Top Customer Engagement Strategies for 2022 Customers are the backbone of most businesses. They offer repeat purchases, brand advocacy, and user-generated content (UGC). Amongst hoards of other benefits. But for some businesses, it’s too tempting to focus on acquiring new customers. Often meaning that customer engagement isn’t at the top of their priority list. Fortunately, email is one of the best and most straightforward channels for improving customer engagement. It offers a direct line to the customer’s inbox. The communications can be tailored to each individual recipient. And, you can monitor results to identify who is engaging, and when. To get your customer engagement off to a flying start in 2022, here are 5 of our favourite strategies. Welcome them from the very start To get the best results, incorporate customer engagement strategies from the very start of your relationship. Welcome emails Welcome emails are ideal for achieving this. They offer a warm welcome, set the tone for your relationship, and can give new customers all of the essential details which they may require. To get the most from your welcome campaign, send it as soon as a new customer signs up or purchases from your brand as this is one of the most engaged stages they will ever be at. Which is potentially why welcome emails generate 4x higher open rates than any other email campaign. Welcome series Ideally, welcome emails should be eye-catching, incorporating imagery that pulls the reader in immediately. They should introduce the business, their products, and ideally happy customer reviews. All whilst offering key information such as contact details and social channels. If this sounds too much for one email, then you can split your welcome campaign into a series of communications. For instance, your first email could offer a simple welcome. Your second could incorporate key contact details and social channels, and your third could include customer reviews or your most popular products. Keep in touch, long term Once brands have sent a welcome email, they should aim to continue to keep in touch with their customers to maintain engagement. Nurturing series The goal of a nurturing series is to keep customers engaged through a series of automated email communications. Once the series is created, it can tick along in the background with little additional work needed by the marketer. There are lots of elements you could include in your nurturing emails. Case studies, social channels, your latest content and promotions, and even feedback forms or surveys to gain more information on the customer experience. Re-engagement communications Keeping in touch is especially important for customers who haven’t purchased or engaged with you for a while. There are many reasons why customers can stop engaging with you. Maybe your products are no longer of interest, your communications aren’t relevant, or they’ve found a competitor they prefer to shop with. Take this opportunity to get back in touch and encourage the customer to come back to you with a re-engagement communication. This email should pique the recipient’s interest, for instance by suggesting recommended products based on past purchase behaviour. Or by providing a discount code or voucher. Or, the email could simply tell the recipient that they are missed, and how you’d love to see them engage with you once again. Ensure relevancy Relevant communications are essential for engagement. Whether your customers are reading your emails or browsing your website, if they don’t have a personalised, tailored experience, they are likely to disengage and shop elsewhere. Personalised emails Personalisation is key to customer engagement. In fact, 71% of consumers find impersonal shopping experiences frustrating. When it comes to personalising emails, utilise the data you have on recipients as best as possible. This could be as simple as including a first name in the subject line or email body copy. Segmenting your email communications based on common demographics and interests. Or using their location to serve the correct currency or store location. Email and website product recommendations You can take personalisation a step further and utilise personalised product recommendations, both within emails and on your website. These product recommendations utilise dynamic content alongside browsing and purchasing data to ensure that the most relevant products are recommended to each and every customer. For instance, you can showcase similar products on product landing pages to encourage browsing customers to explore. Or, you can send a follow-up email to a customer post-purchase recommending product add-ons or complementary items based on what they recently bought. There are lots of options, so take the time to get creative and experiment. Build trust Trust is essential to maintaining engagement with your customer base. If a customer feels comfortable making purchases, handing over their card details, and receiving their items in the post. They are more likely to shop with this brand time and time again. Social proof 83% of consumers trust recommendations from peers over advertising. Social proof enables brands to tap into peer-to-peer style recommendations by utilising the user-generated content, ratings, and reviews that their happy customers leave. Social proof can be peppered throughout a website, featured within emails, and even have their own dedicated campaigns. Brands can include images from social media of their customers using their products. Or promote their rating score from websites such as Trustpilot or Google. Post-purchase communications For new customers, post-purchase can be one of the most uncertain times within their buying journey. It is when they need to feel reassured that their purchase has gone through, their card details are safe, and that they will be kept up to date with when their order will be delivered. Post-purchase communications are key to this stage of communication. Customers should receive automated email updates at every stage of the post-purchase journey. Including purchase confirmation, shipping confirmation, delivery updates, and ideally proof of delivery. Image Source – Made.com Make them feel special Last but not least, what customer doesn’t love to feel special? In a competitive retail landscape, it’s often the brands that evoke positive emotions that we choose to shop with. VIP campaigns Making a customer feel like a VIP certainly evokes those emotions. So make your customers feel like they are getting a little extra something with VIP campaigns. These campaigns should be as personalised as possible, including first name as a minimum. But also ideally incorporating other demographics, browsing and purchasing details for a truly tailored experience. There are lots of campaign opportunities to make your customers feel special. Pre-launch exclusives. VIP discount codes. Customer-only events both in-store and online. The list is endless. Anniversary emails Similarly, don’t forget to celebrate with your customers on their special days. Be sure to collect anniversary dates from them at the start of your relationship. This could be their birthday, their due date, their wedding date, or even the date they first signed up with you. Then send them a celebratory email complete with personalisation and a discount code to make them feel special on their big day. Do you want to boost customer engagement for 2022? Customer engagement is an ongoing strategy. However, there are steps you can put in place to streamline and automate the process. All whilst offering your customers a highly relevant, personalised experience that will keep them coming back to you. Get in touch with our team of experts to find out how you can start engaging your customers today.