Engaged and motivated users can foster a thriving community that not only performs better but one that will happily evangelize your brand to the point where a dollar spent can result in a thousand dollars earned. 

A strong sense of being part of something motivates users. One of the quickest ways to build this feeling of belongingness is to thank them. 

Brands can do this by emails, public posts that openly convey your appreciation, or through leaderboards & badges. 

The recurring challenges for all of them that we discuss are boosting engagement, creating a positive ROI, and building a successful program for the long term. 

We all have a difficult job; sales professionals struggle to close deals, and customer service representatives engage customers to gain their trust.

Developers push for innovation, and management fights to keep it all from spinning out of control. It can wear out people and make them disengaged. Still, when we inspire, they become indulged and genuinely motivated. It can result in benefits that were unexpected but are simply amazing. 

Here are te ways to motivate users, improve engagement efforts, performance, and create users that can become brand ambassadors: 

COMMUNICATION 

Make it easy for top motivated users to communicate with brand leadership. Chances are they have great ideas that the brand could implement.  

If the platform you’re using has been integrated with a mobile app or has had one created, then perhaps you can use it to send out ideas or best practices to your users.

You can do that via in-app messages, nudges, and text messages outlining new activities, kudos, and rewards that have been suggested by your top motivated users. 

SURPRISES ARE A GOOD OPTION

It is an excellent option to thank customers who continually engage with the brand, ideally via a system that automatically handles the process and considers the joy and motivation of a spontaneous surprise. 

Nearly everyone loves a surprise. So, surprise buyers by giving them small, meaningful gifts here and there (added program points, a gift card, movie tickets, etc.) 

With NextBee’s AI-driven engagement platform, there are many useful features that help brands to surprise their customers with:

• Prizes, bonuses, perks, discounts, and more
• Customized reward schemes to allure buyers
• Use referrals and reward them
• Sweepstakes or contests should be mobile optimized
• Allow people to enter engagement campaigns without limit

MAKE IT FUN

When we talk about the benefits of leaderboards and badges, we can also use them to track and reward a limitless activity. 

It could range from kudos to the amount of participation they’ve had, such as closed sales, completed training modules, social shares, etc. 

These simple gamification efforts again easily promote the feeling of “family” and healthy competition. 

IMPART KNOWLEDGE

When you have top motivated users, put them in the spotlight. Involve them in creating training videos, photo galleries of events they’ve attended. Also, blog posts are a good idea for sharing tips and other forms of content for your entire user base to access. 

Some examples of using this technique to create engaging content/topics are compliance awareness, how-to information for meeting KPI’s, product training, and many other items.  

COMFORT THEM

The top motivated individuals tend to put in extra hours and push to reach the next level. Don’t they deserve the best environment possible? 

As mentioned above, by surprising them, consider sending them something that explicitly offers them additional comforts. 

Also, it provides random rewards that boost productivity, such as offering music accounts. Yes, it’s an expense, but again, a dollar spent here wisely can generate thousands in return. 

INVOLVE THEM EVEN MORE

Evaluating your efforts can help you better connect with the user, especially your top users. 

Periodically surveying those motivated users not only ensures your continuity to meet their needs, but it helps you let them know you value their input.  

Then combine their insight with the data from your system, and you’ll know what triggers rewards and activities to tweak. 

It builds more robust engagement, brand loyalty and boosts their overall activities when they see appreciation. 

DON’T PUSH THEM TO ENGAGE

If you only connect with your users when you want them to be in the program, you’ll have trouble keeping them for a long time. 

Consider hosting an appreciation event to show your gratitude. Send your customers links to helpful training articles to show your investment in their growth and goals. 

Also, do it regularly and keep users happy who invest time, money, and energy in the brand. 

ENSURE FLEXIBILITY

When it comes to the program and the rewards, you have to remain flexible. For rewards, as mentioned above, get feedback and adapt, so rewards motivate your customers.

For the program, build in regular assessment periods and adjust your program based on the data and feedback. Plus, look for ways to tie everything into users’ lives to let them know about investment in them.

Ensure them that your program is flexible for loyal customers, and you give rewards not just for their participation in the program. 

CONCLUSION 

Creating a user-centric program that continuously engages and appreciate buyers is a great way to drive long-term relationships. 

Having a well-executed engagement program is vital whether you’re a small business or an enterprise-level company. Multi-faceted engagement is a proven strategy that works and will help your company grow. 

NextBee’s engagement programs create loyalty, generate referrals, and grow your brand’s ambassadors. Connect with us to book a free demo.