Customer engagement is one of the most important activities that your business should focus on in the hyperactive competition. eCommerce customers are entitled to being picky when they shop, and that is why you cannot ignore engaging them throughout their journey from ordering to delivery and even beyond.
Think of the times when you have high cart abandonment, or you cannot hit the sales targets you desire. It can result from low customer engagement, and if it is left unattended, it can cause more harm in the future.
Let’s face it, too many eCommerce startups drop the ball right from the start when it comes to engaging their customers, which is why most of them fail within the first three years.
Why is Customer Engagement Critical to eCommerce?
Let’s keep business aside for a second and think like a buyer. When we wish to buy something offline, we go to a store nearby and appreciate the attention we get.
Why do you think it would be any different when it comes to shopping online? Would you feel comfortable if somebody just labeled you as a number?
Absolutely not. That is the reason why top eCommerce companies are spending money on improving their post-sales services.
Additionally, they are making efforts to stay connected with their eCommerce customers throughout their journey with the brand and stay in touch even after completing a transaction.
Fun Fact: Nearly 86% of customers return and spend more money on a website if it offers an engaging experience.
And in the present time, we have seen customer experience become a significant differentiator for brand advocacy instead of price and product range.
So, if you want to retain more customers and convert them into your brand advocates, you must start investing in engaging them effectively.
Here are a few exciting ways you can start moving in the right direction:
Before we start, let’s get one thing straight, you don’t have to make any massive changes to your organization to create engagement programs.
We will see this statement becoming more evident as we progress through the points in the following lines.
Allow Reviews and Feedback:
Let your customer speak their mind by posting reviews and feedback. Have a comments section, add a rating bar, and let the conversations begin.
When your eCommerce customers start speaking for your brand, they become a critical part of your brand’s presence.
Let them know that you are listening to their feedback, and you might get surprised by some ideas that come your way from your customers.
Because when people feel that somebody cares about what they say, they build an emotional connection with the brand.
Give Them a Reward:
People love freebies. And you can let this love for free stuff become a good proposition for you.
Instead of randomly giving away deals, discounts, and freebies, give them to the customers who interact with your brand.
It motivates them to be brand advocates, and their word-of-mouth brings more customers onboard.
Let them receive the information about any offers or deals through a pop-up or email, and let them unlock these rewards by completing a simple task like writing a review.
Create Smart Loyalty Programs:
Another exciting way to improve engagement is through a range of loyalty programs.
There are over 3.8 billion active accounts associated with loyalty programs, and about 53% of them consider ease of use as the primary reason, while 39% mention discounts for having these accounts.
Yes, you will have to incentivize your eCommerce customers to keep them on board, but the cost to do so will be much lower than acquiring new ones through fresh marketing campaigns.
Start Engaging Before Checkout:
Start the customer engagement process before they checkout. It makes a world of difference to the level of loyalty you can build by being an early starter.
The options to do so were limited in the past, but now, with AI-based algorithms, you can significantly improve the service level.
Use chatbots to help customers simplify their shopping experience. Research indicates that a live chat always leads to a higher satisfaction rate than other customer service options.
Never Ignore Unhappy Customers:
Cart abandonment is an issue but not as big as losing a customer forever. Higher churn rates can be a severe problem for your brand.
However, if you can take care of unhappy customers in time, you can boost your business profitability by 125%.
They might not say anything to you, but they share their minds across multiple social media channels. You don’t want the lousy word to reach their friends and family, do you? Offer them surveys with each transaction to know more about their experience.
Let Them Track:
Giving customers the ability to track their packages provides a positive impression of your brand. Also, it allows you to stay in touch with them after they have received their product.
Moreover, tracking pages grab a lot of attention, and an average user visits it around three times a day till their package is delivered.
Don’t let this visit go to waste and engage them with new deals and offers or have them answer a survey to keep them connected with your brand.
Focus on New Account Creation:
Having more registered accounts on your website or app will increase your ability to engage with eCommerce customers.
Since many customers consider opening an account a hassle, it is better to let them complete their first purchase before asking them to create a new account.
Leverage Social Media Wisely:
You will need to go beyond posting content on social media if you wish to leverage this beast optimally.
Use Google Alerts to see what’s being said about your brand and keep track of its mention in blog posts or news articles.
Monitor your other social platforms to regularly engage with more customers and commit to posting at least twice a day.
Continue Following Up Electronically:
The best way to stay in touch with your eCommerce customers is through follow up emails.
It doesn’t have to be a long, formal mail that tries to sell. Instead, you can share your offerings in a wide range of creative ways.
Send emails that redirect them to your newsletters, blog posts about product tips, latest e-books, and information about upcoming events near them.
Allow Subscriptions and Automated Re-Ordering
Give your customers the ability to re-order a product with the push of a button on their phone.
Let them subscribe to your website to get reminders about reorder points. Set up a frequency of emails based on the past purchase behavior of other customers.
You can also enable automated re-ordering and offer an additional discount if they subscribe to the model.
To Conclude
It is easy to start an eCommerce business, but a brand only succeeds when it can engage the eCommerce customers effectively.
Customer Engagement is the key to sustaining business and nurturing the relationship between brand and customer.
The time and money you invest in your customers today will pay off as tremendous gains. Become known for superior customer experience and service, and the same will reflect in your bottom line.
So, start engaging your eCommerce customers using NextBee‘s 360-degree engagement platform today. To know more about how you can kickstart your customer engagement efforts, get in touch with us.
To know more, book a free consultation right away!
