Want to know your biggest asset?
Engaged customers.
The depth of relationships between a business and its clients is one of the best predictors of lifetime value. Companies with improved customer engagement cross-sell by 22%, drive up-sell revenues from 13% to 51%, and increase order sizes by as much as 80%.
Tailor Engagement Strategies for Your Customers
What might engagement look like for you? The strategies are as unique as your business! Here is one example:
Recognizing the power of holiday hospitality, the Penha Longa resort makes December travels extra special for its guests. While Christmas decorations might brighten the mood for lonely people, celebrations are even better for engaging guests. To get travelers involved in the festivities, Penha Longa gives guests bare, shrub-sized trees for their rooms, along with crafty kits full of everything needed for creative decorating.
This is just one magical, zero-tech model of connecting with customers. Instead of building relationships with social media or chat features, engagement is constructed through pipe cleaners, scissors, googley eyes, and a glue stick.
Any human-to-human connection will draw people closer to your brand because you offer people more than a message but an experience. While there is no bond-building formula, here are three principles for shaping your approach:
1. Personalize Products and Client Interactions
Due to the daily onslaught of digital noise, people ignore messages that aren’t specifically for them.
Adopting a conversational tone can make all the difference in cutting through this clamor. Whenever possible, address customizers by name. Use photographs of real individuals in your advertising, and use fonts or print materials that make your messages feel handcrafted and direct.
You can also personalize products to build engagement, which is especially powerful in younger markets. This may be as simple as engraving someone’s name on a glasses case or upgrading products with matching accessories. French cosmetics brand Guerlain started offering customizable lipsticks by allowing clients to choose their own combination of case and lipstick color.
2. Incentivize Each Touchpoint
Customer engagement comes from every act of commitment people take toward your company, so make your communication reader-focused and action-oriented, like this:
Describe improvements you’ve made to your product: “Upgrade today for service that’s 20% faster.”
Pique interest by telling people about their account: “Spend XX more, and your reward points will qualify you for a 20% discount.”
Offer an incentive to come back: “Give us another try, and we’ll knock 25% off your bill for the next three months.”
3. Prioritize Loyalty Programs or Continual “Streams” of Encouragement
People don’t want to feel like they’re missing out on something.
When you add value to every engagement that a customer has with your brand, you’ll create a powerful switching barrier that makes it harder for people to shop from your competitors.
Did you know that loyalty program members purchase more often and have an average order value of 12% higher than their non-member counterparts? Whether you use simple punch cards or elaborate tiered loyalty programs, remember that people like free stuff, and they love to save money.
71% of consumers decide to join a loyalty program because it gives them money off every purchase, and 63% join so they’ll receive a free product by signing on.
Put Relationships First
Dynamic relationships are probably the only guarantee for a strong return on your marketing investment.
With each enhanced touchpoint, engagement grows, and your influence expands. Invite customer participation and watch the magic unfold!