5 Small but Meaningful Ways to Boost Customer Engagement
Customer engagement is the lifeblood of any successful business. It’s also a massive challenge that can seem overwhelming at times. So how do you ensure you’re doing everything you can to engage your audience? One way is by constantly testing new ways to interact with them. Here are five small but meaningful ways that you can boost customer engagement and grow your audience on social media.
Send a handwritten note
Handwritten notes are a great way to build customer engagement. Not only do they require more effort than an email, but they also show you care about your customers and their business.
The fact that you wrote out a hand-crafted note will be memorable for them, especially if it’s on nice paper with a stamp, which shows you took time out of your day to send them something special. A handwritten note has zero competition with digital forms of communication—it’s just something unique that people don’t see all that often anymore.
Personalize your emails
When you’re sending out an email to your customers, be sure to personalize it. This can be as simple as using the customer’s name in the greeting line, or you can go further and weave other details into the email. For example:
- Use the customer’s title and first name. If a certain person is on your team that has a close relationship with this person (e.g., if you know them both), include that information as well.
- Include their hometown in the subject line of their emails or even in their signature line at strategic times like holidays and birthdays. This will help create a sense of familiarity between you and make them feel special.
- Incorporate information about them whenever possible—this will give them another reason to recognize what makes them special compared to others who may also receive communications from companies like yours but without such specificity provided within their messages.
Say thanks with a gift card or sample of the product
Take customer engagement a step further by thanking them with a gift card or sample of some product. Say thank you and reward customers with a gift card. This can be as simple as buying them lunch, offering to pay for their next meal, or giving them an extra $5 off their next purchase. You can also give away samples of your product so they can try it before they buy. Nothing says “Thank You” like free stuff.
Pay attention to their social media profiles and engage with them on these platforms often
Social media is a great way to engage with customers, and these platforms are also helpful for getting customer insights. Customers who post about your brand or competitors may mean something different by it than you think. You can use social media to learn more about what your customers want from you, which might differ from what you’re offering them.
Don’t just ask for feedback, act on it
Have you ever gone to a restaurant and asked for feedback about your meal? If you did, chances are the waiter would thank you and then write down what you said on their little notepad. They might even ask if there was anything else they could do for you before moving on with their shift.
But what happens next? Do they do anything with that information? You can bet there’s no way of knowing how much or little impact those words had on future customers’ experiences at that restaurant. So why bother asking in the first place?
If customer engagement is important enough for companies like yours—and it certainly should be—then don’t waste an opportunity to simply collect data on how well people appreciate your products or services.
Conclusion
In today’s digital world, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of running a business. But remember that your customers are real people with stories and needs just like you. By taking time to connect with them on a personal level, you can build stronger relationships—and increase your sales from repeat customers.