It’s no secret that businesses are always looking for ways to increase their customer engagement. According to the market research company Forrester, 72% of businesses say that improving customer experience is their top priority. Businesses care so much about their customer engagement numbers because they know that the more engaged a customer is, the more likely they are to make a purchase. There are many different methods that businesses use in order to increase their customer engagement. Some of these methods include affiliate programs and personalization.
However, both of these methods are fairly obvious. Every reputable business that you can think of uses these methods. If you really want to improve your customer engagement numbers, you need to use innovative methods that separate you from your competition. In this article, I will be discussing three innovative ways for businesses to increase their customer engagement.
Use APIs on Your Webpage
In simple terms, application programming interfaces (APIs) allow different software applications to communicate with each other simultaneously. For example, if you are trying to book an appointment with your doctor on their website and also mark the appointment down in your Google calendar all in one step, an API allows that to happen with one simple click of a button. An API makes this possible by allowing your doctor’s website and your own personal Google calendar to connect with each other. By simply marking the appointment down for you on your calendar, your overall satisfaction and engagement with your doctor will increase.
For another example, let’s say that you, as a customer, order something online that will be shipped to your home. While waiting for it to arrive, you may wonder about the status of your item from time to time. Where it currently is, how much longer until it’s delivered, etc. To find out this information, you most likely would have to call a customer service representative and ask them. Unfortunately, a customer service representative may take a long time to provide you with this information. Furthermore, since customer service representatives are human beings, there is always the possibility of them providing you with inaccurate information. This wait time and the possibility of receiving inaccurate information will most likely make you frustrated, and as a result, your customer engagement and satisfaction with this business will decrease.
However, if the company installs a shipping API onto their webpage, these issues can be eliminated. A shipping API allows the customer service representative to find out this information for any customer rapidly and with 100% accuracy. In addition to providing customer service representatives with easy access to accurate information, shipping APIs also give customers the option to go directly to the company’s webpage and view this information on their own without the extra step of speaking to a customer service representative. By providing their customer service representatives with easy access to accurate information and allowing customers the option to do it themselves, the company will likely increase your customer satisfaction, and as a result, will increase your engagement as well. There is a multitude of APIs that can be installed onto a webpage, and the more that are installed, the higher the customer engagement will be.
Provide Useful Content on Your Webpage
Providing useful content on your webpage sounds very obvious, but the reality is that many businesses do not do this. The purpose of providing useful content on your webpage is to educate your customers about your products and/or services and to explain to them why they should make a purchase. If you do not clearly identify what a product does, how to use it, and why it’s beneficial, then the chances of any given person buying it are slim to none.
There are many ways in which you can provide useful content on your webpage, but one of the best ways to do so is by making instructional videos. Instructional videos are a very effective way to provide useful content on your webpage because they clearly outline how to use any given product and/or service, and what its benefits are. In addition, providing instructional videos also allows your customers to see your products in action as opposed to just seeing a picture or reading about them. According to a Google study, 48% of smartphone users are more likely to buy from companies whose mobile sites provide instructional video content. By providing useful content on your webpage, you will increase your overall customer satisfaction and engagement.
Get Clever on Social Media
The third and final innovative way to increase your customer engagement is to get clever on social media. However, just having multiple social media accounts for your business is not enough. You need to be able to use social media in a way that entices consumers to engage with your brand. Posting funny videos and sharing funny images or posts are two excellent ways in which you can effectively do this. Simply promoting your business on social media will not be enough, as a promotion by itself will not improve customer engagement. That is why you need to get clever and give your consumers a reason to engage with your business. For example, you can create polls, surveys, contests, and even do giveaways to encourage customers to engage with you on social media.
When trying to be clever on social media, there is one very important thing that you should keep in mind. You should make sure that anything you share cannot be deemed as controversial. If you do this, you could potentially decrease your customer engagement numbers drastically overnight.
In summary, it has become increasingly important to put focus on increasing customer engagement. Using APIs, providing useful content, and being clever about what you post on social media are three innovative ways to increase customer satisfaction and engagement, which in turn leads to new and recurring business.
