In the midst of the digital era, the rapid development of computing, software, the Internet, and a plethora of related technology has completely reshaped how companies engage with potential customers. The digitalization of touchpoints has brought a series of new challenges for most businesses. Online shoppers (and overall internet users) are used to fast-paced interactions, shifting from one page to another. This constant overflow of information and stimuli has radically shortened attention spans and given rise to changes in how leads regard engagement efforts from corporations. Smart customer engagement strategies became a must for any SaaS business.
Nowadays, most leads decide whether they are willing to purchase a product or service quite quickly. This new trend affects companies looking to sell physical products online and SaaS businesses the same way. Additionally, the current SaaS market has recently expanded with new start-ups and businesses, making competition in the digital marketplace as ferocious as ever.
Luckily, we have compiled some tips that will help you develop a robust customer engagement strategy that will not only catch your leads attention. It will give your conversions rates a boost, too!
Improve your sales page
This may come off as an obvious tip, but your products page is your sales page, too. Even if you are not selling literal objects or physical items (in the case of a SaaS-centric company, for example), developing an engaging sales page should be a major priority.
One of the many aspects that make a high-converting landing page is including detailed product descriptions in an interesting and engaging fashion. Having things like a FAQ section is great, but everybody has already done it, and potential clients might find it a little bit boring.
However, businesses can present their products in an interesting and unique manner. Let’s use an example here. Imagine that you offer VoIP telephony software. Instead of giving an overly technical analysis of your product and services, try framing it in a captivating manner, using eye-catching headlines and storytelling techniques. The end result should be something like this: “VoIP Phone Service – How it Works for Your Business”.
This informative and journalistic approach to advertising (using data-driven storytelling) will not only serve as a great marketing tool, it also engages your audience, since it feels like reading the news, instead of a conventional advert.
Gamification
Gamification is a very powerful strategy that can help businesses give their services a refreshing new look and attitude, making potentially monotonous and tedious processes engaging, fun, and dynamic.
Employing a successful gamification engagement strategy is no easy task. However, there are some amazing real-life examples that prove just how effective this approach can be. A notoriously successful case is Target’s Wish List.
This strategy has become somewhat of a Christmas tradition for the American retailer. The game (a mobile app) is designed to turn the process of “Add to cart” into a fun little game targeted at children. The strategy, as simple as it may seem, resulted in over 100,000 wish lists and a total of 1.7 million added items (worth 92.3 million US dollars).
Now, we are not saying that this strategy works for every company. And no, if you offer software services you don’t have to turn your checkout page into a video game. But the truth is that nobody enjoys filling in a purchase order template, and using gamification strategies will always be more engaging.
Embrace customer feedback
Asking for customer feedback is a very easy way to engage with your client, avoid churn, and thus boost customer retention along the way. Not only that, but displaying quotes, testimonials and reviews from past and present clients is also very valued by leads.
This display of apparent brand transparency makes companies seem trustworthy, well regarded, and open to constructive criticism. Asking for feedback to boost user engagement will not only help you keep the clients you have, but it might also convert leads, too.
Implement neuromarketing techniques
Although it sounds like a fancy buzzword used by advertising experts looking to sound clever, neuromarketing is a very real and effective strategy. In essence, neuromarketing can be defined as using psychology to convert leads.
Remember those gamification strategies we mentioned earlier? They can be easily implemented as neuromarketing techniques, too. In our oversaturated marketplace, most leads see old-fashioned marketing techniques coming from miles away.
However, gamified neuromarketing strategies like quiz marketing feel new and exciting. Those fun quizzes that most of us unassumingly fill in online can be engineered to guide consumers towards certain buying patterns.
Track your metrics (and act accordingly)
Analyzing stats and data is a great starting point when developing a customer engagement strategy. By paying close attention to your conversion rates and other KPIs, you will be able to point out specific strengths and weaknesses.
This will give you an excellent advantage when the time to craft and refine your strategy comes. Since smaller businesses may have never used metric-focused strategies before, here is a list of some key customer engagement metrics to track:
- Session Time
- Frequency of Return Users
- User Actions
- Net Promoter Score
- Daily Active Users
- Monthly Active Users
- Week 1 Customer Engagement Metrics
Explore co-browsing
Co-browsing is a form of collaborative website browsing that allows customer engagement experts, customer service staff, and sales agents to browse websites along with clients in real time.
This approach enables contact center agents to join users on an already existing session. It can be especially useful for SaaS companies, since their products and services are inherently digital.
It should be noted that screen sharing and video conferencing are great alternatives to co-browsing. However, unlike what happens during video calls where various people are sharing a screen, co-browsing only allows agents to follow along inside an app or software program, not the entire desktop.
This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. On the one hand it makes clients feel more comfortable, since their privacy is protected. However, this can impact your remote workers’ work productivity, since they won’t be able to access the computer.
Omnichannel marketing
It is simple math. Right? The more digital touchpoints and communication channels a company uses to connect with its clients and leads, the more engagement it will generate. Nowadays, any modern and forward thinking SaaS business is investing in omnichannel marketing. Especially when it involves extremely engaging and active platforms like social media, email marketing or in-product messaging.
According to Statista, over half of the companies that invested in social media marketing at the beginning of 2020 improved their sales numbers. Additionally, 67% of businesses with an active social media presence generated leads, and a whopping 86% increased their overall exposure to new potential clients.
Video is the future
Nowadays, most leads (especially younger targets) feel particularly attracted to video-based marketing and engagement strategies. According to a study conducted by Brain Rules’ John Medina, most people remember up to 65% of visual content they view. As a comparison, it is important to note that only 10% of people clearly remember written content.
This also applies to customer engagement. Understanding this trend and your audience’s preferences is one of the many essential tips for creating videos to drive sales.
Additionally, investing in the best video conferencing hardware for your business is equally important, since some clients prefer talking to a person via video call instead of chatting with a chatbot.
Live engagement is key
It is no secret that in the fast-paced world of ecommerce and digital services, and the SaaS industry, most clients expect instant customer service. Live engagement is key to keep clients happy. VoIP phones equipped with a virtual call system, live chat, and video conferencing are very useful in that regard.
This type of software offers a great telephone service for business that can help agents attend clients’ queries instantly and more effectively; keeping customers engaged at all times.
Read “Everything you need to know about retention marketing” for a deep dive into why customer retention is cheaper in the long run than new customer acquisition.
Check out the our new article to learn about 6 ways to improve customer engagement and reduce churn.
