Success in digital marketing isn’t all about pumping truckloads of content.
Sure, publishing quality articles certainly has its merits, but when you consider how millions of pages are published daily, you can’t help but ask if what your audience really needs is more content.
In fact, Russell Ruffino of Clients on Demand, found that people have started to shift from being in the “content economy” to the “transformation economy.”
Transformation, and not information, has become the name of the game.
That is why it’s crucial for business owners to put together a customer engagement game-plan that can help their audience achieve the transformation they want — this, of course, ultimately leads to more sales.
The good news is, that’s exactly what we’ll cover in this guide. We’re going to check out four customer engagement strategies that can help businesses generate more sales.
Do you like what you’re reading, so far? Then let’s dive right in.
#1. Start with Social Media Mentions
Sometimes, the best way to close a sale isn’t to convince a visitor to convert into a paying customer.
Rather than waste time on passersby, you should seek out leads who’ve already expressed their interest in your products yourself.
With a social media listening tool like TweetReach, you can scan social media for posts that contain a mention of your brand name or product. Doing so will help you find users that may have posted an inquiry about your brand.
In some cases, users may also mention your brand along with a competitor — asking their peers which is better.
To use TweetReach, simply enter a keyword, hashtag, or your Twitter account’s handle and click “Run.”
TweetReach will then take a couple of seconds to generate a “Snapshot.” This includes information such as the estimated reach of your keyword’s mentions, the total impressions, and the number of tweets in the past 10 days.
Of course, none of these metrics are really useful for finding warm prospects. That’s why you need to scroll down a bit to reveal the good stuff — the accounts that recently mentioned the keyword, hashtag, or Twitter handle you’ve entered.
Easy, right?
Here’s something even better: these tweets are pulled from the internet in real time.
This means you can answer any questions, clarify any wrong information, or respond to any comment — all while the topic is still fresh in your prospect’s mind.
That’s one way to get their attention and build buyer confidence!
While you’re at it, consider using TweetReach to find potential influencers for your brand. You never know when you need to be in touch with someone influential.
#2. Integrate Live Chat Into Your Website
According to Forrester, 44 percent of consumers believe that a live chat feature during a purchase is the most important feature an online store can offer.
That’s nearly half of your customers leaving your store satisfied and likely to come back again for another purchase.
Additional data from Forrester shows that a live chat feature can increase a website’s conversion rate by up to 40 percent and overall revenue by 48 percent every chat hour.
But wait — there’s more.
Live chat is also a feature you can easily implement even without a skilled web developer.
Using a tool like Brosix, you can integrate a live chat feature on your website by copying and pasting a pair of codes:
After which, a “Live Chat” button should appear on your site — enabling curious customers to reach you or an available agent on demand.
There’s just one more thing you need to do in order to make your live chat feature work.
From the Brosix web dashboard, head to “Settings” and click “Integrations” to access the “Web Guests” option. Enable this to allow customers to use your live chat feature without a registered account.
#3. Automate Customer Review Requests
If there’s one thing an online shopper would base their purchase decisions on, it’s the honest review of a previous customer.
A survey by BrightLocal reveals that 91 percent of customers between ages 18 and 34 believe in customer reviews. It’s as if they’re listening to a product recommendation from a friend or family member.
Of course, featuring product reviews on your website isn’t exactly a complicated task. Plenty of e-commerce platforms and content management systems like WordPress has tools that can quickly incorporate reviews on your website.
The real challenge is encouraging new customers to write a positive review for your site.
A proven strategy is to use an email marketing tool like MailChimp to set up an automated review request. All you need to do is create a new email campaign and switch over to the “Automated” tab in the “Create an Email” window.
From there, you should see a set of pre-made automation templates that can be used for various things — from “welcome emails” to typical blog updates.
To set up an automated review request, open the “E-Commerce” category and select the “Follow up on purchases” template.
Of course, your e-commerce platform should already be connected to MailChimp before you attempt to create an automated email. Some of the compatible e-commerce services include Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and PrestaShop.
#4. Launch a Giveaway Contest
There’s nothing like a social media contest to get potential customers excited about your products.
With a simple giveaway contest run on Instagram, you just need to come up with a fun and easy-to-follow mechanic — such as post a photo or use a particular hashtag for a chance to win. This should help raise brand awareness, foster customer loyalty, and build your social media presence.
Instagram is teeming with giveaway contests right now, so you should have no trouble looking for inspiration.
If you’re serious about social media contests and would like to make it a core marketing strategy, you may invest in a platform like Rafflecopter. This allows you to up your contest game with custom entry forms, real-time analytics, and third-party integrations.
Wrapping Up Customer Engagement Strategies
Direct interactions with customers may not be everybody’s cup of tea.
A single mistake may make a customer leave and never come back. But with the right approach, the benefits should far outweigh the risks.
The strategies above should help you use customer engagement to your advantage and close more sales. Just remember to take one step at a time and learn how to use results — good or bad — to fine-tune your methods. Good luck!