Why improving your customer engagement remains critical

Marketing clichés. You’ve heard them, seen them on your LinkedIn profile... Unsolicited advice and over-used phrases from ‘gurus’ that continue to creep up in your feed. For some, ‘customer engagement’ also falls in this category. Fair enough. We’re also not fans of old saws and dated industry jargon dished out to anyone within reach.

However, hear us out. As much as the term ‘customer engagement’ is frequently used, don’t let the buzz cause you to become indifferent, stopping you from seeing the immense value it still has for your business.

Consider this before deciding to close the door on the topic: Highly engaged customers spend 300% more than the average shopper, account for 90% more frequent purchases, and are 5x more likely to choose the same brand for a future purchase.

Those are some staggering stats, right?  

If you consider this in relation to the ever-increasing cost of acquiring new customers, the case for focussing more effort towards improving engagement, and building loyalty suddenly becomes a lot stronger.

Who wouldn’t want their customers to buy more, promote more, and demonstrate more loyalty? If one can look beyond the cliché and see how truly valuable engaged customers are to your business, you’ll see how much value still lies in successful engagement.

What customer engagement is really all about

According to HubSpot, customer engagement is the “continued interactions occurring between a company and customer, offered by the company, chosen by the customer."  

Simply put, the choice to engage or disregard a message lies with your customer. And it's your job to provide content that’ll increase their likelihood to interact with your brand.  

We know sales pitches alone don’t drive revenue. Creating awareness, building relationships, and sharing useful content are key building blocks that should be in place before you can even start thinking of closing the deal. While these are sometimes difficult to quantify, incorporating these fundamentals within your strategy is vital in achieving more active and engaged customers.  

Your customers want to know you understand their needs; you have to add value. Only then will they become more invested and take the next step towards becoming brand custodians.

Ok, you get the picture.  High levels of customer engagement are an essential component in your marketing strategy and in achieving greater customer loyalty.

Here are three ways to help get customers more engaged

Keep your messaging snappy  

‘If the French revolution was inspired by three words, your marketing copy should convince someone to buy your product in ten.” As much as we would like to share a detailed brand update with our audience, we know they’re not always waiting in anticipation to hear from us. With that in mind, ensure your copy is both pithy and to the point.

Your goal with marketing copy should be getting your audience to read the next sentence. The headline convinces someone to read the first sentence, that entices them to read the second, and so on — right down to the offer and the call to action. Adding too much information just dilutes the copy and the communication.

There are easy ways to achieve this.  

If you have an offer, lead with that. Coupons, discounts, and sneak peeks of new products are a great way to draw people in; everyone wants to be part of an exclusive club.

It’s also important to include a clear call to action. Call to actions (CTAs) act as a signpost that let your customers know what to do next. Without a clear CTA, customers may not know the next steps to take and will likely abandon your message without completing the goal.

Build visually striking landing pages to help you increase conversion rates

Once you've done the hard work of getting visitors to click through, the next big step is to convert them into leads or drive a conversion goal. Landing pages are a powerful tool for achieving this, and studies show that people remember 80% of what they see, only 20% of what they read, and about 10% of what they hear. Strong visuals will captivate your audience and nudge them further into acting.

How do you go about achieving this?

Consider the overall look and layout

You want to wow your customers as soon as your page loads. Eye-catching creatives can heavily influence your customers’ decisions, which if done right, will improve your overall engagement and conversion rates.

You also want to help your customers find the information they’re looking for as quickly as possible. That means your design should be ticking all these boxes: it should be simple, familiar, intuitive, clean, and accessible. 

Select the right typography elements

Your text should be easy to read; meaning body copy should be large enough and responsive. Use a complementary font for headings or accents, but don’t go beyond three typefaces or unnecessary sizing adjustments.

Remember the messaging

Now that you’ve designed a dynamic and intuitive page, it’s time to bring in the sofa and hang family pictures on the wall. Do the most important pieces stand out? How does your messaging interact with the design? Is there a call to action or form to complete? Communicating clearly is essential for an optimized customer experience.

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[Don’t just take our word for it. Craft your own personalized landing page and send it via SMS using our live and easy-to-use demo. Try it now]

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Harness the power of personalization

Content personalization is about more than adding in your customer’s first name. It enables you to connect on a deeper level and send the right messages at the right time.  

Look at this example:

Audrey is opted into receiving SMSs from her favorite fashion retailer. They’ve just sent a message highlighting their latest winter range. But instead of sending her a generic offer, they’ve sent her this: “It’s cold out there, Audrey. Keep dry and stylish with our latest range of waterproof jackets”.  

Not only did they use her name, and the weather in her state as personalization conditions, they’ve also offered her content based on previous purchases – in this case, jackets. By using the full scope and functionality of personalization, they’ve created a experience that’s unique, relevant, and most importantly; valuable to her as a customer.

Personalization is a gateway to standing out from the crowd by demonstrating an understanding of your customers’ needs and strengthening emotional connections. It’s those real emotional connections that keep customers coming back and the essence of boosting customer engagement.  

Small changes for big results

Deepening customer relationships and improving engagement doesn’t have to be a headache. Even small adjustments in your strategy can dramatically increase your value to your customer. By gradually introducing and implementing tactics to consistently create meaningful experiences, you’ll soon have a customer base that’s more engaged and loyal to your brand than ever before.  

All the tools you need to improve your engagement in one place.

Crafting effective copy and building dynamic mobile landing pages to accompany your SMSs could be as simple as clicking a button.  Creating meaningful and unique customer experiences are well within your reach - no coding required.

Interested in giving personalized SMSs a go? We’d love to help you. Get started now by trying our live demo for free or talk to a Mobiz expert.