In a world where customer acquisitions costs are skyrocketing, and competition is fiercer than ever, businesses of all sizes, across all industries, are looking for ways to engage with their customers. Customer engagement, in fact, is a key metric for those in the green industry. The art of customer engagement is nuanced, and to succeed in this important area of your business, it’s key to have a firm understanding of the Who’s, What’s, Where’s and (of course) How’s. So, let’s drill down on everything you need to know about customer engagement.

The Ultimate Guide To Customer Engagement

WHAT is customer engagement – If you google the words “customer engagement,” you’re sure to find a whole host of definitions that may or may not resonate with your business (or make sense). One common thread, however, exists through the majority of the definitions for customer engagement – interaction. Customers who interact with your brand are engaging.

At a base level, they might be visiting your website, requesting a quote or purchasing your services. Beyond that, customer engagement might rise up to repeat purchases, referring your business to others or offering positive reviews. Your most engaged customers help increase sales revenue, increase profits, provide opportunities to learn more about your target audience due to the open relationship as well as reduce the cost of doing business.

WHY customer engagement matters – Customer engagement is a top considerations of savvy business owners for a wide range of reasons. It seems to go without saying that a customer who resonates with your brand enough to engage with is important. The numbers, however, truly illustrates just how much it matters:

• Reports show that businesses will spend, on average, five times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.
• The statistical probability of selling to an existing customer is in the range of 60-70%, while for the new customers it is 5-20%.
• Existing customers are 50% more likely to sign up for additional services and spend 31% more money with your business as compared to new customers.

For these reasons and many more, engaging current customers is front and center on most business’s to-do lists. The engaged customer can also uplift your online reputation, create a community that supports your brand (online and offline), create organic growth through referrals and even offer up useful feedback to help you improve your service.

WHERE to engage with your customers – Much is said about creating the “omnichannel” that follows customers across marketing channels and reinforces the brand message at optimal levels, but with existing customers, it gets easier and, most likely, less costly. The top channels to engage with customers fall into email, social media and referral initiatives. Many businesses are also finding mobile engagement to be much higher with engaged customers with push notifications, mobile apps and SMS messaging.

Choosing your perfect mix of customer engagement channels depends on truly understanding your customer and, obviously, folding in your unique budget parameters. The good news is that reaching engaged customers is easier and cheaper than trying to win over the hearts of unknown prospects!

HOW to succeed at customer engagement – When you let your customers choose how they’d like to engage with you, you’ll be more likely to uncover the type of interactions that they find valuable. By making it easier for customers to engage in ways they find valuable, you’ll strengthen their emotional investment in your brand. It’s the ultimate win-win.

Follow some best practices to succeed at customer engagement, such as:

• Create two-way conversations. Engagement is not a one-way street. Be sure to provide multiple outlets for your customer to connect with positive, negative and fun communications.
• Be consistent and authentic with your brand voice across channels. Develop a brand guideline that can follow your content from the customer service call center to company emails to social media – so your customer never loses sight of who you are.
• Ask for feedback on a regular basis. Many businesses have survey initiatives that fall short because they make one of two common mistakes (or both). They ask for feedback once and then never repeat the effort, or they ask for feedback and don’t make adjustments based on said feedback. Creating an ongoing, measurable and tangible vehicle for customer feedback can show you what you are doing right, where you need to improve as well as detect new issues early before they impact your overall business success.

Finding ways to engage with your customers in between purchases strengthens their emotional connection to your brand, helping you retain the customers you already have while sustainably growing your business.

The more engaged your customers are, the more emotionally invested they are in your brand. It’s this emotional investment that makes them less likely to shop with a competitor and what so strongly connects customer engagement to customer loyalty.

Creating a base of engaged customers can be the secret sauce to your successful business, and Spring-Green’s marketing and technology engages your customers and best prospects. Call 1-800-777-8608 or visit us at www.growmygreenindustrybusiness.com if you would like to learn more about how Spring-Green can grow your business.