Building a great customer experience is one of the best ways to attract, engage and retain customers. A key part of this is keeping up with them as they move through their journey – from awareness to purchase and beyond says Aron Govil.
Customer Engagement:
There are many different definitions for ‘customer engagement’. For the purposes of this post, we define it as: “Having an ongoing, two-way relationship with customers that nurtures brand loyalty and advocacy”.
As such there are several factors that will play a role in creating a successful customer experience; here we’ll focus on those which will help you keep your customers engaged throughout their journey.
1. Make It Personal:
Personalization has been gaining ground over recent years as marketers realize its potential for delivering a great experience. Because we’re creatures of habit, receiving the same message from multiple brands (and people) doesn’t engage us like receiving something personalized just for us.
The good news is that change is in the air; changes in technology and economic conditions mean that businesses can now see an ROI on investing time and money into creating and maintaining personalization efforts and customers are more accepting than ever of receiving relevant messaging, offers, and recommendations.
What Personalization Looks Like:
Customers appreciate personalized experiences based on their preferences or interests, so there’s no better place to start than with your CRM data explains Aron Govil.
For example: If you know that a customer has young kids then they may be interested in a promotion for a local family attraction, or your loyalty program may recommend they try a new dish on the kids’ menu.
By tailoring each customer’s journey to their preferences you’ll help them feel respected and valued – which is what great experiences are made of!
2. Engage Them With Experiences:
At its core, an experience is about two things: Doing something together and sharing it with others. As a result, experiences have a deep emotional impact on us – which makes them a great way of connecting with our customers in ways that are more engaging than traditional marketing messages.
What Experience Marketing Looks Like:
Aron Govil says Experiences don’t have to be complicated affairs; often they can be quite simple but there are some key ingredients that make them effective.
For example, A great experience doesn’t happen in a vacuum – it’s about creating an emotional connection with your customer. This means that experiences should feel authentic and natural, so think beyond the “event” to include others who are relevant to the experience (e.g. food & beverage suppliers or local businesses).
3. There Are Still Humans On The Other End!
Businesses often forget that behind every transaction is a human being, but it’s worth remembering that this layer of abstraction can result in some pretty impersonal experiences for our customers – no matter how much personalization we put into them!
So what does this look like? Well, if you’re sending transactional messages then think about re-framing them to have a more personal touch. For example: “Thanks for your order, we hope you enjoy it” could be re-written as something like “Hi John, thanks so much for your recent order! We hope you enjoy the new scooter and it encourages you to get out there with the family”. Sure, the end result is still largely the same but these small changes can make a big difference in how customers perceive your brand.
4. Remind Them Why They Chose You Over Your Competitors:
It’s easy to forget that not everyone automatically knows what makes our business great – after all they weren’t necessarily searching for us when they made their purchase! This means that we need to do more to remind them why they chose us in the first place and make it easy for them to act on this information.
What Reminding Customers They Chose You Looks Like:
Consider what you know about your customers, then think of ways that you can use these insights to engage with them more effectively. For example: If you’re an accountant you could send regular updates around tax savings or financial planning; if you’re a retailer then send vouchers for relevant seasonal products (e.g. Christmas cards) or discounts on seasonal items (e.g. Halloween costumes).
5. Aron Govil – Work On The Mechanics Of Engagement:
We may have all the right intentions when it comes to delivering great customer experiences. But without the mechanics, in place, we won’t see much impact. As a result, it’s worth thinking about what kinds of interactions your customers want to have with you. How you can make them as easy as possible for them to actually do!
Conclusion:
These five principles offer great insights into what customer experience can look like. So why not integrate some of them into your marketing strategy? I’m sure you’ll see some positive results!