived, B2B relationships tend to be long-term and multi-dimensional. 

Here, the idea of customer engagement is more about building strong, deeper connections with the customers.

Having a robust customer engagement process is key if you wish to build trust, loyalty, and a long-lasting relationship with the customer.

Boost customer retention

It’s more cost-effective to keep existing clients than to acquire new customers. 

Therefore, a B2B enterprise is always focused on customer retention. And one of the best ways to do this is through effective engagement and communication.

When you continue to engage and build meaningful interactions with customers, you make it easier for them to choose your brand over any competitor. 

Understand customer needs

Active customer engagement gives you a chance to gain deeper insights into your customers’ needs, pain points, and preferences. 

Having this kind of information gives you a better understanding of your customers, thus enabling you to tailor your products or services to meet their specific requirements. 

Moreover, implementing this approach also allows you to deliver value to your customers consistently. 

Increase cross-sell or upsell opportunities

While long-term relationships and brand loyalty are key benefits of effective customer engagement, some B2B brands often ignore another crucial benefit of this marketing strategy – cross-selling and upselling their products.  

When your customers feel engaged, they are more receptive to upselling and cross-selling efforts. This strengthens customer relationships and also improves overall customer retention. 

By cross-selling or upselling, you not only increase revenue but also get an opportunity to demonstrate the true value of your offerings. 

Maximize customer lifetime value (CLV)

A large majority of your customers are probably not looking for a single transaction. Instead, they want smart solutions that can help them and offer multiple benefits for a long time.

So, to ensure that their lifetime value to your organization increases steadily, you need to build engagement and interactions across multiple touchpoints. 

Additionally, these customer engagement strategies also mean that your customers will most likely refer new customers and provide genuine feedback for your overall improvement. 

Top 5 B2B customer engagement ideas

Now that we’ve understood the importance of B2B customer engagement, let’s have a look at some innovative strategies that can set your business apart from the competition and help you create lasting relationships with your clients. 

1. Personalized content and communication

Personalization is king in the B2B world. Tailoring your content and messaging to match the specific needs and preferences of your users is the best way to grab their attention and build stronger connections. 

2. Interactive webinars and workshops

One of the most widely practiced customer engagement strategies is webinars and workshops. These events are a great way for brands to build a community and establish their presence among their target audience. 

While webinars provide valuable insights, they also allow brands to interact with users and build strong customer relationships. 

3. Seamless omnichannel experiences

Your B2B customers don’t engage with your brand in isolation. They interact with you across various touchpoints—website, social media, email, and more. 

Therefore, you need to build a seamless customer engagement plan that covers multiple channels without compromising on customer experience. Content mapping is an excellent way to do this as it involves building experiences for different stages of the customer’s journey.

This helps you to create personalized experiences that are meaningful and relevant for the visitor at every touchpoint. 

4. Proactive customer support

The cornerstone of any B2B customer engagement strategy is having a robust customer support team. This does not just mean that you solve queries or problems, but it is more about offering constant support at every stage of the user’s journey. 

For example, with a behavior analytics tool like VWO Insights, you can track and analyze visitor behavior across multiple touchpoints. This gives you a deeper understanding of your users and helps you understand their preferences, pain points, and suggestions. 

Based on these insights and reports, you can then fine-tune your engagement strategy and focus on solving problems before your customers even point them out. 

5. Thought leadership and educational content

Using educational content is a great way to position your brand as a thought leader. This is a powerful engagement strategy as users are always on the lookout for solutions to their specific challenges. 

By creating a section on your website for educational and thought leadership content, you can attract potential customers and start providing value even before they turn into customers. 

Some examples of educational content are whitepapers, ebooks, case studies, and articles that give the user a deeper understanding of industry trends, best practices, and innovative solutions.

While there are many more B2B customer engagement ideas, these five ideas will help you prepare a roadmap according to your overall business goals. 

6. Use a customer engagement model

A customer engagement model provides a structured framework and strategy for consistently and effectively interacting with customers.

These engagement models are mainly designed with the customer in mind. They prioritize understanding customer needs, preferences, and pain points, which allows for more personalized and customer-focused interactions.

Moreover, engagement models help you to provide a seamless and positive customer experience, leading to high customer satisfaction.

As the needs of customers evolve, you must choose the right engagement model to adapt and remain relevant. This flexibility helps businesses stay responsive to evolving customer expectations.

B2B customer engagement best practices

Once you implement these B2B customer engagement ideas, you will notice a shift in how customers interact with your brand. However, to truly, take your customer engagement strategies to the next level, there are some effective best practices that you must follow. 

Understand your audience inside out

To engage effectively with your customers, you must first try and understand their preferences, challenges, pain points, behaviors, etc. 

Creating buyer personas for different segments of your visitors is crucial. These personas should outline the key attributes, challenges, and motivations of your target audience. 

This allows you to tailor your customer engagement strategies to match each persona’s specific needs, giving you a better chance of connecting with them and creating memorable experiences.  

Also, regularly collect customer feedback through surveys, forms, and data analysis. You can use these valuable insights to shape your products, services, and engagement strategies to better align with customer expectations.

Deliver value at every touchpoint

Every interaction that a customer has with your brand should provide value. Whether it’s a blog post, email, landing page, or webinar, your customers should walk away with valuable insights or solutions. Effective content marketing is a great way to do this, especially for B2B brands, as it gives you a chance to address your audience’s challenges and interests.

Moreover, it also helps you to establish your expertise and position your brand as a leader in the industry. Ebooks, webinars, detailed guides, and in-depth blogs can empower your customers to overcome unique challenges.

Establish trust and credibility

Trust is the cornerstone of any relationship, including the one you share with your customers. Building and maintaining this trust requires consistent and transparent communication.

No matter what customer engagement strategy you implement, ensure that you are building trust and maintaining transparency about your products and services. 

A great way to build trust among your customers is through testimonials and case studies. These real-life examples go a long way in building confidence and showing how you helped customers achieve their goals.

Implement a multichannel approach

As mentioned before, a multichannel approach is important for any customer success strategy. 

Instead of relying on a single channel, you can diversify your approach across email, social media, website, and even offline channels, without compromising on the messaging and experience.

Additionally, you should also focus on personalizing your content and messages according to the channel. Tools like VWO Personalize collect customer data from various sources to help you understand and deliver personalized experiences at each stage of the buyer’s journey. 

Choose the right customer engagement model

Having an effective customer engagement model is a great idea as it provides a strategic approach to engaging with customers. But, choosing the right customer engagement model is key to delivering consistent, personalized interactions.

There are several types of engagement models such as retention models, high-touch models, low-touch engagement models, etc. You can either pick one or choose a combination of different models based on your customers and business goals.

Foster customer loyalty

Customer retention is the backbone of any business. There’s nothing better than customers who provide repeat business and also refer you to others. 

Prioritizing customer loyalty is key to the long-term growth and success of any brand. You can do this by implementing different programs that focus on the ongoing value you provide, not just the initial sale. 

These programs ensure your customers are satisfied and help in building a loyal customer base. You should also work on creating a customer feedback loop to actively seek input from your customers and use it to enhance your services regularly.

B2B customer engagement examples

Let’s take a look at some interesting examples of B2B companies successfully implementing different customer engagement strategies.

Human Interest improves conversions on lead forms

Human Interest is a San Francisco-based company that aims to solve America’s retirement crisis. The company helps small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) offer affordable and high-quality 401(k) plans to their employees.

The company had a few landing pages where visitors were asked to fill out forms to contact the sales team. They wanted to increase the number of calls scheduled via the contact form. 

The team at Human Interest wanted to run server-side experiments to test changes to their landing pages. For this, they chose VWO since it is known for its server-side capabilities, native integrations, and low latency experience.

The original landing page (control) had a simple headline, a short description of the product, and a CTA button. The team created another version of the page (variation) where the description was replaced with a contact form. 

The test results showed that the variation had an expected conversion rate of 3.77%, a huge jump of 75.84% from the control’s conversion rate.

Thus, Human Interest was able to increase conversions by engaging with its customers at the right place and at the right time.

EZ Texting boosts sign-ups with a chat widget

EZ Texting is a B2B brand that helps businesses execute marketing campaigns, promote events, and provide customer service. 

The company wanted to introduce a new chat widget on their sign-up page. The idea was that the widget would offer instant support and guidance to users who were about to make a successful sign-up.

EZ Texting ran an A/B test with VWO to test the impact of the new chat widget. You can see the original page (control) below. 

The new version of the page (variation) had the same form and layout along with the new addition of a live chat widget.

After the conclusion of this test, EZ Texting saw a 31% increase in sign-ups. The chat widget was placed strategically on the page so that users could get instant solutions to their queries.

Hubstaff increased visitor-to-trial conversions with a homepage redesign

Hubstaff is a popular workforce management platform that provides time tracking and project management software for different companies. 

They wanted to redesign their homepage to showcase the company’s growth and drive attention towards their relevant features. The team spent a considerable amount of time creating and redesigning the new homepage.

Once the designs were ready, Hubstaff launched a Split URL test. One section of visitors was shown the original homepage (control), while the other section was shown the new version (variation).

After running the test for three months, the variation launched by Hubstaff witnessed a 49% increase in visitor-to-trial conversions along with a 34% increase in visitors sharing their emails. 

Hubstaff was able to effectively engage with their customers and even optimized their website experience with the help of experimentation.

Conclusion

As we saw in the B2B customer engagement examples above, brands need to focus on the preferences, challenges, and behaviors of their customers. By doing so, they can improve their strategies and build long-term relationships with their customers.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

In a world where competition is intense and customers have it all figured out, it’s easy to focus on what’s trending and achieve short-term success through it.

But, if you look at the bigger picture, gaining trust and building a long-term relationship with your customers is what really matters. 

It’s the most basic aspect of any business, yet a lot of brands are struggling to achieve it. 

Why?

Because, they fail to focus on the three key pillars of long-term success: customer engagement, customer experience, and customer satisfaction. 

Without proper strategies for each of these pillars, you will find it tough to grow your business and build brand loyalty. So, let’s take a closer look at what these aspects entail and how you can ensure long-term growth and success by implementing them.

What is customer engagement? Why is it important?

Just like the name suggests, the concept of customer engagement is all about building a relationship with your customers. It refers to the interactions and experiences a customer has with a brand across various touchpoints. 

Customer engagement is a measure of how well your business can capture and maintain a customer’s interest, attention, and involvement over time. 

For example, let’s say you manage an e-commerce brand and want to improve customer engagement. 

One of the things that you can do is send a personalized email to the customer as soon as they purchase a product. Apart from thanking them for making a purchase, your email can also include helpful information about the product like how it can be used, tips for maintenance, instructions for claiming a warranty, and so on. 

Post the purchase, you can follow up with the customer regularly to share updates, exclusive offers, and customer feedback requests while also sharing relevant, helpful content on your social media pages. 

By doing so, you are creating a positive customer experience that involves personalized interactions, continuous support, and a sense of community, ensuring that your customer feels valued and supported. 

As a result, customers are more likely to stay loyal to your brand, share positive experiences with others, and they will also consider you for their future needs. Moreover, they will also be willing to provide valuable customer feedback and suggestions to improve the business.

In other words, an effective customer engagement strategy involves nurturing relationships, showing genuine care, and providing value beyond the initial sale. 

It’s a two-way street that benefits the customer and the business too.

What is customer experience? Why is it important?

Customer experience refers to the overall journey and interaction that a customer has with a brand, product, or service. It covers every touchpoint and interaction a customer has, right from awareness to post-purchase.

While customer engagement & customer experience are similar concepts, they focus on different aspects of the relationship between brands & customers. 

Let’s consider the previous example of managing an e-commerce brand. 

To increase customer engagement, you sent personalized emails, shared helpful content on social media, and ensured healthy interactions with the customer.

Now, to improve customer experience, you can start by building a user-friendly website experience. Every product on your website will include high-quality images, detailed descriptions, customer reviews, etc.

Additionally, you can ensure that the entire checkout process is simple and hassle-free. Post the purchase, you can also provide prompt customer support, timely order fulfillment, and an easy return/refund process. 

By doing so, you are building a holistic experience for the customer that includes improved website usability, high-quality customer support, a smooth checkout process, and post-purchase assistance as well.

In short, customer experience is all about how you make your customers feel across their entire journey with you. A positive customer experience will help you to build a strong, loyal customer base and can improve your brand reputation too.

What is customer satisfaction? Why is it important?

Customer satisfaction refers to the extent to which customers are happy and content with their interactions and experiences, with a product, service, or brand.

It reflects how well a company meets or exceeds customer expectations. 

High customer satisfaction indicates that customers are happy with their overall experience, while low customer satisfaction suggests areas of improvement.

Let’s understand customer satisfaction with the same e-commerce brand example. Your customers will feel happy and satisfied when the products they receive match the images and descriptions available on your website.

Another way to improve customer satisfaction is to ensure that the products are delivered on time and the quality of the products also match their expectations. 

You can build on this by offering prompt assistance and asking for customer feedback. By doing so, you can focus on meeting and exceeding the expectations of your customers, which is what customer satisfaction is all about. 

How are customer engagement, customer experience, and customer satisfaction related?

As we saw before, regular interactions with your customers along with strategies to improve experience, will eventually contribute to high levels of customer satisfaction.

These three pillars – customer engagement, customer experience, and customer satisfaction – complement each other while also helping you build customer loyalty and achieve long-term success.

While these three concepts are quite distinct, they are also interconnected and often influence one another. Let’s have a closer look at how each pillar is related to each other. 

Customer engagement vs. customer experience:

As we know, customer engagement is all about having healthy and personalized interactions at every touchpoint. By doing so, you build a connection with the customer which again contributes to building a positive customer experience.

When customers are actively engaged through personalized interactions, relevant content, and meaningful connections, their overall ‘experience’ with the brand becomes more positive and memorable.

Thus, engaged customers will more likely have a better experience because they are actively involved in their interactions with the brand. 

When you engage in these interactions across various touch points such as email recommendations, helpful content, and social media interactions, it enhances the customer experience, making it more dynamic and layered. 

Customer experience vs. customer satisfaction:

As we noticed in our previous examples of managing an e-commerce brand, creating a positive customer experience plays a huge role in improving customer satisfaction. 

When you provide a seamless experience throughout the customer journey with a brand, it eventually leads to higher satisfaction levels, as customers feel their needs and expectations have been met or exceeded.

This creates a positive perception of the brand in the minds of the customers, resulting in improved customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction vs. customer engagement:

Customer satisfaction is known to be the foundation for customer engagement.

When customers feel satisfied with your brand, they are more likely to engage with you further, either through more purchases, referrals, or even participating in activities that you organize.

High customer satisfaction also means that customers are more likely to stick with your brand since their positive experiences have laid the groundwork for trust and loyalty.

So, when you successfully engage customers, provide memorable experiences, and ensure their satisfaction, you create a positive cycle that results in increased loyalty, repeat business, positive word-of-mouth, and sustainable long-term growth.

In other words, customer engagement, customer experience, and customer satisfaction are all connected elements that hold the key to the relationship you have with your customers.

Which is more important: customer engagement, customer experience, or customer satisfaction?

If your goal is to build a successful, customer-centric business while also achieving loyalty and long-term growth, you need all three – customer engagement, customer experience, and customer satisfaction.  

This is because these three pillars are interconnected. They can only deliver results when you implement them together to create a positive and lasting relationship with your customers. 

As we know, customer engagement is a crucial component for building a relationship and promoting brand loyalty. When customers feel engaged, they are more likely to interact with you, share their experiences, and provide valuable feedback.

Customer experience, on the other hand, is a ‘must-have’ at every touchpoint. It ensures that every aspect of the customer journey is designed to provide a positive experience.

Without this, you will find it challenging to engage customers effectively. 

Thus, customer experience is considered to be the foundation upon which both customer engagement and customer satisfaction are built. 

Customer satisfaction reflects how well your brand meets or exceeds customer expectations. High customer satisfaction leads to customer loyalty, positive word-of-mouth, and repeat business. 

So, rather than trying to figure out what’s more important, you should develop a culture where these elements work together to provide customers with high levels of satisfaction, memorable experiences, and genuine engagement.

Examples of good customer engagement, customer experience, and customer satisfaction

Having a balanced approach toward each of these ideas is crucial for the long-term growth and success of any company. Let’s have a look at some real-life examples of brands that have successfully incorporated each of them.

Customer engagement example

UK Tool Centre, an e-commerce platform that offers a huge range of over 42,000 products, wanted to improve engagement on one of its product pages. 

The page offered a brand of woodcare products called Cuprinol and had a filter menu right at the top. It was theorized that this filter menu was distracting users from exploring the products. 

So, the company ran a test where they compared the original product page (control) with another version of the page (variation). 

In the original version of the page, the filter menu was placed just above the Cuprinol listing.

In the variation, the filter menu was completely removed from the page, making it easier for the users to explore all the products. 

Once the test was conducted, the variation saw a 27% increase in engagement on the product page. 

This was possible because the company identified the needs of its customers and removed distractions from the page. Users were now able to have a better look at the products, which again increased engagement on the page.  

Through this simple customer engagement strategy, UK Tool Centre was able to encourage healthy interactions with its audience. 

Customer experience example

Buyakilt.com, an online Kilt and Scottish Highland Dress retailer, had multiple category pages along with many more subcategory pages.

The company wanted to test whether a new product filter would make it easier for customers to find what they were looking for. 

With the help of VWO, they ran a test to confirm whether this change would improve customer experience, and in turn, increase conversions. 

The new variation included a product filter, which allowed users to shop by kilt type, kilt pattern, and so on.

After the test was completed, Buyakilt.com registered a whopping 76.1% increase in revenue. Moreover, they also saw a 26% increase in conversions along with a 19.76% increase in shopping cart visits. 

One of the main reasons for this success was that a simple feature offered an easier way to take action, thus improving the overall customer experience. 

Customer satisfaction example

Archive Social is a US-based brand that helps organizations fulfill their legal requirements and avoid lawsuits on social media. 

The company wanted to improve lead generation through its pricing page and also increase conversions from a banner form on its home page.

Working with the VWO team, Archive Social made some observations about areas that needed improvement. These areas were affecting conversions and were also preventing the company from satisfying customer expectations. 

To begin with, they noticed that the email form field was shown at the very button of their home page banner. This made it difficult for users to differentiate the field from the rest of the page.

They ran a test with a new variation where the email field had better placement and visibility. After running the campaign for 27 days, the variation saw a massive increase of 101.68% in terms of clicks on the email field. 

Next, Archive Social ran a test on their pricing page. Here, the variation included a completely revamped page where the primary CTA button was highlighted and the pricing options & features displayed were extremely simple.

After running the test for seven weeks, the variation saw a huge jump of 64.76% in conversions and visits to the ‘Thank you’ page.

In their final campaign, the company wanted to increase traffic to the gated content on their ‘Resources’ page. To do so, they created a new variation by adding the ‘Resources’ category to the top navigation bar.

They ran this campaign for 10 days and registered a 73.30% uplift in traffic for the new variation. Thus, Archive Social understood the needs of their audience and the results clearly show that they also satisfied customer expectations. 

The above examples prove that no matter the industry, you can always achieve long-term growth by focusing on three basic aspects of any successful business – customer engagement, customer experience, and customer satisfaction.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

There’s no harm in seeking more information. But actionable tips are more helpful for starting to learn something new. 

The same principle applies to customer engagement in marketing. Consuming theories and data around the concept can enrich your knowledge and enhance your awareness. But it is practical tips that will actually fuel your customer engagement engine. 

If you are reading this blog, it means you’re here for actionable customer engagement tips. You’re in the right place!

We are about to discuss proven tips that can help you win customer trust, encourage brand loyalty, and ultimately boost revenue growth for your business. 

Keep reading…

Idea 1: Craft a customer-focused content marketing strategy

With online customers being more aware today, content forms the bedrock of your creative customer engagement ideas. However, mere content creation will not garner attention, let alone foster the desired engagement. To attain your engagement objectives, you must center your content around the customers. 

Begin by sketching a typical buyer persona and leveraging data to understand customer requirements, interests, motivations, and aspirations, constructing a good customer engagement strategy. Moreover, try different content formats for various channels and touchpoints: 

Interactive content

Quizzes, polls, surveys, and interactive videos encourage active participation, keeping customers engaged while collecting valuable insights.

Visual content

Infographics, images, and videos are more appealing and shareable, grabbing attention and conveying information quickly.

User-generated content

Sharing content created by customers, such as reviews, testimonials, and social media posts is a part of successful brand engagement activities.

Educational content

How-to guides, tutorials, and informative articles position your brand as an industry expert and provide value to your audience.

Storytelling

Current digital engagement ideas center on content that connects emotionally with customers, making them more invested in your brand.

Live streaming

Live videos on platforms like social media offer real-time interaction with customers, thereby forming an integral part of your good customer engagement strategies.

In addition to determining the type of content you create, make decisions about posting frequency, distribution strategy, and performance measurement. Also, don’t confuse personalized content with your content marketing strategy. While personalized content is crucial for delivering tailored experiences to your audience, your overarching content marketing strategy should exude empathy through compelling storytelling and reflect the personality of your brand. 

Idea 2: Gamify customer experiences

Gamification is one of the innovative customer engagement ideas gaining momentum among many businesses. If you have not tried it yet, here are a few ways you can use gamification to engage customers:

• Run social media contests where you challenge followers to share product unboxing videos to win free tickets to your company’s meet-and-greet or virtual events. 
• Add treasure hunts during special events like sales or anniversaries and offer personalized rewards to the winners.
• Organize quizzes to test visitors’ knowledge about your brand and offer special discounts based on their scores. 

If you want to make gamification an integral part of customer experience on your digital property like your app, consider launching it as a feature. Suppose you run an online newspaper website where you want to introduce badges for readers using the app. These badges might include titles like ‘Engaged Reader,’ ‘Category Expert,’ and ‘Social Sharer,’ rewarding users who actively participate in discussions, specialize in specific categories, and share articles on social media.

Readers can see their badge collection on their profiles and compare them with others in a friendly competition. Additionally, you could create a leaderboard to showcase the top badge earners. 

However, these ideas to engage customers can’t be shipped hastily. They must be tested and iterated upon to achieve the desired outcome. Using server-side testing on VWO, you can not only create features like this but also improve its development through incremental releases, feedback collection, and continuous iteration. To know how it works, request a demo now. 

Idea 3: Constantly gather customer feedback

A robust customer feedback loop is indispensable for your consumer engagement strategies to show the desired result. Encouraging customers (especially existing customers) to share their opinions and actively listening to their feedback demonstrates that their voices matter, thereby improving customer satisfaction.

Implementing changes or enhancements based on their suggestions not only addresses their needs but also showcases your brand’s commitment to continuous improvement. This collaborative approach will help you win loyal customers and increase customer engagement.

Deploying tools like exit pop-ups for departing visitors, incentivizing customer surveys, utilizing live chat for real-time insights, or sending regular feedback forms via email are effective feedback collection methods. These brand engagement ideas help uncover valuable customer perspectives that can be used to refine your customer engagement strategies effectively. 

If you want to get started, you can consider creating an on-page survey where you ask visitors what they liked about your website, if they faced any problems trying to look for something, and what they think can be improved. This feedback is your treasure trove of insights to guide your website optimization efforts. Fresh out of the experience of navigating your website, visitors will remember the details and share their honest opinions. Check out more about on-page surveys now. 

Idea 4: Humanize your brand communication

Whether you are in B2B or B2C, maintaining detached and emotionless communication won’t cultivate valuable customer relationships. Instead, humanizing your communication builds a brand personality that resonates on a personal level, transcending mere product or service associations to cultivate customer engagement.

Begin by strategically infusing a human voice into your content. For your blog, establish a distinctive storytelling style that connects uniquely with your target audience. Infusing empathy into your blog posts strikes an emotional chord, moving beyond mere facts.

On social media, establish exclusive online communities, such as dedicated forums or groups on social media platforms. These spaces not only provide customers with a platform to connect with each other but also foster a deeper connection with your brand. Hosting interactive webinars or Q&A sessions within these communities can further enhance customer engagement and foster a sense of brand belonging. Transparency is key; being authentic resonates with customers who seek genuine interactions when shaping effective customer engagement strategies.

Creating videos and podcasts ranks among the proven user engagement ideas today. Just scroll through your feeds on various social media platforms to see. They lend a human face and voice to your message, fostering a sense of familiarity similar to interactions with friends and family.  These are some good examples of customer engagement that can make your communication more relatable and impactful.

Even if you are in B2B, an empathetic and human-like brand voice is crucial. People don’t suddenly change upon entering the office. Major corporations are shifting away from traditional client communication due to the evolving B2B marketing landscape. So, why not join in? Experiment with creative client management activities that resonate with your audience, building loyalty in the process. 

Idea 5: Personalize customer experiences

Now we come to the sensational part of online marketing today – personalization of customer experiences. Starting from the relevant content users read on social media to the offers they receive in emails and products they are recommended when checking out from a website- these are all due to personalization of their experiences at every touch point of their online journey with a brand. 

Thanks to robust database software like Customer Data Platforms that make customer engagement possible by gathering user data from various sources, segmenting them, and creating Single Customer Views (SCVs). For example, you can transfer these customer profiles to your Data Management Platform (DMP) and launch targeted ads for specific user segments. Similarly, these SCVs can be exported to email automation platforms to launch personalized email newsletters for different segments of customers. 

On our VWO platform, you can leverage the two capabilities, VWO Personalize, and VWO Testing. Taking customer profiles from the CDP, you can launch personalization campaigns and even run A/B testing campaigns. 

Here is an example of customer engagement. Let’s say you own a holiday booking site. Using data from the CDP, you want to display curated travel packages – hiking and safaris, romantic honeymoon getaways, and family travel vacations – to specific audience segments. In this scenario, VWO Personalize can help you launch these targeted segment-specific marketing campaigns.

On the other hand, suppose you want to test whether offering discounts to a segment of your customers can boost sales of your adventure vacation packages. In that case, you can use VWO Testing to run a test and determine if showing a discount in the variation improves your metrics. Take a free trial today.

Idea 6: Create loyal advocates

If you have customers who really like your brand, make sure to nurture those relationships and make them stronger. Keep in touch with them, get their feedback on your latest product launches, and give them special attention, so they know you appreciate them. This will help you convert your existing customers into brand advocates who will support you every step of the way. Here are some great consumer engagement activities to make them feel super special:

Exclusive previews

Offer them exclusive access to new products, services, or features before they’re available to the general public. This makes them feel valued and appreciated.

Surprise gifts

Occasionally send them small surprises like personalized thank-you notes, phone calls, gifts, or samples. These unexpected gestures can go a long way in winning loyal customers.

Customer appreciation events

Organize special events or webinars exclusively for your dedicated existing customers, where they can interact with your sales team and learn more about your products or services.

Seek their input

Involve your long-term existing customers in decisions like product names, features, or future offerings. This gives them a sense of ownership and importance.

Referral program

In addition to these loyalty programs, you can launch referral programs that encourage existing customers to refer new customers to try your brand’s products or services by offering rewards and incentives.

Conclusion

A popular saying goes, “The best time to start is now”. Taking a cue from this, you should not delay launching or improving your customer engagement plans any further. Start moving before your customers consider switching to your competitors due to not getting what they need from your brand. And if you think VWO can help you in executing your customer engagement activity, consider taking a free trial. Explore all its features and decide if it’s a great fit for your business. 

Frequently asked questions

In a city dominated by competitive shops that are all about selling, this bookstore thrives by offering more than just books. They host book clubs where readers can engage in lively discussions, invite local authors for talks, and organize contests and quizzes.

In short, they create a literary heaven for customers. They believe exceeding customer expectations matters, and the rest will follow.

Table of Contents

• Top 5 strategies to increase customer engagement
  • 1. Leverage user behavior analytics
  • 2. Set clear and practical objectives
  • 3. Map customer journeys
  • 4. Create segments for tailored experiences 
  • 5. Craft a definitive omnichannel strategy
• Three steps to build a customer engagement strategy 
  • 1. Conduct in-depth behavioral research
  • 2. Link insights with metrics
  • 3. Analyze and refine continuously
• Customer engagement strategy examples
  • Optimizing your website/app 
  • Emails 
  • Chatbots 
  • Social media 
  • Videos 
• Way forward
• Frequently asked questions

As brands compete neck-to-neck increasingly every day, how do the winners set themselves apart? By placing customers at the center of their business. Building a solid customer engagement strategy is the key to fostering a sense of belonging among your audiences and transcending competition. 

In this blog, we explain overarching strategies on how to increase customer engagement and help your brand become a favorite among customers.

Top 5 strategies to increase customer engagement

1. Leverage user behavior analytics

The foundation of any successful customer engagement strategy lies in understanding your audience. Research your target demographic’s preferences, behaviors, and pain points. This knowledge will help you tailor your customer engagement plan and establish meaningful customer relationships.

Utilize visitor behavioral analytics to comprehend how visitors behave on your digital properties, what prompts increased interaction, and where they encounter friction. By delving deep into visitors’ behavior, you will gain insights into the improvement needed to enrich their online journey with your brand. 

Bear Mattress, a New Jersey-based online mattress-selling company, uncovered interesting visitor behavior on its website with the help of VWO Insights. They observed reduced user interaction with the cross-sell section, ineffective product-centric copy, and reduced engagement due to missing product images in key sections on the product page. These observations led to a solid hypothesis that resulted in an A/B test generating a 16% increase in revenue. 

While heatmaps illustrate various levels of visitor interaction through colors, session recordings allow you to observe users engaging with your website elements. This is just the beginning; VWO Insights offers an array of other features for user research on both website and mobile. To explore them all, start a free trial today! 

2. Set clear and practical objectives

Set specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (SMART) goals for every customer engagement campaign. For instance, while offering frequent discounts and cheap deals might appear conducive to quick revenue growth, it could negatively impact your brand reputation and profitability. Instead of solely concentrating on metrics tied to your paid advertising, set objectives that provide a more comprehensive view of whether your customers are truly committed to your brand or not. 

Further, defining the corresponding metrics becomes important to get better results from your consumer engagement strategy. Regularly evaluating and adjusting these metrics may be necessary to ensure they are in line with the most recent advancements in your business and industry innovations. Read this blog to learn which customer engagement metrics are worth monitoring. 

3. Map customer journeys

Plot out your customers’ journeys from discovery to post-purchase. Identify touchpoints where customer engagement can make a difference and create strategies tailored to each stage. Let’s understand with an example. 

Samantha is a 30-year-old marketing professional looking for stylish workwear to buy online. This is how her journey from decision-making to purchase and post-purchase might look like and how brands can improve her experience across touchpoints. 

Awareness:

• Touchpoint: Instagram sponsored post
• Action: Sarah sees a post showcasing trendy workwear styles from the retailer.
• Improve customer experience: Craft visually appealing and informative posts that showcase various workwear styles, highlighting the unique features and quality of the products.
• Offer: Include a special offer or promotion code for first-time visitors who come from the Instagram post.

Interest and evaluation:

• Touchpoint: Visits the retailer’s website
• Action: Browses through the “Workwear Collection” section, looks at product images, reads descriptions, and checks prices.
• Improve customer experience: Enhance the website’s user interface for easy navigation. Implement high-quality product images, detailed descriptions, and a clear sizing guide.
• Offer: Provide a virtual try-on feature that allows customers to see how the workwear items would look on them.

Purchase:

• Touchpoint: Adds a tailored blazer and trousers to the cart
• Action: Proceeds to checkout, enters payment details, and confirms the purchase.
• Improve customer experience: Streamline the checkout process by minimizing steps and offering multiple payment options. Include a progress indicator to show customers where they are in the process.
• Offer: Offer an option for expedited shipping for those who need their workwear items quickly

Post-purchase:

• Touchpoint: Order confirmation email
• Action: Receives an email with order details, expected delivery date, and a discount code for her next purchase.
• Improve customer experience: Personalize the order confirmation email with the customer’s name and ordered items. Include a link to track the order’s delivery status.
• Offer: Suggest related products that complement the purchased items, encouraging cross-selling.

Engagement and loyalty:

• Touchpoint: Follows the retailer on Instagram and subscribes to their newsletter.
• Action: Receives personalized product recommendations based on her purchase history.
• Improve customer experience: Send personalized newsletters with relevant content, such as styling tips, outfit inspiration, and exclusive offers for loyal customers.
• Offer: Provide early access to new collections and special events for newsletter subscribers.
  

Advocacy:

• Touchpoint: Receives her order, which includes a thank-you note and a referral discount.
• Action: Shares a photo of her new outfit on social media, praising the retailer’s quality and service.
• Improve customer experience: Include a handwritten thank-you note in the package, expressing gratitude for the customer’s purchase. Personalize the note by referring to the specific items bought.
• Offer: Provide a referral discount not only for the advocate but also for the referred friend, encouraging them to share their experience with others.
  

Now let’s say you own a SaaS company and you want to lay out a highly effective client engagement strategy. You can map any customer journey like this to tailor experiences at each stage of their journey with your brand. The crux is that no matter which industry you operate in, with the right customer engagement strategy, you can boost brand trust and encourage loyal customers to advocate for you. 

4. Create segments for tailored experiences

You have performed user research and mapped the customer journey. Now you must be wondering how to drive customer engagement. The answer is segmentation. It’s only once you segment your visitors into different cohorts (based on similar preferences, attributes, and more) that you can deliver tailored experiences to them. This is one of the most effective customer engagement strategies that align your campaigns and communications with customers’ requirements, behavior, and purchase history. 

Imagine owning an OTT platform. You would want to personalize every piece of content, starting from the homepage to cater to each viewer’s preferences. If you identify a segment of viewers as a fan of romantic comedies (from their watch history), consider showing more of such recommendations. Utilizing their location data, you can also suggest trending movies or web series from their country, such as France. 

Now, suppose you’re interested in running a personalization campaign that offers a 10% discount on subscription plans for viewers from a new market in the Nordic countries like Norway. This can be accomplished through personalization. Even better, if you’re utilizing a customer data platform, you can leverage single customer views (SCVs) to create more intricate segments based on the extensive data you have about your new and existing customers. 

Building upon the same example, you could decide to target this discount offer specifically to individuals aged 25-45 in Oslo, Norway, who access content via mobile devices.

This data-driven approach to increase customer engagement can set you apart from the competitors. From collecting and segmenting data to launching personalization campaigns, VWO Data360 and VWO Personalize can work together to elevate your customer engagement marketing strategy. Explore how it works by taking a free trial now. 

5. Craft a definitive omnichannel strategy

Once you have implemented all of the above steps, it’s time to create an omnichannel customer engagement strategy. This strategy should clearly outline:

1. The main and secondary (if applicable) buyer personas, along with their behaviors and interests.
2. How you’ll engage these personas at different touch points throughout their purchasing journey and beyond across devices.
3. Methods to seamlessly connect interactions across multiple channels, ensuring a flawless and delightful experience.
4. The different opportunities you’ll harness, like product launches, relevant events, retargeting, etc., to enhance consumer engagement.
5. An actionable plan for customer engagement that you can put into action right away.

And while you are trying your best to increase engagement with customers, bear in mind the power of A/B testing across your digital properties. 

A/B testing deciphers the preferences and behaviors that truly resonate with the audience. This empirical approach sidesteps guesswork, infusing data-driven precision into customer engagement marketing strategies. In the long term, the insights gained from A/B testing cultivate a culture of continuous improvement, aligning optimization ideas with evolving customer preferences. As a result, businesses fine-tune user experiences and improve conversion rates, all while ensuring high customer engagement.

Mediereich, a German eLearning company, conducted a split URL test on its homepage which increased visitor engagement by 40%. That’s not all. Due to this change, the home page’s year-on-year value skyrocketed by an incredible 106.42%, going up from $2,149.72 to $4,436.41. This underscores how enhancing engagement will directly influence your revenue metrics. And it is experimentation that makes it possible. 

Three steps to build a customer engagement strategy

We have shared overarching strategies on how to create online customer engagement. Now we quickly tell you three key steps you must take to build a robust customer engagement strategy.

1. Conduct in-depth behavioral research

Gather critical visitor data tailored to your business. In addition to customary metrics from customer loyalty programs, social media interactions, and customer support, focus on the aspects shaping customer-brand engagement. Survey responses, heatmap analysis of website behavior, and funnel analysis help uncover user preferences and identify any friction they encounter.

2. Link insights with metrics

Convert insights from observed visitor behavior into defined objectives with corresponding metrics. For instance, if funnel analysis reveals that existing customers are dropping off from the product page prematurely, your objective should be to retain customers on the page and reverse the drop-off. As a result, you can run a test with an optimized product page and set ‘increase in Average Order Value (AOV)’ as a metric to measure the change in visitor behavior.

3. Analyze and refine continuously

Once you have run an experiment, uncover loopholes and areas for improvement. Through iterative cycles, refine your ideas and devise improved strategies to optimize conversions. This ongoing process ensures that your engagement strategies remain dynamic, effective, and aligned with ever-evolving customer behavior.

Customer engagement strategy examples

Optimizing your website/app

Whether focusing on messaging, UI, or UX, every aspect of your website or app contributes to shaping customer perceptions. To optimize engagement, the aim is to enhance these components, streamlining the customer journey for ease and providing immersive experiences that retain their interest. 

For improved engagement and delightful experiences, consider targeting the following opportunities:

1. Provide relevant, valuable content across blogs and resources to captivate customers and provide value. 
2. Personalize customer touchpoints based on individual needs, devices, locations, and industries to deliver context-rich communication. 
3. Employ incentives throughout touchpoints, such as freebies, exclusive coupon codes, expert consultations, and referral rewards, to entice prolonged interaction with your digital platforms. 

Incorporating these tactics into your engagement strategy ensures extended customer stay time on your site/app, resulting in improved engagement metrics. 

Emails

Despite being a conventional method of customer communication, emails remain a remarkably relevant example of customer engagement strategies. Marketers and customer-facing representatives heavily rely on emails for communication. These customer emails can generally be categorized into:

• Newsletters
• Welcome/Signup Emails
• Thank You Emails
• Abandonment/Recovery Emails
• New Product/Service Launch Emails
• Feedback/Survey Emails
• Transactional Emails

To maximize engagement through the email channel, remember these guidelines:

1. Craft compelling subject lines for higher open rates.
2. Optimize emails for mobile viewing, as over 50% are accessed on mobile devices.
3. Stand out in crowded inboxes by providing value and utility—keep content informative, interactive, and non-promotional.
4. Utilize customer stories and social proof to build trust.
5. Personalize emails based on interests and behavior for enhanced relevance and engagement.

Chatbots

Given the trust and preference it has earned from customers, incorporating live chat for improved engagement is a clear decision for businesses.

Apart from immediate issue resolution, companies can elevate user engagement through strategic retargeting of returning visitors, providing personalized recommendations, sharing valuable resource links, and guiding traffic to essential site pages.

Social media

In today’s social media-driven world, a big part of how companies engage with users happens on these platforms. This affects how customers interact with brands overall. In this noisy environment, it’s really important for businesses to regularly and meaningfully connect with their followers.

Though there’s no surefire method for getting lots of engagement on social media, these tips are a good starting point for building strong interactions, engaging customers, and keeping people interested:

1. Stay responsive to mentions so you know what your audience is saying and can interact with them.
2. Use trending topics to talk about things that matter to your audience and industry.
3. Be consistent in posting, so your audience remembers you.
4. Address customer complaints in the comments, showing you’re listening and caring.
5. Share stories about your customers and employees to make your brand more relatable.
6. Make your posts interactive with polls, quizzes, and contests to show you value your audience’s opinions.

Videos

Videos, the most preferred content by consumers, now make a conspicuous part of the customer engagement strategy framework. Brands increasingly invest in video marketing for higher engagement. Whether on your website, app, or social media, videos excel due to their captivating, shareable, and on-the-go nature. 

To harness this growing engagement avenue, constant innovation is key. Alongside product and educational videos, consider interactive formats like Q&A sessions or ‘Ask Me Anything’ with experts. Experiment with user-generated content (UGC) videos, inviting followers for short video contests.

Video testimonials shared on social media are highly effective, showcasing happy and loyal customers for greater engagement compared to text-based testimonials. Depending on your business, explore vlogs and webinars, offering in-depth content that retains audience attention better than lengthy blog posts.

Way forward

Customer engagement programs are the key elements that can help a business improve its bottom line. When companies focus on their customers rather than getting caught up in competitor comparisons, they thrive on unparalleled customer satisfaction. This approach leads to relevant interactions and long-lasting customer relationships. Having seen how VWO can increase your customer engagement, you will only benefit from making it a part of your business strategy. Start a free trial today to take the next step.

Frequently asked questions

Table of Contents

• Understanding customer engagement
• The power of customer engagement metrics
  • 1. Customer retention rate
  • 2. Customer churn rate
  • 3. Customer lifetime value (CLV)
  • 4. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
  • 5. Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)
  • 6. Time spent on the platform
  • 7. Click-through rate (CTR)
  • 8. Social media engagement
• Customer engagement analytics: Measure customer engagement with the power of data
  • 1. Identifying customer segments
  • 2. Personalization
  • 3. Predictive analytics
  • 4. Optimize marketing efforts
  • 5. Measure customer journey
• FAQs

Customer engagement metrics and analytics play a pivotal role in measuring and optimizing the effectiveness of marketing strategies. A range of consumer engagement metrics, such as customer engagement success metrics and brand engagement metrics, help businesses gauge the level of interaction and interest their customers have with their brand across various touchpoints. 

To leverage these insights effectively, companies rely on customer engagement analytics to analyze vast amounts of data. Understanding customer engagement analytics and how to analyze engagement data allows businesses to uncover patterns, preferences, and pain points within the customer journey. Armed with such knowledge, marketers can fine-tune their campaigns to create personalized experiences that resonate with customers, resulting in higher brand loyalty, increased retention rates, and improved overall business performance.

In this article, we will explore the significance of customer engagement, delve into the key metrics used to measure it and understand how analytics can unveil valuable insights to drive growth and improve customer engagement.

Understanding customer engagement

Customer engagement refers to a customer’s emotional connection with a brand, product, or service. It goes beyond just purchases and involves interactions across various touchpoints of online business, such as social media, email, website, and customer support. Engaged customers tend to be more often loyal customers, spend more, and are more likely to recommend the brand to others. It is, therefore, essential for businesses to quantify and measure customer engagement effectively with the right KPIs.

The power of customer engagement metrics

Client engagement metrics are quantifiable data points that indicate the level of involvement and interactions between customers and a brand. These metrics provide a comprehensive view of how customers interact with a brand and help in evaluating the success of customer engagement analysis strategies. Let’s delve into some of the key consumer engagement metrics with examples.

1. Customer retention rate

This metric calculates the percentage of customers who continue to do business with a company over a specific period. A high retention rate implies that existing customers still find value in the brand, products, or services, and are likely to remain loyal.

Let’s consider a fictional online streaming platform that offers video-on-demand services through monthly subscriptions. To calculate the customer retention rate and to measure customer loyalty and engagement, we’ll look at a specific time period (e.g., one year) and compare the number of customers at the beginning and end of that period.

Example data:

• At the beginning of the year (January 1st), the company had 10,000 subscribers.
• During the year, it acquired 5,000 new subscribers.
• At the end of the year (December 31st), it had 12,000 subscribers.

Calculating customer retention rate:

Step 1: Find the total number of customers at the beginning of the year. Initial customers (January 1st) = 10,000

Step 2: Find the number of customers at the end of the year. Final customers (December 31st) = 12,000

Step 3: Calculate the number of customers gained during the year. Customers gained = Final Customers – Initial Customers Customers Gained = 12,000 – 10,000 = 2,000

Step 4: Calculate the customer retention rate. Customer retention rate = (Customers gained / Initial customers) * 100 

Customer retention rate = (2,000 / 10,000) * 100 = 20%

Interpreting customer retention rate: In this example, the streaming platform’s customer retention rate is 20%. This means that, over the course of the year, the company was able to retain 20% of its initial customers, while 80% of its original customers did not continue their subscriptions.

Significance of customer retention rate in measuring customer loyalty and engagement: The retention rate is a customer engagement tracker for measuring customer experience, satisfaction, and loyalty because it indicates how well a company can retain its existing customer base over time. A higher retention rate signifies a more engaged and satisfied customer base, while a lower rate may indicate issues with customer experience or dissatisfaction.

Actionable insights from customer retention rate: A high customer retention rate (e.g., 70% or above) suggests that the platform is doing an excellent job of engaging its customers, providing compelling content, and offering a seamless user experience. In contrast, a low retention rate (e.g., below 50%) may raise concerns about the quality of service, user engagement, or content, leading to customers seeking alternatives elsewhere.

2. Customer churn rate

The churn rate is the opposite of the retention rate. It measures the percentage of customers who stop engaging with the brand or cancel their subscriptions over a given period. A high churn rate signifies a lack of engagement from the monthly active users.

Let’s consider a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that offers a subscription-based project management tool. At the beginning of the month, the company had 1,000 active subscribers. By the end of the month, 100 of these subscribers canceled their subscriptions or stopped using the service.

In this example, the churn rate for the project management tool is 10% for the month. This means that 10% of the customers who were either daily active users at the beginning of the month discontinued their subscriptions or stopped engaging with the service.

A high churn rate can be a red flag for the business as it suggests that customers are not finding enough value in the product or service, leading them to leave. To address this issue, the company needs to focus on improving brand engagement, providing better customer support, and enhancing the product to retain existing customers and attract new ones. Lowering the churn rate is vital for sustained business growth and profitability.

3. Customer lifetime value (CLV)

CLV is the projected revenue a customer is expected to generate over their lifetime as a customer. It takes into account factors such as average purchase value, purchase frequency, and customer retention. A high CLV indicates a strong customer engagement strategy and profitability.

Let’s illustrate this concept with an example:

Imagine a subscription-based meal kit delivery service. For simplicity, let’s assume the average customer pays $100 per month for their subscription, and the average customer remains subscribed for 12 months.

CLV = Average Purchase Value x Purchase Frequency x Customer Lifespan

CLV = $100 (average purchase value) x 12 (purchase frequency) x 1 (customer lifespan)

CLV = $1,200

In this example, the CLV of a customer for this meal kit delivery service is $1,200. This means that, on average, each customer is expected to generate $1,200 in revenue over the course of their subscription.

A high CLV suggests that the company has a strong customer engagement strategy and is doing well in terms of customer retention. This indicates that customers are satisfied with the service, making repeat purchases, and staying loyal over an extended period. It also implies that the company is likely to be profitable since the revenue generated from each customer exceeds the cost of acquiring and serving them.

Businesses can use CLV as a crucial metric to guide their marketing efforts and increase customer loyalty through relationship management. By focusing on increasing CLV through better engagement, customer satisfaction, and retention strategies, companies can enhance their long-term profitability and build a loyal customer base.

4. Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Net Promoter Score is a popular metric that measures customer feedback, brand loyalty, and advocacy. It involves asking customers how likely they are to recommend the brand to others on a scale of 0 to 10. Customers are categorized as promoters, passives, or detractors based on their responses. A higher NPS indicates better customer engagement and satisfaction.

Let’s consider an example of a software company that provides project management tools. They conducted an NPS survey and received responses from 500 customers.

• Number of Promoters (score 9-10): 300
• Number of Passives (score 7-8): 100
• Number of Detractors (score 0-6): 100

To calculate the Net Promoter Score, use the following formula:

NPS = (% Promoters – % Detractors)

In this example: NPS = (300/500*100) – (100/500*100) = 60 – 20 = 40

The higher the NPS, the more engaged and satisfied customers are, which bodes well for the company’s growth and excellent customer service success too.

Once the Net Promoter Score is calculated, the next crucial step is to analyze the results and take appropriate actions. Here’s how the software company can interpret and act on the NPS results:

• Identify areas of improvement: The company should pay attention to the feedback provided by detractors and passives to identify pain points and areas that need improvement. This feedback can help the company address issues, enhance the customer experience, and boost engagement.
• Nurture promoters: Promoters are the company’s most valuable assets. The company should engage with them, leverage their positive sentiments, and encourage them to spread positive word-of-mouth. Building a community of brand advocates can significantly impact customer acquisition and retention.
• Follow-up surveys: Following up with customers who provided low NPS scores can help the company understand their concerns better. A well-handled follow-up can turn a detractor into a promoter, showcasing the company’s commitment to customer satisfaction.
• Benchmarking and tracking: The company should regularly track NPS over time to monitor changes in customer sentiment. This allows it to assess the effectiveness of improvement initiatives and measure the impact of engagement strategies.
• Aligning NPS with business goals: Integrating NPS into the company’s overall business goals ensures that customer engagement is given due importance in decision-making and resource allocation.

5. Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)

CSAT gauges the satisfaction level of customers engaged with a specific product, service, or interaction. It typically involves a post-purchase survey where customers rate their experience on a scale. High CSAT scores imply positive engagement experiences.

6. Time spent on the platform

This metric measures the average session duration of time customers spend on a website, app, or other platforms. Usually, it is assumed that the longer the time spent, the more engaged and interested the customers are in the brand’s offerings.

Let’s consider an online news website. By analyzing user behavior, the website tracks the time users spend on the site during their visits. If the average session duration is found to be 5 minutes, it suggests that, on average, visitors spend 5 minutes browsing through articles and content on the website during each visit.

A longer average session duration in this case indicates that users are actively engaging with the news articles, reading in-depth content, and potentially exploring multiple pages on the site. This suggests a higher level of interest and engagement with the website’s news content.

On the other hand, a lower average session duration may indicate that visitors are not finding the content compelling enough to stay on the site for an extended period. This could be a sign that the website needs to improve its content quality, user experience, or navigation to keep visitors engaged for longer durations.

By monitoring and analyzing the average session duration of active users, businesses can gain insights into how engaging their website or app is for users. They can then use this information to optimize the user experience, improve content relevance, and enhance engagement, ultimately leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

7. Click-through rate (CTR)

CTR measures the percentage of customers who click on a specific link or call-to-action in an email, advertisement, or website. A higher CTR indicates higher engagement with the content.

Let’s say a company runs an email marketing campaign to promote a new product. It sends the email to 1,000 subscribers, and within that email, there is a link to the product page. After analyzing the campaign, it was found that 100 subscribers clicked on the link.

CTR = (Number of Clicks / Number of Impressions) x 100 CTR = (100 / 1,000) x 100 = 10%

In this example, the CTR for the email campaign is 10%. This means that 10% of the recipients who received the email clicked on the link to visit the product page.

A higher CTR is generally considered a positive sign, as it indicates that the content or offer resonates well with the audience and encourages engagement. A lower CTR, on the other hand, may suggest that the content needs improvement or that the target audience is not finding the content relevant or compelling.

By tracking customer engagement via CTR, businesses can assess the effectiveness of their marketing efforts and make data-driven decisions to optimize their campaigns for a better conversion rate.

ArchiveSocial is a SaaS-based social media archiving solution, headquartered in the USA. The company more than doubled its CTR and streamlined user experience on its website using VWO’s testing capabilities. You can read more about this here. 

8. Social media engagement

This metric measures the level of interaction (likes, shares, comments) that a brand’s social media posts receive. It reflects how well the content resonates with the target audience.

Let’s consider a fashion brand that posts a picture of a newly launched dress on Instagram. After 24 hours, the post received 500 likes, 200 shares, and 50 comments. In this case, the engagement rate can be calculated by adding up all the interactions (likes, shares, comments) and dividing that by the number of followers.

Total Interactions = 500 (likes) + 200 (shares) + 50 (comments) = 750

Assuming the brand has 10,000 followers on Instagram:

Engagement Rate = (Total Interactions / Number of Followers) x 100 Engagement Rate = (750 / 10,000) x 100 ≈ 7.5%

In this example, the engagement rate for the fashion brand’s post is approximately 7.5%. This metric provides insights into how well the dress resonates with the brand’s audience. Higher engagement rates indicate that the content is compelling and captures the audience’s interest, potentially leading to increased brand awareness and customer loyalty.

Customer engagement analytics: Measure customer engagement with the power of data

While customer engagement metrics provide valuable insights into customer interactions, customer engagement analytics takes this further by leveraging data to uncover trends, patterns, and predictive insights into customer health. Here’s how customer engagement analytics can enhance the understanding of customer engagement:

1. Identifying customer segments

Analytics can help businesses identify different customer segments based on their engagement behavior. This customer segmentation also allows companies to tailor their marketing efforts to meet the specific needs and preferences of each group.

For example, let’s consider an eCommerce company that sells various products online. Through analytics, it discovers that it has two main customer segments: tech-savvy millennials who prefer trendy gadgets and accessories, and budget-conscious families who primarily shop for home essentials and discounted items.

With this customer segmentation insight, the company can now tailor their marketing efforts accordingly. It might create personalized email campaigns for tech-savvy millennials featuring the latest gadgets and promotional offers. Simultaneously, it can run social media advertisements and discounts targeting the family segment for home essentials.

By customizing marketing strategies for each customer segment, the company can effectively reach the right audience with the most relevant messaging, increasing the chances of higher customer engagement scores, conversion rates, and overall, customer satisfaction scores.

2. Personalization

By analyzing customer data, businesses can gain insights into individual preferences, purchase and feature usage history user behavior, and interactions. Armed with this information, companies can offer personalized recommendations and experiences that enhance engagement.

Say an online streaming platform collects customer data, including the genres of movies and TV shows users watch, their viewing history, and favorite actors. By analyzing this data, the platform identifies that a particular user enjoys action and comedy genres, frequently watches movies on weekends, and follows a specific actor.

Armed with these insights, the streaming platform can offer personalized recommendations to this user. For instance, the platform may suggest newly released action-comedy movies starring the user’s favorite actor, or curate a playlist of weekend binge-worthy content in these genres. As a result, the user is more likely to find content that aligns with their interests, enhancing their overall engagement with the platform.

By leveraging customer data to deliver tailored experiences, businesses can build stronger connections with their customers, increase customer satisfaction scores, and foster loyalty. Personalization can lead to higher retention rates, increased conversion rates, and ultimately, improved business performance.

3. Predictive analytics

Customer engagement analytics can predict future customer behavior based on historical data. For instance, it can help identify customers who are at risk of churning or those likely to become high-value customers, enabling proactive measures.

Let’s continue our previous example of the streaming platform. By analyzing customer engagement data, the company identifies a group of customers who have shown a decline in their usage patterns, have stopped engaging with new content, and have not renewed their subscriptions in the past. Based on this data, the analytics model predicts that these customers are at risk of churning.

With this insight, the streaming service can take proactive measures to retain these customers. It might send targeted email offers with personalized recommendations, inviting them to explore new content that aligns with their previous interests. It could also offer active users a special discount or extend their subscription for a limited time to entice them back.

Similarly, customer engagement analytics can also identify customers who exhibit vital engagement behaviors, such as high usage frequency, active participation in loyalty programs, and positive feedback. The analytics model predicts that these customers are likely to become high-value customers who are more likely to upgrade their subscriptions, make repeat purchases, or refer others.

Recognizing the potential of these customers, the streaming service may choose to offer them exclusive rewards, early access to new content, or premium features to further enhance their loyalty and encourage them to continue their engagement.

In both cases, customer engagement analytics provides valuable insights that enable the business to take targeted and proactive actions to reduce churn and maximize the value of customer loyalty, ultimately leading to improved customer retention and increased revenue.

4. Optimize marketing efforts

Analyzing online engagement metrics can reveal the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, allowing businesses to optimize their marketing strategies, for better engagement and higher returns on investment.

For example, let’s consider an eCommerce company running a digital marketing campaign to promote a new product line. By analyzing user engagement metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and time spent on the campaign landing pages, it can gauge how well the campaign resonates with the target audience.

If the CTR is low and users are not spending much time on the landing pages, it indicates that the marketing message might not be compelling enough or that the targeting is off. In response, the company can make adjustments to the campaign, such as refining the ad copy or targeting a different audience segment. They can A/B test these changes to validate their effectiveness.

On the other hand, if the conversion rates are high, indicating that many users who clicked on the ad actually made a purchase, the company can deduce that the campaign is effective in driving sales. In this case, they might consider increasing the budget for the campaign or extending its duration to capitalize on its success.

Furthermore, user engagement metrics can help identify which marketing channels or platforms are performing well and which ones need improvement. For instance, if the company finds that its social media ads are driving significant engagement and sales compared to its email marketing efforts, it might allocate more resources to social media advertising.

By continuously analyzing user engagement metrics and making data-driven decisions, the eCommerce company can fine-tune its marketing strategies over time, leading to better engagement rates, increased customer acquisition, gaining more loyal customers, and ultimately, a higher ROI on their marketing investments.

5. Measure customer journey

Analytics can provide a comprehensive view of the customer journey, from initial awareness to post-purchase support. Understanding this journey helps identify pain points and opportunities for improvement.

Let’s consider an online electronics retailer. By utilizing analytics, the retailer tracks customer interactions at various stages of the journey. It monitors website visits, product views, cart additions, and completed purchases. Additionally, it analyzes customer service interactions after the purchase, such as inquiries and support requests.

Through analytics, the retailer discovers that many customers abandon their shopping carts just before making a purchase due to unexpected shipping costs. This is a pain point in the customer journey as it hinders conversions.

Armed with this insight, the retailer decides to offer free shipping on orders above a certain value. As a result, cart abandonment rates decrease, and more customers complete their purchases.

Furthermore, the analytics reveal that customers who engage with the retailer’s post-purchase support team are more likely to become repeat customers. Recognizing this opportunity, the retailer invests in enhancing its customer support services, leading to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Contorion improved the product detailed pages on its website based on insights from VWO’s session recordings. It ran A/B tests which led to an increase in the add-to-cart click rate. You can read the full story here.

Customer engagement is a vital aspect of any successful business, and understanding its impact is crucial for growth and sustainability. By leveraging customer engagement metrics and customer engagement analytics, businesses can track customer engagement and gain valuable insights into customer behavior, preferences, and sentiments. 

Armed with this data, companies can make informed decisions, optimize marketing efforts, create personalized marketing messages, and deliver personalized experiences, ultimately fostering stronger relationships with customers and driving long-term success. Remember, the key to thriving in a competitive market lies in listening to your customers; you can get the most valuable customer engagement indicators from these conversations to improve customer experiences.

FAQs

Table of Contents

• Why is customer engagement important?
• 8 major benefits of customer engagement
  • 1. Strong customer relationships and increased customer loyalty
  • 2. Increased customer retention and reduced churn
  • 3. Cross-selling and upselling opportunities
  • 4. Increased subscribers and enhanced audience reach
  • 5. Shorter purchase cycles and improved conversion rates
  • 6. Brand evangelists and word-of-mouth marketing
  • 7. Establishing a distinguishable brand identity
  • 8. Enhanced customer service and satisfaction
• What is an effective customer engagement strategy?
  • 1. Personalization
  • 2. Omnichannel approach
  • 3. Interactive content
• Conclusion
• FAQs

This article explores the various benefits and importance of customer engagement, backed by examples and key points, to demonstrate how it can be a game-changer for businesses.

Why is customer engagement important?

Let’s understand with an example.

Imagine a coffee shop that focuses on personalized customer experiences and engagement. They make an effort to remember their regular customers’ names and preferences and engage in genuine conversations. This personalized experience and customer engagement approach creates a strong emotional bond with the customers, making them feel valued and appreciated.

One day, the coffee shop introduces a new menu item based on customer feedback collected through surveys, social media, and customer interactions. They actively involve their customers in the decision-making process, making them feel like they are part of the coffee shop’s growth and success.

As a result of this effective customer engagement strategy, the coffee shop sees a significant increase in customer loyalty. Regular patrons are more likely to bring their friends and family, share positive experiences on their social media channels, and become brand advocates. This word-of-mouth promotion attracts new customers, contributes to building strong customer relationships, and ultimately drives up sales and revenue.

In contrast, a coffee shop that does not have a customer engagement strategy in place may not understand its customers’ preferences, leading to a stagnant menu and an indifferent atmosphere. This could result in a poor customer experience with many customers feeling disconnected and turning to competitors who make them feel more valued.

Through systemized customer information and relationship management, the first coffee shop in the example enjoys continuous growth, a strong community of loyal customers, and a thriving reputation in the local market. Needless to say, customer retention becomes easier for them.

8 major benefits of customer engagement

1. Strong customer relationships and increased customer loyalty

Customer engagement plays a pivotal role in fostering stronger relationships and improving customer loyalty. By going beyond mere transactions and actively engaging customers across multiple channels and touchpoints, businesses can build a deep connection with their audience. 

For example, a clothing retailer could engage customers through personalized recommendations based on their preferences and shopping history, creating a sense of exclusivity. This personal touch can enhance customer satisfaction, leading to increased loyalty and repeat purchases.

2. Increased customer retention and reduced churn

A significant advantage of customer engagement is that engaged customers are more likely to stay loyal to a brand, resulting in reduced churn rates. By consistently nurturing customer relationships and addressing pain points, businesses can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

For instance, a software company can provide proactive customer support, offering assistance and resolving issues promptly for better customer engagement. This entire customer experience contributes to customers feeling valued, leading to higher retention rates and reduced customer churn.

3. Cross-selling and upselling opportunities

Another benefit of engaging with customers includes the uncovering of valuable customer insights including their preferences, behaviors, and buying patterns. By analyzing customer engagement data, businesses can personalize their recommendations and accurately target cross-selling and upselling offers. 

For example, an eCommerce platform can suggest complementary products or offer exclusive deals based on the customer’s browsing history and past purchases. This approach of using customer data not only increases the average customer lifetime value but also delivers relevant recommendations that resonate with customers, resulting in higher conversion rates. Many successful brands use VWO’s personalization capabilities to optimize and increase customer engagement on their website. This free trial lets you explore this important capability.

4. Increased subscribers and enhanced audience reach

Customer engagement can significantly contribute to expanding a business’s subscriber base and reaching a wider audience. By consistently delivering valuable and relevant content through various channels, businesses can attract and retain subscribers. 

For marketing campaigns, for instance, a fitness brand could offer a monthly newsletter with workout tips, healthy recipes, and exclusive discounts. By delighting the audience with engaging content, businesses can establish themselves as industry experts and build a loyal subscriber base, increasing their brand reach and influence.

Take travel operator Thomas Cook, for instance. As per an article in MarketingWeek, Thomas Cook implemented a targeted lead generation campaign and travel survey to establish direct relationships with its target audience. The customer engagement campaign captured information on customer requirements and buying intentions to better understand their purchase lifecycle. A nurture program delivered personalized messaging and increased user engagement by leveraging customer data.

The improved customer engagement as a result of this campaign collected over 15,000 leads, resulting in increased email engagement rates and open rates. Click rates were significantly higher than the national average, achieving an ROI of 7.5:1 within three months post-registration. The data collected was incorporated into Thomas Cook’s newsletter program and overall CRM strategy.

5. Shorter purchase cycles and improved conversion rates

Customer engagement is not limited to existing customers; it is equally effective in shortening the sales cycle and converting prospects into customers. Well-planned and executed engagement strategies can inform, educate, and address prospects’ needs, positively impacting their purchase decisions. 

For example, sales teams of SaaS companies could offer free webinars and demo sessions to educate potential customers about their product’s features and benefits. By engaging prospects throughout their buying journey, sales teams can establish trust, overcome objections, and accelerate the decision-making process, resulting in shorter purchase cycles and improved conversion rates. Thus, the byproducts of a successful customer engagement strategy are many.

Medienreich Training hypothesized that displaying their best-selling training topics would reduce the effort that their website visitors had to put in to search for these and offer a better experience to them. They A/B tested this hypothesis using VWO and found it to be true. It led to a 40% increase in visitor engagement on their homepage. 

This was the control:

This was the variation:

You can read all the details of this case study here. 

6. Brand evangelists and word-of-mouth marketing

Customer engagement benefits extend to turning customers into brand evangelists, actively promoting and recommending a business to others. By consistently engaging customers and providing exceptional experiences, businesses can create a community of highly satisfied loyal customers who willingly advocate for the brand. Brand loyalty is a huge deal when you are surrounded by cut-throat competition.

For example, a hospitality chain that engages guests through personalized services and memorable experiences (like a surprise cake on the customer’s birthday!) can generate positive word-of-mouth referrals, attracting new customers and enhancing brand reputation. These brand evangelists become a valuable marketing asset, driving organic growth and expanding the loyal customer base.

7. Establishing a distinguishable brand identity

Customer engagement also matters because it plays a crucial role in establishing and perpetuating a distinguishable brand identity. A well-thought-out engagement strategy that aligns with customer needs and preferences enables businesses to communicate their unique value proposition effectively. 

For instance, a skincare brand that consistently engages with customers through educational blog articles, social media content, and personalized skincare consultations can create a distinct brand identity as a trusted skincare expert. This helps customers differentiate the brand from competitors and fosters a sense of identification, leading to increased brand loyalty and recognition.

8. Enhanced customer service and satisfaction

Why is engagement in customer service important? Why does customer engagement matter so much now? If you are ticking all the boxes of a basic customer support checklist, that should be it, right? Wrong. 

A Zendesk report mentions that 81% of customers say a positive customer service experience increases the chances of them making another purchase. This is because effective customer engagement enables businesses to proactively interact with customers, anticipate their needs, and offer support beyond traditional channels. 

For example, a telecommunications company that engages customers through social media platforms and live chat support ensures quick and convenient access to assistance, increasing customer satisfaction. By providing excellent customer service and maintaining ongoing engagement, businesses can build trust and boost engagement, customer comments, loyalty, and positive customer experiences.

We hope the above points have answered why customer engagement, with its numerous advantages, has emerged as a powerful strategy for businesses. You can leverage these benefits by putting in place strategic efforts in the direction of engaging customers continuously and consistently.

What is an effective customer engagement strategy?

The most effective customer engagement strategy varies depending on the nature of the business and its target audience. However, a combination of the following strategies tends to be highly effective:

1. Personalization

Tailor experiences to individual customers’ preferences, purchase history, and behavior. Use data analytics to understand customer needs and offer personalized recommendations, content, and promotions.

2. Omnichannel approach

Provide a seamless experience across various channels like website, social media, mobile app, email, and in-store. Allow customers to interact with your brand through their preferred channels for improved customer engagement.

3. Interactive content

Create content such as quizzes, polls, and customer surveys. When customers interact with this content, it not only helps gather valuable insights into the customer journey but also makes the engagement experience more enjoyable. Customer questions can come as a goldmine of insights into your brand experience.

Conclusion

Remember, a positive customer engagement strategy can be pivotal in helping brands connect with their customers in a way that makes them want to continue to be their customers. If you put in the effort to engage customers across various channels and touchpoints above and beyond what’s necessary to get them to make a purchase, you are likely to form stronger relationships with them. If you interact with them regularly about what’s relevant to them, keeping in mind their needs, priorities, motivations, and aspirations, you constantly remind them that you care. 

Once you start offering more to engage your customers than just your product or service and adding value to their lives (or business), your customers are convinced to automatically turn to you whenever they think of making a purchase. This is why customer engagement is so important.

FAQs