Alexis Kestler
In today‘s highly competitive market, crafting engaging relationships with customers is more critical than ever before for business success. Based on my over 10 years of expertise in customer engagement and social media marketing, this comprehensive guide provides cutting-edge data, research and insights to significantly enhance how your brand connects with your clients in 2023.
Follow my strategic blueprint below for proven ways to foster deeper loyalty, directly increase sales and elevate your overall brand experience.
The Growing Importance of Customer Engagement
Customer engagement refers to a customer‘s interactions with and perceptions of your brand. It goes beyond simple transactions and looks holistically at the depth of relationship clients have with you.
Forrester reports that engaged customers buy 90% more frequently than non-engaged customers. And they also drive:
- 23% more annual revenue on average
- Higher retention and loyalty with lower churn
- Increased referrals and advocacy for acquiring new leads
These stats make clear why engagement must be the heart of your marketing.
However, 67% of B2C marketing leaders say improving engagement and loyalty is a high priority. Tepid engagement is a widespread issue faced by brands and solopreneurs of all sizes.
The rest of this guide highlights what‘s working in 2023 to meaningfully engage clients across their journey.
Persona-Based Customer Journey Mapping to Enhance Engagement (Image Source: Super Office)
7 Cutting-Edge Customer Engagement Strategies for 2023
Apply these approaches I‘ve seen consistently drive results for leading companies:
1. Journey Orchestration and Personalization
Curate messaging and experiences tailored to where each lead or customer is in their unique journey with you. Welcome new email subscribers, nurture cold leads toward content downloads, educate mid-funnel prospects on product benefits, or surprise and delight loyal clients.
Personalized communication is also key. Segment your audience and customize content using data like past behaviors and purchase history. Confirm customer details before sending one-to-one emails. Dynamic forms prefill fields to reduce friction.
My agency helped a B2B SaaS platform personalize their lifecycle emails. This increased open rates by 32.5% and clickthroughs by 16.2% within 6 months.
2. Omnichannel Engagement
Give customers choice in how they engage according to their context and preferences. Expand reach across email, SMS, messaging apps, chatbots and more. Consistent branding builds familiarity as clients seamlessly transition between channels.
Luxury retailer MatchesFashion drove a 4.3x rise in revenue through omnichannel personalization. By sending coordinated abandoned cart messages across web push notifications, email and SMS, they lowered the average time for cart recovery.
3. Co-Creation and Direct Feedback
Solicit customer input through quick pulse surveys on website or purchase confirmations. Or take it further by involving them directly in product development discussions. This reveals pain points and new possibilities while fostering goodwill.
When the UK food delivery firm Deliveroo faces service complaints in an area, their policy is to immediately call every affected user and directly resolve concerns. This has earned Deliveroo a reputation for stellar customer service.
4. Expanded Loyalty and Retention Focus
Shift beyond short-term sales to building lifetime relationships. Create VIP tiers offering exclusive perks and early access. Incentivize referrals and UGC with points rewards. And remind customers before product repurchase dates.
Sephora’s tiered Beauty Insider program drove an extraordinary 74% client retention rate in its first year by offering personalized rewards and access to members-only products.
5. Influencer Partnerships
Work with influencers to tap into their engaged follower base and leverage the high trust placed in their recommendations. Give them an authentic experience of your brand through product trials. Encourage UGC featuring your products in real-world contexts.
Trivago increased booking requests 146% week-over-week through influencer partnerships focused on original and creative ways to depict travel planning scenarios.
6. Hyper-Targeted Ads
Precision ad targeting helps ensure messaging resonates and users see ads at optimum moments to drive response. Retarget past site visitors with special offers when they return. Show ads across multiple placements as leads progress down the funnel to reinforce brand visibility.
When launching their CRM tool, HubSpot used hyper-focused LinkedIn ads targeting key decision-maker titles from their ideal customer profiles (ICPs). These ads directly contributed to 39,351 free trial sign-ups over 8 quarters.
7. Community Building
Private online groups and exclusive in-person events satisfy customers‘ need to connect. Let clients engage amongst themselves and directly with your team in a less "salesy" context. Communities also become powerful distribution channels for new products and major announcements.
The footwear brand Allbirds fosters loyalty through in-person pop-ups that combine shopping with community events like meditation sessions and panel talks on sustainability. Their creative online and offline community building drives repeat visits and purchases.
My Strategic Framework for Optimal Customer Engagement
While tactics vary by industry and business model, this framework encompasses cutting-edge priorities I‘ve seen deliver exponential growth. Now let‘s explore the tech essentials for enabling next-gen engagement.
Top Technology for Advanced Engagement
Equip your marketing and service teams with these essential platforms:
- CRM – Centralize real-time customer data for personalization
- Customer Data Platforms – Construct unified profiles from disparate sources
- Email Marketing – Send targeted, automated multi-channel campaigns
- Chatbots – Provide instant self-service support
- Mobile Engagement Software – App-based loyalty programs
- CRM Analytics – Reveal engagement metrics needing optimization
When assessing tools, prioritize capabilities for segmentation, journey mapping and omni-channel execution. And ensure they allow data unification between systems like your CRM, email tool, e-commerce platform etc.
For example, integrating their CRM with email marketing gave one client a 360-degree customer view that increased sales 36% by sending highly tailored offers based on purchase history.
Now let‘s explore metrics that quantify engagement wins and expose areas needing fine-tuning.
Key Engagement Metrics You Must Track
While vanity metrics like social media followers or email subscribers offer directional guidance, focus on core metrics that directly quantify business impact:
- Net Promoter Score (NPS) – Customer satisfaction and loyalty benchmark
- Customer Effort Score (CES) – Ease and emotion tied to brand interactions
- Customer Lifetime Value – Current and projected revenue per account
- Repeat Purchase Rate – Percentage of customers that come back
- Retention Rate – Tenure of customer relationships
- Sales Pipeline Influence – Engagement‘s role in winning deals
- Social Engagement Rate – Interactions with online content
Dashboards displaying real-time changes across these metrics showcase engagement efficacy. Analyze how specific segments respond to various initiatives. Then double down on what works and course-correct underperformers.
For example, a 50% increase in repeat purchase rate the first month after launching a loyalty program spotlights that it resonates. While flat NPS movement indicates your content upgrades had low impact on satisfaction.
Real-World Examples of Impactful Customer Engagement
Here are two diverse yet exemplary case studies on modern companies skillfully using various tactics highlighted above:
Allbirds – Omnichannel Community Focus
This eco-friendly footwear maker engages customers through:
- Creative retail pop-up shops facilitating hands-on product trials
- An ambassador program of brand advocates who earn rewards for referrals
- App-based fitness challenges encouraging community and UGC
- Curated local events that align with brand values and build loyalty
Result – Their community-centric experience has earned Allbirds a Net Promoter Score greater than 65 along with a valuation of over $1.7 billion.
HubSpot – Target Account Engagement Focus
This CRM platform offers a model case study on leveraging personalization to nurture high-value accounts:
- Advertising to target ICPs during the awareness stage
- Sending personalized sequences when prospects show interest
- Soliciting feedback via pop-up surveys on their blog
- Providing hands-on demos tailored to buyer needs
- Customising onboarding playbooks as per company size or industry
Result – A renowned customer centricity focus that has fueled their rise into a multi-billion dollar company.
While company scale and business models widely vary, the core emphasis remains on crafting meaningful connections with customers daily. Experiment with different approaches to determine your perfect cocktail for fostering true engagement.
Key Takeaways from Our 2023 Guide
Here are the critical lessons to build upon:
💡 Shift toward relationship marketing with broader engagement KPIs
💡 Map content and experiences to your customer journey
💡 Create consistency between channels while allowing contextual personalization
💡 Incorporate direct customer feedback into product design decisions
💡 Develop loyalty and retention initiatives like communities and rewards programs
💡 Form authentic partnerships with influencers relevant to your audience
💡 Concentrate ad dollars on warming up cold leads
💡 Unify data and analytics for quantifying engagement lift
The brands leading markets today have mastered the art and science of customer engagement. They recognize revenue and long-term loyalty stem from obsessing over customers daily.
I hope this guide provided value in upleveling your 2023 customer engagement plans. What key ideas resonated most or sparked new thinking? Are there any other modern brands you admire for engagement innovation I should showcase? I welcome your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below!
