Customers are bombarded with more and more brands every moment. They expect brands to meet their needs in an effort to outdo each other. Customers do not just want to be sold stuff. They want their opinions heard, insights appreciated, problems fixed and needs provided. In addition to sales and marketing, businesses need to engage with their customers better.
Customer engagement is the process of building a community. It is a shared platform of a customers’ network where customers interact and engage in the shared experiences of the said brand.
1. Humanise your Brand
Creating a brand that is relatable and humanised takes a savvy approach. At the heart of every approach, customers want to feel connected to your brand. Businesses sometimes lead with a mechanical, sell-only approach. This contrived persona makes you forgettable in a sea of other businesses. So, what can be done? Independent or dependent sales marketing is a great solution for this “image problem”. Train a person within your organisation to speak about the brand in an emotional and relatable way. Choose that person to be the spokesperson for your brand. In addition to creating brand awareness, this will also create a positive brand image. The result? There will be more people flocking towards your brand.
2. Social Sass is an Interesting Option!
A little bit of soft sarcasm and friendly humour on the social media is sure to invoke warm feelings in the customer’s belly. It is a great way to captivate interest and get some viral traction for your brand. If your target audience demographic is quite diverse, then divulging into the “meme culture” is a more quirky option for customer engagement. Humour is a great way to forge an emotional connection with the customer. Use it best before someone else does it better!
3. Personalise your Brand
Brand personalisation means the keen realisation that every customer is different with special needs and requirements. Brand personalisation can take many forms such as an automated birthday reminder to the customer, or in other better forms such as designing a quiz to customise the products available to the customer. There are companies that sell customised shampoos and skin-care after getting a necessary skincare quiz on their customer. This novel approach speaks of exclusivity and individuality associated with the brand.
4. Listen to the Customers
Being responsive to the customer’s needs is another way to ramp up your customer service skills. Apart from being service –oriented, a business should also develop the skills necessary to respond to their customers’ problems. The problems must not just be listened to but also fixed. Giving out quick responses to the customer complaints is also a great way to get negative feedback. The feedback can then be converted into a positive one with a sound strategy later on.
In short, having a competitive and helpful customer service department is what makes or breaks a good customer engagement system.
