It’s no secret that businesses always seek ways to increase customer engagement. According to the market research company Forrester, 72% of businesses say 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 to increase their customer engagement. Some of these methods include affiliate programs and personalization.
Innovative Ways to Increase Customer Engagement
However, both of these methods are fairly obvious. Every reputable business that you can think of uses these methods. To improve your customer engagement numbers, you must use innovative methods that separate you from your competition. In this article, I will discuss three innovative ways for businesses to increase 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 mark the appointment down in your Google calendar 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 personal Google calendar to connect. As a result, simply marking the appointment on your calendar will increase overall satisfaction and engagement with your doctor.
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 occasionally wonder about your item’s status. Where it 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, these issues can be eliminated if the company installs a shipping API on its webpage. A shipping API allows the customer service representative to find 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 allow customers to go directly to the company’s webpage and view this information independently without 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 customer satisfaction and, as a result, increase engagement. 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 services and explain why they should purchase. If you do not 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.
You can provide useful content on your webpage in many ways, 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 service and its benefits. In addition, providing instructional videos also allows your customers to see your products in action instead of just seeing a picture or reading about them. According to a Google study, 48% of smartphone users are likelier to buy from companies whose mobile sites provide instructional video content. As a result, you will increase your overall customer satisfaction and engagement by providing useful content on your webpage.
Get Clever on Social Media
The third and final innovative way to increase customer engagement is to get clever on social media. However, having multiple social media accounts for your business is not enough. You need to be able to use social media to entice consumers to engage with your brand. Posting funny videos and sharing funny images or posts are two excellent ways to do this effectively. Simply promoting your business on social media will not be enough, as a promotion alone 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 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 ensure that anything you share cannot be deemed controversial. If you do this, you could drastically decrease your customer engagement numbers overnight.
In summary, focusing on increasing customer engagement has become increasingly important. 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, leading to new and recurring business.
