The success of any business revolves around its customers. The more active your customers are, the more successful your business becomes.
However, customers stick with you only if their experience with your brand is up to their expectations or beyond.
But the fact is, building such a hooky experience does not come from doing big things but from rectifying small mistakes that might interfere with a positive customer experience. It is not about selling a product or service that takes your business a step further but building lasting relationships with your existing customers, all while being mindful of the opportunity cost.
Do you wonder how you could do that, especially in today’s competitive market? We have covered some promising customer engagement trends that you can apply to see your business grow.
Top 4 Emerging Trends in Customer Engagement
Understanding customers in this technology-driven world is not an easy task. Now, their needs and experiences are also changing along with the technology. So, to help you take over the opportunity from your competitors, here are some customer engagement strategies you should consider to draw in more customers.
1. Personalization – Customize Experiences to Customers
Personalization was once a fancy term used across all industries. As days evolved and customer behavior became unpredictable, personalization made its way to becoming a game-changer in attracting customers and improving their experience with your business. Now, with the integration of Experro Store Frontend, you can take your personalization efforts to the next level, creating dynamic and tailored experiences that resonate with your audience and drive business growth.
It is all about making your customers feel like they are not just a face in the crowd but one in a million. Every message you send, every conversation you have, and every relationship you build with your customers hold enormous value when it comes to personalization.
It can be as simple as:
- Using their name more often, as Starbucks does while offering their coffee.
- Anticipating the needs and features they might need.
- Using custom stickers based on their preferences to your products or packaging.
- Remembering the details they shared with you in the past.
What boosts this trend?
Data science and artificial intelligence stand behind personalizing things. While data science collects your customer’s information in every possible way, AI uses the processed data to tailor their experiences.
Remember the last time you got a product recommendation from any business and the chat in conversational tools like ChatGPT? It is all the work of AI and data science.
When your customers feel like you really “get” them, they stick around and keep coming back to you. The plus point is that they recommend you to their peers as well.
2. Omni-Channel Customer Service – Let Your Customers Choose
As technology evolves, so do your customers, and they go as crazy as you do to try a new application that just came out on the market. As they use and continue to love it, they need your brand to be there so that they can reach out to you in several ways on several platforms.
Remember, it is not about your comfort but more about your customers. Considering the number of social channels in today’s digital world, your target customers are everywhere.
They are on email, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and even WhatsApp channels. Anticipating how your customers might want to talk to you can be difficult. To bridge this, you need omnichannel integration.
It is like creating a heart for all your social interactions so that your customer’s conversations with you remain unchanged by providing a consistent experience. No matter from which channel they talk with you, Your business should be there.
For instance,
You sell a leather bag. So, your target audience can be college students. While 2nd year college students hang out more on Instagram, final years might be more on LinkedIn.
So, both might ask questions about your product on two different platforms with the same intent, which you should be ready to answer in less time. Doing it becomes possible with omnichannel integration.
3. AI-Driven Customer Support – Be There When They Need You
Predicting your customer’s behavior becomes even more challenging when your focus is both on the national and international markets. One such situation arises while providing them with customer support.
Your customers might require your help even during odd times, and they will be unsatisfied if their concerns are not addressed quickly. Considering the geographical differences and the monthly expenses, AI-driven customer support models can leave your customers more satisfied.
For instance,
Consider AI chatbots for startups that appear just as you open a website, asking you for your doubts. They give accurate information if it is a simple question and direct you to the human agent as you go deeper.
AI-driven approaches are like your brand’s round-the-clock support team. These AI systems are quick and efficient while being there to help your customers with the most repeated queries.
Not only do they solve everyday issues, but they also free up your support team to deal with more complex tasks like answering emails. Doing so means your customers get faster responses and better customer service overall.
4. Build a Community – Develop a Sense of Belonging
People love talking and collaborating with like-minded individuals, and your customers are searching for the right people to discuss and work with. You can help them by building a community that belongs to the same industry your business is in.
If your business is into web development, you can create a group called web developers on LinkedIn, Discord, WhatsApp, or any other online forums where people from anywhere can join and participate in conversations.
You can create polls, share free guides for beginners, take live chats, and engage with people in several ways, which will build trust between you and your target customers.
As your community thrives, people within the group feel like they belong and form a unique connection with your brand. It is a bit like becoming a part of a club where everyone shares a common interest.
The best part is that you can promote your products here once your community grows to a certain number and builds enough trust. You can also use their feedback to audit your products and services.
Some brands are already implementing these customer engagement strategies, and this is the best time for you to start implementing them before your competitors do.
Key Takeaways
Customers are the core pillars of any business. Keeping your customers engaged with your brand is the hidden secret behind retaining them. As technology evolves, so do the ways brands adopt to better engage with their target customers.
The future of customer engagement is all about adjusting to tested and tried trends. Your business can stay competitive and strengthen your connections with customers when you personalize things and make use of every feature that technology offers, like AI chatbots and omnichannel integration.
About the Author
Emily Ahearn is an outreach specialist. I have a passion for connecting with people and building relationships. An experience of 1 year in customer experience has enabled me to develop a versatile skill set that allows me to adapt to different environments and engage with a diverse range of stakeholders.
