In 2018 and beyond, your brand’s capacity to personalise and customise interactions with customers is one of the biggest factors in terms of your online success. Check out this quick start guide for more.
Hold up and relax, you’re not experiencing deja-vu: this is the next instalment in our customer engagement series. Read part one here where we discuss how progressive profiling and collecting the right information from customers allows you to better target them. It’s all about having the right data to engage and reward customers and provide them with the information relevant to them. In part 2, we’ll look at how we can best collect this information and how it can be used effectively.
While email and surveys are a great tool to connect with customers, let’s consider how customising these customer interactions benefit you by increasing your customer engagement levels. So how does this look in practice? Let’s take a look by using an example with a totally made-up business: Pronto Woven Cameras.
Welcome email - this is pretty basic stuff and is sent when a customer makes their first purchase, signs-up or subscribes to your email list. It’s a simple welcome message and makes the customer feel appreciated, while introducing them to the brand.
How this might look in action
Welcome to Pronto Woven Cameras, [name]. Thank you for making a purchase [or for signing up]. Please take a few moments to fill out this form/survey so that we can get to know and serve you better.
Abandoned cart - never leave an abandoned cart hanging! Always remind customers there is an item sitting in their cart using a three stage process to increase engagement and conversion. This involves sending an email reminder 1 hour after, then 1 day and finally, 1 week after they place an item in their cart.
How this might look in action
Hey [name]. We noticed you left a snazzy camera [or whatever item] in your cart. Would you like to finish your purchase now? If so, this link will take you back to where you can complete your order.
Coupon automation emails - who doesn’t love a good bargain? Reward your customers with coupons to welcome them, on the anniversary of their first purchase, on their birthday, for signing-up or just to say thanks. This shows that you value them and encourages people to get clicking and buying!
How this might look in action
Hey [name], happy birthday! We’d like to help you celebrate by gifting you this coupon to buy yourself something special. Go on, it’s your birthday!
Surveys/forms - any of the above interactions can also include surveys and forms. When used intelligently, both prove amazing in terms of collecting the data and information you need to boost customer engagement. The real key is to make any surveys or forms short and sweet - they should never feel time-consuming from your customer’s perspective or worse still, feel intrusive or annoy people while they’re browsing through your website.
When you know your customers inside-out, you’re able to personalise your messaging and content so that you’re sending them relevant information that resonates with them. The key to standing out in competitive markets is personalisation. Use surveys/forms with or without emails or place them on your site and see how they perform. These small actions allow you to further build each customer’s profile (read why this is so important in part one of this series).
How this might look in action
A sign-up form that asks for your customer’s details such as their age, date of birth and email address - this gives you the data you need to send out a birthday coupon on the right date to the correct email address.
If you go down the survey route, you could quiz customers about the products/topics they’re interested in. From here, you’ll use this information to customise emails to them and showcase products that may be of interest when they go on special and so on.
Surveys are also a great way to follow-up with people after a purchase to ask them about their experience. Alternatively, you could survey people after they didn’t follow through to buy a product to ask them why. This feedback really is priceless. While customers are on your site, you could even have a simple pop-up survey to ask them about their experience (Customer Thermometer) or how the site can improve. These small details show customers you care and that you value their feedback.
When you’re on the ball in terms of collecting relevant data, increasing customer engagement isn’t a tiresome process. In today’s highly competitive online world, customising your message will help you to differentiate your brand and better communicate with your customers. After all, it’s all about providing the right customers with access to the products and content, at the right time.
Note: this is part 2 of 4 in our enhancing customer engagement series that our brains trust has put together. You can read part 1 here or if you’ve already done so, come back for part 3, which will be available soon.
Let’s chat about how your brand can personalise its messaging to better communicate with your customers. Contact Woven today.
