This statement is even more important for ecommerce businesses, which have no face-to-face interaction with clients. With increasing competition, product quality and price are no longer enough to differentiate your brand. To stand out, you need a well-planned customer engagement strategy so they keep coming back for more.
Many studies have highlighted the relationship between sales and customer engagement. According to a PwC report, ecommerce businesses can gain measurable benefits, including greater spending, by changing their customer experience strategy to make them feel appreciated. Higher engagement or personalization also impacts impulse purchases.
Clearly, engaged customers buy more, and restructuring your ecommerce business with a focus on customer engagement strategies can be a game changer in 2020. Here are 5 aspects of a customer engagement strategy to boost the customer experience and sales:
Enable Visual Site Searches
Pinterest recently integrated its visual search feature, the Lens, with shoppable pins that enable users to search for items clicked with their phone’s camera.
For ecommerce, such visual searches can completely revamp the customer experience. Shoppers can click or upload product pictures on a visual site search and be presented with clickable shopping pins. The result is a faster, more enjoyable and personalized experience that is certain to boost customer engagement, leading to greater brand loyalty, as claimed by 49% of users.
To ensure customers can benefit from this feature, make it a part of your onboarding process to inform them about visual searches and upgrade their shopping experience.
Co-Browsing at Checkout for Higher Engagement
Visually engaging your customers at checkout with co-browsing can not only minimize the urge to compare but also reduce card abandonment by guiding them to swiftly and securely complete complex transactions.
For example, a customer who is struggling to complete an order form on your site or is fearful of adding his or her credit card details can be guided by an agent to fill up the order form and complete the purchase quickly.
In fact, co-browsing is the closest you can come to in-person support on an ecommerce site. Customers can see what the agents are doing to resolve their problems, making the process completely transparent and boosting ecommerce customer engagement.
Set Up Triggered Marketing Emails
According to a study, triggered emails have a 70.5% higher open rate as compared to other types of emails. The reason is that customers expect these emails, such as a welcome note after they create an account or an order confirmation.
Triggered emails are also quite effective in engaging customers by providing them with relevant information, based on their actions. For example, you can create a series of triggered emails to re-engage them after a cart abandonment to recover about 63% of revenue lost in abandoned carts.
Leverage AI for Value-Add Push Notifications
Most ecommerce businesses send regular push notifications to keep customers informed. But did you know that 52% of app users find push notifications annoying?
What if you can gauge intent by sending tailored push notifications that delight your customers and prompt them to interact with your brand? Netflix, for example, personalizes its program recommendations based on similar content subscribers follow.
You can similarly engage customers using a smart AI system based on analytics to segment them according to preset criteria for more personalized communication.
Create a Store-Like Experience
Even though there’s a surge in ecommerce shopping, many people are hesitant about buying clothes or other lifestyle products such as furniture, as they can’t touch, feel, or try the products virtually.
IKEA found an effective solution to this problem by launching its AR-enabled app, letting shoppers virtually place objects in their living space to choose the right measurements and styles.
Many brands are working on integrating virtual fitting rooms on their sites to provide an in-store shopping experience. They can dress up their avatar in different clothing items, accessories and shoes, then buy them in a few clicks.
With 12 to 24 million ecommerce sites in the world, you need to cultivate more robust customer relationships in order to stand out and drive repeat sales. These strategies have been carefully curated to help you better engage them and improve the overall ecommerce customer experience.
Dhruv Mehta is a Digital Marketing Professional at Acquire