What is customer engagement exactly? Oftentimes it becomes a convenient label for reaching out to customers with promotional offers or tracking their frequency of purchases. However, there is so much more interesting data to find if you scratch the surface. Statistics will strengthen your marketing message and will likely convert your pitch into a sale.
Why is customer engagement good for your business? Let’s look at some stats. More than half of companies don’t have a formal customer engagement program in place. 60% of companies have no idea how many customers they lose annually. However, fully engaged customers represent a 23% share of profitability, revenue and relationship growth, in comparison to the average customer. So how do you go about engaging your customer?
Make the Customer Feel Like a Good Fit
People are more likely to buy things that other people buy. Think about it. Have you ever tried a restaurant because your friends raved about the food? Or seen a movie your colleagues recommended? You get the drift. The facts here are simple. Consumers are more comfortable buying or trying something if other like-minded people have tried it. Of course you’re not expected to have sold directly to the customer’s friends and family, but this is where the statistics come in. Stats are an excellent way to make a potential customer feel like they fit in with your brand. To do this you’re going to need metrics on your existing customers.
How might you get such metrics? Easy. Using online tools like SurveyMonkey, Typeform or GetFeedback will let you build, customize and send out surveys to your clients. All the statistics you gather through sending out surveys will provide you with valuable insights, but you don’t feel compelled to share every single one. Publish the ones that will make potential customers feel like they want to buy into your philosophy and from your company. These stats can be shared in presentations when you pitch, on your company’s website, as Facebook ads, tweets, or anywhere your target market will see them.
Be Cool
Or rather, be interesting. Stats are great, but no customer wants to be bombarded with an agenda solely about you selling your products. Chances are you come across a lot of interesting facts and figures related to your business in your daily work. Sharing these with customers and followers on social media will give your brand an attitude and show some personality. Consider carefully what your customers might want to read about and offer up some interesting tidbits. If a conversation starts over these interesting facts, all the better. It can only increase your reach online.
Better Your Mobile Experience
Everyone has a website, but not every website is optimized for mobile. The fact is that mobile is everywhere. Over 50% of travelers use mobile to book their trips, for example. Apps are a preferred method of making purchases with 52% of customers saying that they are less likely to engage with a company if they’ve had a bad mobile experience. If you have a great mobile site, you have another set of statistics to present to your customers.
A Winning Pitch
As a small business owner, you will have an appreciation for facts and figures, and here’s a surprise – your customers probably will too. When your pitch contains statistics, you’ve backed it up with relevant data supporting your conclusion as to why your product or service is important and needed. Couple that with some in-house stats about your company’s accomplishments, such as:
– Customer satisfaction rate
– Percentage of sales from repeat customers
– Increased revenue for clients
And you have a winning pitch. Flaunt your best features along with your best stats. Make the customer feel that they are getting the best value for their money.
Like it or not, customer engagement is here to stay. Companies, be they multinational giants or local boutiques are using social media to connect with and engage their customers, with Facebook leading the pack. It is estimated that by 2020, the customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator.
Read more relevant blog post:Why Companies Need to Invest Creative Time in These 3 Types of Content