6 Great Tactics & Tools for eCommerce Customer Engagement
ARTICLE ( 8 MINUTE READ )
6 Great Tactics & Tools for eCommerce Customer Engagement
Studies indicate that global consumers are purchasing almost everything online. Many retailers have taken advantage of this to set up e-commerce stores.
As the e-commerce market grows, so does competition among retailers. The easiest way for you to stand out of the crowd is by improving customer engagement on all your platforms.
Irrespective of whether you are running a new e-commerce enterprise or an established business, there’s great significance in employing the best e-commerce customer engagement practices. Most e-commerce businesses fail to rake in as much profit as they should just because they do not engage clients as they should. Here are six great tactics that you can use to engage current and prospective customers.
#1
Allow eCommerce Customers to Provide Feedback & Reviews
Nothing is more awful than talking without being listened to.
This is how customers feel if they are not provided with a platform for airing their feedback and reviews about your products and services.
With such a platform, it will be easier for you to engage with clients, thus giving you insight into what they feel about your company.
Seeking feedback from your customers is quite easy since you only need to avail to them a comments section on your website. Likewise, you can allow them to rate your services or products. While at it, you should keep in mind the fact that enabling customers to provide feedback is only one side of the coin.
In this regard, you should make them feel that you’re listening. This can be done by replying to their comments and queries as well as addressing whatever complains that they have. If you engage customers in this manner, they are likely to trust you. Therefore, retaining them will be easy.
#2
Implement Loyalty Programs & Marketing Automation
One of the most effective ways to create and sustain engagement with your clients, in the long run, is by offering loyalty programs.
The 2017 Colloquy Loyalty Survey indicates that there are more than 3.8 billion membership accounts that are active in loyalty programs.
A whopping 53% of account holders cite “ease of use” their main reason for having the accounts, while 39% cite discounts offered as the motivation to have the accounts. Therefore, there’s great importance in incentivizing customers to opt for the loyalty programs that you offer. With these programs, you have an effective way of engaging many customers concurrently.
Besides loyalty programs, you should consider hosting giveaways. You are likely to endear your brand to customers by giving out free stuff. Hosting regular giveaways creates conversations about your brand. It grows your visibility as well as your email list. You can also engage with your customers by conducting contests and challenges. This helps you generate brand awareness besides building a solid customer base.
What are the Best Tools for Boosting E-commerce Customer Engagement?
You can only get the most out of an e-commerce website if you use the right tools to engage with your clients.
By engaging customers, it will be easier for you to retain them in the long run. The following tools can help you engage with ecommerce customers effectively.
Zopim
Live Chat
You can only make real connections with your customers if you communicate with them directly. Zopim is a customer-oriented live chat service that enables e-commerce stores to engage with clients in real time.
The service also allows pro-active and automated chats, thus enabling you to engage with clients based in parameters such as their address.
Similarly, you get real-time analytics for a better understanding of your customers. This helps you to build profiles. The automatic message routing capability of this e-commerce engagement tool enables you to link customers to agents quickly. You can also personalize the tool’s interface using the dozens of chat badges that are provided.
Rejoiner
Remarketing & Cart Abandonment
Often, e-commerce businesses lose significant amounts of revenue every year because of shopping cart engagement. This is a pain point that Rejoiner can help you address. The tool is designed to help you retarget customers who have prior engagement with your brand. In doing so, you will be able to increase customer lifecycle as well as revenue for your e-commerce enterprise.
Rejoiner offers you more than merely a platform for engaging with your customers. The tool enables you to undertake re-engagement campaigns that target visitors who abandon their carts midway. This is done using automated personalized emails that include links to the abandoned sessions.
Similarly, Rejoiner has pre-submission tracking capability that ensures quick identification of users from the moment they enter their email addresses. You can also take advantage of the tool’s segmentation functionality to offer individual customers personalized engagement based on their behavior, demographics, and transaction history.
SmartGift
Gift Giving Platform
Undoubtedly, gifting is among the most significant revenue streams for e-commerce enterprises. To put this into perspective, you have to think about the Thanksgiving shopping season. If you want to tap into the e-gifting market, you should leverage the SmartGift e-commerce customer engagement tool.
With SmartGift, you can create a profitable revenue stream by leveraging the happy emotions that typify gift-giving. In the process, you will build stronger connections with your customers. SmartGift comes with a checkout interface and multiple options that you can use to notify gift recipients. It also provides recipients with an easy and flexible way of accessing their gifts as well as exchanging items.
Automate Woo
eCommerce Marketing Automation
The ability to automate messages to your past customers is a powerful tool in reengaging to bring repeat sales to your eCommerce site.
A platform like AutomateWoo or any other marketing automation tool is a perfect fit for eCommerce.
The great thing about an eCommerce focused automation tool is the ability to integrate deals, product information, and other data from your store. Even better is the ability to set rules for eMails based on products, purchase amounts, and more.
Every eCommerce store should be leveraging automation.
#3
Provide Live Chat Support
Arguably, one of the most epic fails for e-commerce websites is the lack of live chat support.
With this feature, you will be able to create a personal connection with your customers. Features such as chatbots help you to address customers’ concerns and questions in real time.
Live chat support is convenient to customers since they don’t have to wait for too long to have their concerns addressed.
Customers get immediate help whenever they want to inquire about your products. Often, prospective buyers seek help whenever they are unsure about a specific product or service that you are offering. With live chat support, it will be easier for you to engage with clients and solve their dilemma. This will definitely increase sales in the long run.
Apart from enabling you to engage with customers directly, live chat support gives you an insight into how they feel about you. Needless to say, you are in business to address the needs of clients. The easiest way to know what your customers need is by engaging them directly. Through chatbots, you will conveniently alleviate customers’ pain points by quickly identifying their needs, thus ensuring that you offer the support that they need.
#4
Deliver an Excellent eCommerce User Experience
One of the aspects that you should leverage to ensure excellent customer engagement on your e-commerce store is customer satisfaction.
It’s good practice to ensure that your website looks great. Nonetheless, you should also ensure that you have clear site navigation, easy checkout options, flexible payment methods, enhanced search capability, and a convenient returns policy.
Moreover, shipping costs and delivery time should be clearly indicated alongside the products that you are selling. In line with this, you should take note of the fact that fast shipping and free shipping are some of the most incentives that drive customers to make online purchases.
Make It Easy To Buy
Subscriptions Are All The Rage
Now, this approach does not work for every eCommerce store, but the theory and approach can be transferable.
Basically, the goal is to make it as easy as possible to buy. if you are offering options with different features, clearly lay them out and make the action to purchase stand out.
While this example from Dollar Shave Club is a three-tier subscription, this model could work for other products.
Add Useful Interactive
Help Customers Experience The Product
Warby Parker helps customers see what their glasses will look like from any angle. This simple image that moves it's head as the mouse moves is not only valuable but fun.
eCommerce sites that use multiple images, product tours, or interactive features will always sell more. When consumers can't touch and feel a product in person, that experience should be replicated as best possible online.
#5
Ensure Mobile Optimization
It’s an undeniable fact that the number of smartphone users as surpassed that of desktop users.
By 2021, mobile ecommerce sales are expected to account for 54% of total ecommerce sales.
Therefore, mobile has become a requirement for every eCommerce site. To ensure that these users buy from your e-commerce store, you need to ensure that it’s 100% mobile-friendly. This means that all pages should be optimized for mobile devices. Also, your website shouldn’t take too long to load on mobile devices.
Basic mobile optimization entails ensuring that your e-commerce website has a responsive design and a high hosting speed. To make lead generation and conversion easy, ensure that CTAs are strategically placed at the front and center. Menus should be kept short but insightful. It should be easy for visitors to get back to your website’s homepage.
Usability is also a crucial component of mobile optimization on e-commerce websites. One of the things to bear in mind is that users shouldn’t pinch to zoom in items. Also, make sure that product images are expandable. You should also inform users about screen orientations that work best.
#6
Clearly Articulate Your Value Propostions
The global e-commerce industry is characterized by cutthroat competition.
Your customers have to know what they’re going to get out of your product. If they don’t, they’re not going to hang around your page to find out.
You might have heard of the saying “sell benefits, not features.”
- Neil Patel
Regardless of how long your company has been operating, there’s definitely a competitor whose products or customer service is superior to yours. This doesn’t mean that you should play second fiddle.
To boost e-commerce customer engagement, you need to add a reason to buy. This entails ensuring that it’s easier for current and prospective customers to make a purchasing decision. By showing them what value they will derive from using your products or services, you will easily convince customers to choose you over your competitors.
Unique eCommerce Business Models
Adding a Unique Selling Proposition to an eCommerce offering can significantly boost sales.
Think about your business model:
- can you sell as a subscription or membership;
- offer affiliate programs;
- bundle products to provide everything a consumer needs
- combine services with your products to deliver more value;
Never limit yourself to the standard approach to eCommerce.
Valuable Content
Besides providing in-depth product descriptions on your e-commerce store, ensure that you deliver informative, refreshing, and share-worthy content via your social media channels, blogs, and other platforms. This content should be related to your brand to add value to readers.
When it comes to selling products, educational content can provide a massive differentiator as well as bring in new customers. If a consumer can learn to use or get more value out of their purchase because of content you provide, it adds a major reason to buy.
Conclusion
The eCommerce market is highly dynamic. Online buying preferences and customers’ preferences evolve constantly.
You can only stay on top of the game if you constantly engage with your customers. The aforementioned eCommerce customer engagement tips and tools will go a long way in helping stay abreast of your clients’ needs as well as industry trends.
Remember these tips for eCommerce customer engagement:
- Allow Customers to Provide Feedback and Reviews
- Be clear on your Value Propositions
- Provide an Excellent User Experience
- Ensure Your Site is Mobile Optimized
- Offer Live Chat Support
- Implement a Loyalty Program & Marketing Automation
If you want to check out some more articles on eCommerce Customer Engagement, check out:
The 8 best ways to engage with ecommerce customers
5 steps to increase customer engagement in e-commerce
10 Ways to Increase Customer Engagement in eCommerce
32 Ways Your Ecommerce Company Can Boost Engagement and Sales
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