Customers are the most important part of any business. Without them, the business will make no money and it won’t grow. Therefore, it’s essential that you ensure your customers are as happy as possible, and one of the ways you can do that is to engage with them as much as you can. The most successful businesses in the world are the ones that have the best customer service, and if you want to be successful too, here are some ways that you can engage fully with your customers.
The Emotional Connection
When people buy something, they do so in many cases because they have formed an emotional connection with the item and the company that is selling it. In order for this to happen, you need to make it as personal and human as possible. Proving that your customers are dealing with a real person is a bit part of making this emotional connection. To start with, you should introduce yourself. You can do this through an email, through social media, through videos, or through text services, for example. However you choose to do it, make sure that you are showing the human side of the company.
Build A Community
The human race has always connected well through communities, and since they are easy to create online these days, it is a good way to keep engaged with your customers. If you can make your online community a friendly, helpful place to be where your customers can connect not only with you, but with other like-minded people, then they will continue to come back. One way this can be done is through social media by having a group or business page, for example. In terms of building a community, happy satisfied customers will have your business will be at the forefront of their mind, and when they need to purchase whatever it is you are selling, they will come straight to you.
This community is a good way to keep people updated as to what you are doing and the special offers or new products that your business has. You can share as much information as possible, and your customers will engage with it – the important thing to remember is that you need to respond to keep everyone happy.
Run A Competition
Running a competition will also help you to keep your customers engaged. Everyone enjoys receiving freebies, so as long as there is a good enough prize, you will find that people are happy to join in with the competition. It will certainly gain their attention and they will be rewarded for getting involved. There are many ways to run a competition online; you could ask a question and those with the correct answer go into a draw, for example. Or perhaps you could ask them to post a photo of them using your product with a specific hashtag. You could even ask them to tag as many of their friends as possible in response to a post.
The most important thing when it comes to competitions is transparency. Those entering need to know that the contest is being run fairly and that there is a good prize to be won. If you can cover these things then they will not only enter, but they will tell other people about it too, and boost your reach even further.
Make Customers Part Of Your Team
Everyone likes to feel as though they are part of a team, so making your customers part of yours will go a long way to persuading them to spend their money with you. To do this, you can promote your customers’ services or even their good news on your blog or social media channels, for example. They may have raised a lot of money for charity, or they could have recently had a baby, or all manner of other things. By helping others to see what your customers are doing, you are showing that you care. In return, those customers will tell other people about you and hopefully your sales will increase.
Another way to engage with your ‘team mates’ is to offer incentives such as discounts or special offers. You could even host an exclusive party. Your customers will certainly feel like part of the team then, especially if the offers or content you are offering is exclusive to those who have signed up to your social media, blog, or newsletter.
Product Tours
If you want to sell as many products as possible, you will need to let your customers know about them. If you have many products, or if your products are fairly technical in nature, then this can be a difficult thing to do. Product tours can solve the problem and engage with your customers in terms of letting them know as much as possible about your products and the services you offer with them.
A product tour is best done via video. You can record it in advance and embed the video into your blog or onto your YouTube account. When someone needs to know about a particular product, they will search for a tutorial and if yours comes up at or near the top of Google, your site is the one they will go to. This positions you as an expert in your field which is always something that will boost sales and recognition of your business.
Host An Event
There are many different types of event that you can host to get the word out about your business and engage with your customers at the same time. A talk or workshop is one of the best as, once again, it will show that you really do know what you are talking about when it comes to your particular sector and the products and services that you sell. You can have a specific question and answer session at the end as well, and this is a very direct way of engaging with people – answer their questions politely and correctly, and they will form a positive opinion of your business. This good reputation is something that will take you far.
