How to Engage with Your Customers: 25 Effective Ways

Engaging your customer for the first time is similar to approaching someone you have a crush on. You don’t know what to do, or how to approach it, and it isn’t easy all over.

However, approaching your customer is not difficult but strategic and needs planning. For the first time approaching, it’s important to be sincere and natural.

Your customer should feel what you are offering is what they need the most right now. Also, before approaching, you must understand your customer first.

ways engage better with customers

To understand how to start and what to follow, here are some best ways to engage with your customer.

But before that, let’s focus on why customer engagement is important for your small business.

Why Should Businesses Pay Extra Attention To Customers?

The business is all about the customers. No matter what you are offering and how well you are doing your job, if your customer is not happy. There is no other solution for that. 

For small businesses, it’s crucial to pay more attention since they have limited sources and need to get the best from it. 

Also, the business should know that the customer is not about selling the products. There are lots of things that come before and after shopping. 

How are you approaching them? If your approach is not good or effective, the chances of getting more people to your brand will not succeed. 

Customer services and interaction to solve their problems also play an important role. Your customer should feel satisfied and valued to stick with your brand. 

The market is full of brands that attract more attention and reduce the time span. For small businesses, paying attention to your customer is vital, so you don’t end up losing them customers. 

Every customer is important, and losing any of them can reduce the chances of getting more leads for your business. 

Effective Ways to Approach and Engage with Your Customers

People have a limited attention span that can stay for seconds. The business requires to hold the attention and get the best from it. 

But to use the period effectively, the business should know the different ways which can help and also what works much faster as well as easier for them. 

Social Media As A Engagement Tool 

Social media can be used as an engagement tool instead of using it as a platform only. It requires little changes, and it’s good to help in achieving your goals. 

Social media like LinkedIn and Facebook have access to people. Also, the rapid change in consumer behavior is impacting social media marketing perception too. 

More than 85% of the population is using social media, and the number will increase. Not just people but companies, brands, and all kinds of resourceful people are active on social media. 

All these people look for something, and when they finally trust the brand, they start to follow them via accounts, pages, or groups

Most customers require an urgent solution to their problem. Maybe you can’t tackle all of them, but with the right approach, you can get more than enough customer engagement

Using your social media as an engagement tool means connecting, sharing, and identifying queries and research. It’s your job to create content that can solve people’s problems. 

For example, Lenovo is a global leader when it comes to computer technology. The company uses social media as a tool for delivering immense value to its users. 

The company uses it for getting information about their customers and analyzing. It helps in staying ahead of others in the competitions.

Similar to Lenovo, even though it’s a huge company. Small businesses can also get inspired to change their perspective toward social media.

You can get feedback, trends, and other preferences to produce what your customer is desperately looking for. 

Offer Free Trials & Encourage Them To Upgrades 

Free trials are one way to get more customers and encourage them to use your services or products. 

Such users are still your customers. However, they haven’t paid for the services yet. To use your product, your customer requires focus, time, and money. 

According to the Journal of Marketing Research, the free trial customer behavior is different compared to paying customers. 

The study says that free trials influence users to get habitual of the services or products. But it depends on the marketing messages and how they respond to them. 

However, lots of companies face struggles when it comes to converting SaaS of free trials into paying customers. 

To get the best from the free trials, the companies require to focus on the first three days of the free trials. 

According to Sixteen Venture data complications, the users are more active in the first three days than the inactive users. And they have higher chances of conversion. 

It’s a golden time to nudge them to use the services and premium features by upgrading it. 

The best and proven method is Personalized communication. Customers would like to be paid when they are familiar with what they are using. 

It gives a sense of security, and the free trials can be turned into your leads. With this, you are getting your customer engagement but also the chances to higher conversion. 

Communicate, And make Special Offers To Your VIP Customers 

VIP customers are those who have been using your brand for a long time. They are not just your customer but also help by referring your products to their family and friends.

Such buyers are not for one-time buying. They stick for a long time, and with better customer engagement, you can turn your VIPs into trustworthy and loyal customers. 

Don’t forget to read about Attractive Offers Ideas.

There are three types of VIPs, it includes

Liberal VIP Customer 

Such VIPs spend around 18 to 24 month period on your brand. They are loyal customers and usually spend most of their time buying your products or services. 

Advocate VIP Customers

Such VIPs are also kind of Liberal VIPs, they are not just spenders, but they also make an impact on your brand. They are satisfied customers who share their opinions and pursue more people to use them.

Community VIP Customers 

Unlike Liberal and Advocate, Community VIP is not big spenders, but they target more groups for using your brand. 

They refer more people, and you get qualified customers from them. It includes social media influencers and bloggers. 

The rule of thumb is to dazzle your customers but replace them with personalized touch and experiences. 

Taking your VIP customer for granted is not just losing your best buyers but also the chances of getting more customers to get dissolved too.

According to LinkedIn, More than 68% of customers leave the company when they feel they are not respected or the company doesn’t care about them. 

Regardless of what kind of customer service you are offering, if your customers lose their confidence in you, they will switch. 

To make them feel special, you must treat them like royalty. Incite them for live events or coaching programs. Reduce the gap which is created between you and them. 

Your VIP customer should feel that they are contributing, and in return, you are grateful. Offer them something which is only for them.  

Create Content With Bugging Question For Your Customer 

Customer engagement through your content is one of the popular and effective ways.

Small businesses are using content marketing to drive more leads and get new customers. Customer content whereas used to engage the visitors.

Companies from different countries, whether small or large, are using content that can be useful but also engage them while they are on the site. 

Well, the report from Demand Centric says 78% of CMOs believe that custom content is going to be the future, and 61% believe that it will influence the custom content for making a buying decision.

Custom content is also the easiest way to address your target customers. Such contents are for those who are familiar with what you are offering them.

This can be used to inform your customer more about what new features you added. It also helps in knowing details like installation or setup features too. 

Custom content can be about new events, highlighting the benefits and other important points. It doesn’t have to talk about new products or services every time. 

Custom content gives reasons to your customer and convinces them to stay with your brand. 

Offer Summit For Customer Engagement 

There are different ways to offer customer engagement. There are several options from where you can learn, such as videos, journals, podcasts, eBooks, etc. 

However, holding a conference or summit can help in upgrading the horizon as well as broaden too. Well, Adobe conducted a study based on how the summit impacts people who attend it. 

According to them, 98% of attendees successfully succeeded in the expectation. And 80% ended up discovering something new about their skills. 

It affects how you are impacting and what benefits you are bringing to your customers. When you learn and attend such conferences, you get to know more about your field too.

It helps engage more people. Also, on such occasions, you get a chance to meet people face-to-face and ask questions. 

You meet with the VIP customers too, and instead of answering them via phone, support system, or email. You can directly talk and provide the solution.

Build Your Own Community Forum 

The forums are a fun option to communicate with your customers. Such people are passionate and really into knowing what your business is all about. 

Also, it helps in bringing the customers altogether and creates a community that shares the same love and respect for your brand.

You can use such forums for customer services and add the options like FAQs and knowledge-based question answers. 

You can host the space for community forms. Not just can you get help from each other but also you can offer rewards to those who are participating and helping others in the community. 

Create A Loyalty Program For Your Customers 

Customer loyalty programs are helpful as they are used to value your customer experiences. This keeps your customer interested and engaged with your brand.

Also, even for those who are not looking to buy right away, it will hold their interest and keep them interested. With the help of a loyalty program, you can target your customers who are buying things on repeat. 

You can offer discounts and promotional deals to encourage them and make them feel valued. 

Also, they will engage with your content, like ads, newsletters, and other promotional content. 

Have a look at the Loyalty Marketing Ideas For Your Business.

Host A Company Tour For Your Customers 

Giving them an inside look and a tour of how you work helps them build trust and feel close to your brand. 

It helps in attracting more customers and potential buyers. You can host the tour online and offline.

This is helpful to give an insight into how you are working and what procedures are included in making the products that the customers are using. 

Hosting a customer tour also relaxes your customers’ minds as they learn about what you are doing and how you are doing. It helps eliminate the doubts in their mind, which makes them decide to take action faster.

Ask Questions Via Q & A 

Q&A is the ideal way to interact with your customer and get the best engagement from there. It’s one of the effective options that you can consider for getting more engaged customers.

Well, the customers have many questions before purchasing anything and even after that. Answering those questions helps in establishing a relationship, and also you get satisfied customers.

Ask your customers to share their queries and questions. You can do real-time answers, which help in providing reliable services. 

Also, customer responses help in establishing your connection with your customers. It also adds a sense of customer connectivity, which is good for brand awareness. 

Run Product Inspired Collaboration Contest 

Customers are willing to share their thoughts; You can ask them to share their ideas on your products and ideas. 

Not only can you get insightful thoughts, but ideas can help you decide what to do next. It will boost engagement, and people will feel more connected to your brand.

You can ask your customers to create the product in their version. They can share their thoughts and experience with you. The fun activity can surprisingly bring lots of customer engagement. 

Collaborate with your customers to run content and it will make them feel that they are also part of the product and buying process. It gives a sense of ownership, and they feel connected more. 

Improve How Your Customer Support Interaction 

The long successful business depends on how you are making your customer happy. A successful business is based on fulfilling the core values, which is making your customer satisfied. 

Customer support interaction should not just be about connecting with lots of people at one time but adding a more personalized voice to it. 

Customers are not just traffic but the people who have questions that need urgent attention to yours. To help them, it’s your responsibility, and everyone should be a part of it, 

Poor customer service not just make your customer better about the experience, but also you can end up losing potential buyers too. 

There 42% of people switch to some other brand because the one they are using has bad customer support. 

That’s why you need to pay attention to how you interact with your customer. Especially with your customer support which should be focused on brand services. 

Setting a tone to talk with your customer and make them feel your number one property is an important part.

Use In-Product Messaging To Engage Your Customer 

In-product messaging means notifying your customer when you are launching new products. There are several key channels you can try, including customer care, social media, email, and mobile. 

Above all, in-product messaging is one of the best options for getting more conversions.  You can send in-product messaging to improve your conversions. 

Use your email list to make sure you are not blindly sending messages. Also, with this, you can send emails to important customers.

Well, it’s obvious that not all of your customers are looking for products and eBooks from you. So sending emails will end up boosting email fatigue in customers. 

You can send the emails based on who is interested and who is not.  The strategy is easy to adopt and perfect for market fit, which is directly related to the product and market. 

Produce More Content To Feed The Demand 

Customer demand can be fulfilled by offering content that can help in educating about your company and brand.  

Your content can help your customers understand well and feel excited about what you are doing. It increases engagement, and also people feel willing to take action. 

Content marketing is an important key as it’s a king in the online market.  With the right content, you can get more inbound links,  leads, and sales. 

However, content creation is not easy. While creating your content, you must focus on quality instead of quantity.  

Timing does play an important role but there is no use of baseless and lack of informative articles on your website. Not just you get a bad ranking, but your customer will lose their interest too. 

The content should be interactive and it must help the customers in knowing what they are looking for. 

ways content helps customer engagement

Create  A Center For Driving Conversations 

Customers require conversations so they don’t feel lost. It also makes them feel confused and they will likely switch without getting solutions on time. 

So, a business needs to create a corner so the customers can share their thoughts. This space can be called a listening center. 

A listening center is a place where you can know what your customer is talking about, and you can answer their questions.  It will help drive more conversion, which leads to customer engagement. 

It’s your responsibility to help your customers when they feel haste. Also, they should get solutions as fast as possible. 

As for you, make sure to understand what to answer first. It’s not possible to answer every question, so you should pick the best it that can help your customers. 

With a good listening center, you get more interaction with your customer and are boosting your customer relation too. It will help in strengthening your relationship with your customer as well. 

Respond To Customer Calls As Fast As You Can 

Fast replies are one of the keys that can help you in generating more revenue.  The fast replies are not just helping your customers to get their solution but also build trustworthy relations. 

Your customer calls, which means the feedback you get from them. Small businesses need to make their customer a priority instead of considering them as traffic or leads. 

For any business, it doesn’t matter what you are selling if you don’t have a strong relationship with your customer. There is no chance to grow or build your brand in the market. 

And it’s not shocking that most of the customers are impatient. They look for fast replies and urgent feedback from the business. 

There is an overall estimate that your customer spends a maximum of 8 seconds on any website.  So waiting for a response is not what your customer is looking for right now. 

Even if your services are good, you are not offering quick solutions, which will make the customer experience bad. 

Get An App For The Mobile 

Driving growth from a mobile app is much easier and faster. Especially when most of people are using their mobile, it’s much easier to contact them via the app. 

Start with a unique app icon so you can get your customer’s attention.  Having a successful customer engagement, it depends on deep analytics and the psychological behavior of your customer. 

The ideal app can help you create more conversions and engage your customer with your brand and your products. 

Not just are you getting an opportunity to increase awareness, but with the help of the app, you get more chances to establish your brand and receive better sales. 

Wish Them On Their Important Days 

Use CRM to get data on important days like your customer’s birthdays. You can send them birthday wishes emails, so it will help you in increasing your good reputation. 

Also for those customers who are not active right now, they can get cancer by re-engaging with your brand. 

You can send them wishes on special days, events, or festivals. It will help you in creating strong relationships that strengthen the overall customer relationship.  

You can also send them small offers or gifts to improve engagement. 

Scale The Budget For Your Customer Engagement 

Customer engagement is not just about getting attention but using the most of it, so you can benefit your business. 

However, for small businesses, it’s not easy to use most of the budget on their customer engagement. So, for you to know where you are putting your budget becomes crucial.

The content creation and situation depend on the cost of your budget.  There are so many tools,  content types, and marketing strategies to follow. 

However, to find out the best one requires your time, research, network, and money. Also, make sure you are not spending a large amount on content creation; it will end up suffering. 

You can use your inbound marketing and for that, Make sure you attract your customer. Motivate them to take the next step so they won’t switch to anyone. 

Your communication with your customer is also important.  It should develop more chances of productivity without taking too much of your resources and money. 

If you do it right, you are getting more chances to communicate with marketers,  influencers,  creators, and your ideal customers.

factors consider customer engagement budget

Ask For Feedbacks And Referrers 

This is one of the bigger mistakes if you are not asking for customer feedback. Not just is one of the ways to make them feel valued, but you can also get some useful information.

Customer feedback can be about anything from your services to the product or industry’s current state. Customers love to share their opinions, especially when someone seriously asks for them. 

You can set a time to send emails to your customers. Add forms for feedback or surveys to know what they are thinking about your services so far. 

Another option you might not be using is asking for referrers.  With this, you can get new customers, but also it’s good for re-engaging your customers too. 

With this, you can generate more leads for your business. Asking for leads helps connect more people who might be looking for your services.

With better connections, you can target the audience you want for your business. 

ways get customer feedbacks

Share Their Thoughts & Content 

Follow your customers on their social media. You can know what they are sharing and what is happening. It will allow you to cross-sell that fits in the description. 

Also, it will help you in building rapport with them. Share their published writings to build more of your relationship. 

It gives a sense of gratitude, and they feel you value what they are thinking. It’s an ideal option for your old customer especially. You can share their content with the credits. 

But make sure you have permission and that also you follow them on their social media platforms. 

Keep your sharing limited so you don’t give a creepy vibe to anyone. 

Encourage Your Brand Advocates 

Brand advocates are those customers who are not just engaged but also promote your brand. They share their thoughts and refer others to use what you are offering.

Such engaged customers also follow their brand on social media. Even though they are into your brand, you still have to build a relationship with them. 

If you turn them into fans, they can also promote your and become the community leaders for your brand in the market,

They can do mouth-to-mouth advertising and create content that can help others know about your brand. 

Brand advocates are the most loyal and can build the customer community to get long-term engagement. For a small business, it becomes crucial to use such valuable customer wisely 

brand advocates best customer engagement

Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQs) about engaging better with Customers

How to make customers engage with my brand?

Consumers look for those brands that are not just delivering satisfying services but also listening to them. It encourages connections and boosts people to stay loyal to the brand.

What are the four types of customers?

There are four types, Price buyers,  value buyers, relationship buyers, and poker place buyers.

How to boost my customer engagement online?

Build a group or community for interacting with your audience. You can host webinars and celebrate special events. Offer content that is exclusive for them to boost customer engagement. 

How will customer engagement boost my sales?

Customer engagement means more customers are into what you are selling and interested in. You can use the attention to offering them your products, and it will help in boosting sales or generating more leads.

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