Imagine if you could raise your company’s profits by 95 percent. Or perhaps even 25 percent. How awesome would that be?
To raise profits by 25 percent, all it takes is a 5 percent increase in your customer retention rates. Though retaining loyal customers may not be as thrilling a conquest as cultivating new ones, it is an easier mission—and a much more important one.
The core of customer retention is customer engagement. Your business definitely wants the same relationship the Jimmy Buffet has with “parrotheads” and Harley Davidson has with the members of Harley Owners Group (HOG). This incredibly cool and cozy connection happens when customers identify and engage with a brand.
So getting back to the aforementioned 25 percent profit increase—if your company would like that kind of action, check out the following five ways to increase your customer engagement.
Method #1: Launch a Community Slack Channel
If any member of your staff is a Millennial, or if you run a Silicon Valley-based business, you likely have an intimate knowledge of Slack already. For many organizations, collaboration and communication efforts lean as heavily on this software as they do on email. Slack, however, isn’t just for internal use. Your business can also leverage the tool to create a community and build more engagement with your customer base.
Performance management software company, Lattice and human resources software firm, Culture Amp are two examples of organizations that have built robust forums for their customers through a public Slack channel.
Method #2: Don’t Sell Customers, Foster Them
Customers are no longer falling for the pushy, beat-you-over-the-head, sales-driven customer engagement of yore. They can see right through that. Hence, your company might as well just leave that approach alone.
Instead, consumers want to spend their dollars with companies that demonstrate a sincere interest in making life easier for their customers. Your best bet for a better bottom line is treating your customer like a friend instead of a dollar sign.
This is best achieved by repeatedly offering and delivering value with the occasional (and subtle) sales pitch.
Your social channels and email campaigns should be focused on sharing news your customers can use rather than big brand pushes. Simply be patient and avoid the over-sell at all costs. A nurturing strategy is what builds the kind of loyalty and trust that will bring about repeated sales.
Method #3: Rock Your Live Chat Channel
Live chat has increasingly become customers’ preferred communication channel because it’s an exceptionally easy way to instantly interact with a brand for answers to questions, making comments or receiving assistance.
An added benefit is that both customers and companies have a record of what was discussed during the chat session. Customers can refer back to the chat to retrieve information while businesses can leverage customer input to improve future interactions in general.
Incorporating outstanding live chat software into your customer engagement strategy allows the ability to give real-time support at a cheaper cost than maintaining a call center. It’s also a great way to deliver the quick and efficient experience customers have come to expect particularly during online transactions.
Method #4: Invite Customers to Tell Their Stories
When organizations feature customer comments on their websites, they’ve effectively made those customers a part of their brand’s story. This simple action turns customers into fans for life.
The best way to generate social proof (and capitalize on its huge marketing power) is to make sharing customer stories and testimonials as easy as possible. Create a page on your website dedicated to story submissions and feedback—and make sure the page is prominent. Link to it in every digital communication and include information about it on receipts.
Asking for customer stories on your Facebook pages (or your aforementioned Slack channel) is also a good idea.
Method #5: Build Collaborative Contests
A final tactic for increased customer engagement is to run collaboration contests between your brand and your customers. When customers enter the contest, give them an exclusive offer such as a coupon discount. It’s a win-win situation because customers will feel rewarded while you will have subtly encouraged another purchase.
Domino’s Pizza Mogul campaign is a great example of how to use this method.
The restaurant chain invited customers to create unique pizza recipes and share and sell those recipes on social media. Customers received anywhere between $.25 and $4.50 any time their pizza was purchased. Just under 205,000 customers participated to earn approximately $966,000.
Talk about customer engagement.
Take Good Care of the Customers Who Take Care of Your Business
Every time you think sales and marketing, you should consider what you can do to show your customer base that they are both valued and appreciated.
Though new customers are always great to pursue, it’s your existing customers who can truly make a difference in improving your profits. After all, it’s a whole lot easier and makes much better business to show a little love to a customer who’s already in your corner.
