We have written several blog posts about the importance of lead nurturing and lead engagement. You know that you should be interacting with your customers & potential customers how, when, and where they want. And you know the value of doing this is in ROI and customer retention. 

Engaging and nurturing your leads proves you actually care about, value, and appreciate their business. It shows customers that you listen to and value your feedback. And it helps them to realize that you’re out here to solve their problem, offer them a great product, and support them post-purchase rather than just sucking them dry. 

You should not be too eager to get a customer’s money. It should be much easier for you to engage with customers, then feed their hunger and thirst for your product. Your time will be better spent investing in creating fans of your business and long-term supporters than trying to force a sale on them too soon. 

The way you treat customers and the experience you give them matters. And, because customers have diminishing attention spans, it is important to engage with them through multiple channels and devices (desktop and mobile). More messages of interaction among channels will give your customers the “welcome note” to help convince them to become loyal fans. 

Let’s explore some of our top tips to integrate customer engagement strategies to build your fanbase and customer loyalty. 

Use Social Media and an engagement tool

Rethink the way you’ve been using social media personally. Take advantage of it’s usefulness as a means to attract helpful feedback, and to communicate and manage your customer service. 

Use social media as a tool. Rather than just the platform to show off the latest and greatest of your business,use it to understand and serve your customers. 

We have created a blog post about using social media to boost customer engagement. Check it out here.

Scale your customer Engagement budget

With changing technologies, stiff competition, and new innovations always emerging, businesses can struggle to figure out how they can fit everything into their budget. 

Content creation and distribution of this is where most businesses spend their marketing budgets. According to a recent report by the Custom Content Council and ContentWise, marketers are spending $44 billion a year on content marketing.

However, if a large portion of your budget is going into content marketing, your engagement budget will suffer. Wise marketers will put the customer first and allocate funds accordingly. Once your content has attracted new customers, your budget will need to focus on fanning their interest and converting them into purchasers. 

Improve customer support by making it a priority

Regardless of your business’ offerings, you are selling an experience that is not finished even after the customer makes the purchase. Engagement and nurturing should continue to support the customer in their post-purchase decisions and behaviors. 

Customers are not just traffic. They are the lifeblood of your business with genuine questions, reviews, accolades, and concerns and should be treated accordingly. 

It doesn’t matter the size of your business, whether you have a sales team or a customer service team, customer support should be an all-hands-on-deck effort. Every actor and member of your business should be involved. 

When you receive negative feedback from customers, pause what you’re doing and address their complaints. Be kind to your customers. Show that you are not only here to collect their money. Show that you value and appreciate their feedback, and actually take it to heart while improving your business.

This can be done by responding promptly to customer calls, emails, social media comments, messages of Facebook, and reviews. 

Wrap Up

We have created a blog post that further explains creative customer engagement strategies. And a refreshed posting on what customer engagement is and why it is important. Regardless of the strategies you choose to integrate, it is critical that you recognize the importance of giving the customer a valuable experience. Our top tips for doing this is not to forget the importance of allocating a budget for it, integrating tools at your disposal, and getting all of your team on board with it.