As online shopping continues to grow the customer engagement in 2021 has greatly evolved and in order to capture more customers, it is critical to continually make adjustments within your online store. Customer engagement strategies are vital as they cause customers to interact with online businesses. These interactions can subsequently be monetized through different channels. This is often very important to the growth of an online store while hitting strategic business objectives. Companies tend to have different customer engagement strategies based on a number of factors. These include, the businesses sectors, business objectives and technical limitation of their chosen eCommerce solutions. However, customization and third party integrations can overcome technical barriers. As eCommerce technology continues to evolve at a frantic pace, this is less of an obstacle. This post will identify some suggestions online businesses can do to improve customer engagement in 2021.
Registration after purchase
By now it is becoming the norm to prompt registration from customers during the completion of a purchase. This does not mean the buying experience and the check out process is disrupted in any way. However, it is important that customers do not have an obligation to register an account before purchase. This can deter some potential customers and defeats the purpose of engagement. It is best to use subtle links or promotional call to actions. For example a link at the bottom of the page to direct online visitors to create an account. However, it is perhaps more effective to place this call to action on the post-purchase confirmation page. This can encourage engagement and account creation which can increase registrations. It also presents a good marketing opportunity to tout the benefits of registrations. Brands often use promotions, exclusive offers and discounts to achieve this.
Welcome new customers
This is a great way to get online retailers to boost branding and control the narrative of the brand. eCommerce features are a useful part of this dynamic. Marketers can use this part of the online store to create a loyal customer base and place the brand firmly in the subconsciousness of potential customers. This will differ by company, but it is a great way to engage with new customers. It also allows companies to reaffirm their values with existing customers. To achieve this, eCommerce personalization is a crucial tool in the arsenal of online retailers. The purchase confirmation page and follow up email is one avenue where personalization has been unleashed. For many companies, it has yielded results for engagement.
Follow up
Concluding , this is the follow up. Many online retailers often neglect this process to the detriment of building a loyal customer base and customer engagement. The follow-up email is important to remind customers of other products that could be of interest to them. In some cases, it can check on their satisfaction with the purchase made. The marketing content of the follow up email at this point is key as it risks being ignored, or placed in a spam box. Images, clever branding and interesting graphics can be the difference.
This can trigger repeat purchases, the goal of any business. Some innovative businesses at video tutorials to their marketing contents which is a great way to engage younger customers. This can also include emails conditional on previous purchases. This is where data and eCommerce personalization is key. For example, the condition to benefit from a discount can be a certain amount of purchases.