Engagement is everything. By improving engagement, brands can dramatically enhance the experiences customers enjoy. This leads to a rapid increase in conversions, and of course better returns on every single one of a brand’s marketing investments.
Companies looking to entice customers online are now having to go above and beyond when it comes to improving customer engagement, to ensure that the experience they offer stands head and shoulders above the competition. And that’s where a customer engagement platforms come in.
Customer engagement software enables businesses to make incredible improvements to customers’ experiences, by unlocking the power of their data. Platforms help companies to provide their customers with a seamless, omnichannel experience that makes shopping a breeze, while simultaneously eliminating any points of frustration in their buying journeys.
Customer engagement software is taking the ecommerce world by storm, with brands in all industries starting to make full use of the experience improvements they offer. Read on to learn more about how these platforms work, and how the software could optimise the shopping experience for your customers.
What is a Customer Engagement Platform?
A customer engagement platform is an experience-focused software suite designed to make life easier for consumers, and improve profits for brands. The platforms bring together a whole host of intuitive technologies, all of which combine to create a hassle-free shopping experience for every customer who visits a brand’s store.
Customer engagement platforms can be used to automate messaging, and are fully equipped with data that has already been gathered on customers. This means that brands can send out automated, personalised communications to potential leads and repeat customers, with every interaction specifically designed to appeal to them personally.
Platforms focused on improving engagement are also perfect for brands looking to provide a seamless experience across all devices. It’s an omnichannel world that we now live in, and that’s why consumers value companies offering the easiest shopping experiences no matter which device they choose to shop with.
Why you Need an Effective Customer Engagement Solution
Customer engagement should now be a top priority for all brands. As we’ve seen recently, brands that make engagement a key part of their communications strategy are already reaping great rewards. Just take a look at the example set by IKEA.
The world-famous furniture company recently invested heavily in its customer engagement solutions, with the launch of a new and improved app and upgraded automated communications for shoppers. The result was a considerable uptick in its profits, with the brand now enjoying annual revenues of over €40 billion Euros.
Customer-focused research has repeatedly warned of the rising importance of customer engagement. The State Of The Connected Customer Report, published by Salesforce, noted that “54% of customers think companies need to fundamentally transform how they engage.”
As you might expect, fully engaged customers are far more profitable to a brand than less engaged ones. Research shared by Gallup found that customers who are fully engaged with a brand “represent an average 23% premium in terms of share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and relationship growth over the average customer.” By contrast, “‘actively disengaged’ customers represent a 13% discount in those same measures.”
The Far-Reaching Benefits of a Great Customer Engagement Platform
Customer engagement software offers a huge variety of benefits for brands. Companies taking advantage of engagement software will be able to fully optimize every interaction, dramatically improving the overall customer experience. The software will also ultimately help to drive revenue growth, as better engagement starts to equate to higher conversion rates.
Optimize Interactions
Customer engagement software enables brands to optimize interactions with customers. With this software, no opportunities are missed.
Brands can present consumers with automated, personalised communications, which are driven by data and designed to appeal to the consumer in question. Consumers benefit from a seamless experience on all devices, with a continuation in communications that shows the brand is thinking about them as an individual.
Improve the Overall Customer Experience
The customer experience is key to competing in a fierce market, and most brands are now taking huge steps towards improving the experiences their customers enjoy. For companies looking to enhance these experiences, improving engagement is a vital consideration.
Engagement software can help brands improve customer experiences in a whole host of different ways. Platforms use data to create tailored marketing communications centered around particular product ranges which might be of interest, and data-driven insights can be used to share tempting promotions for hot prospects. Customers shopping on a mobile device can be automatically reminded of a brand’s mobile-ready app, and shopping baskets can be saved and transferred across all devices.
Customers now place huge value in their buying journey, and are quick to highlight any points that aren’t quite living up to their expectations. But at the same time, consumers are incredibly responsive to brands that do offer a standout experience, spreading the word and returning time and time again to make purchases. So improving engagement and therefore overall experiences provides unmissable opportunities for brands.
Great customer experiences now equate to customer retention, improved brand awareness and of course better profitability. And customer engagement software can help companies achieve this.
Driving Revenue Growth with Customer Engagement Software
Companies with ambitious growth strategies are already taking full advantage of customer engagement solutions. Software focusing on enhancing engagement is invaluable in helping brands to grow, because it achieves the two key objectives of all growth strategies.
Engagement software enables brands to retain their customers, improving individual engagement to turn occasional buyers into loyal, repeat customers, and it also helps brands to attract brand new prospects with ease.
By providing a truly engaged, individual service, companies can start to venture into new markets, and catch the attention of different demographics as customers start to share rave reviews of their online shopping experiences. These factors quickly combine to drive revenue growth and facilitate expansion.
Making the Most of your Customer Engagement Platform
Customer engagement platforms are invaluable to companies with a real passion for improving customer experiences.
Not only do engagement platforms enable brands to keep communication flowing with their customers, they also provide great opportunities for brands to put their data to good use, and provide their customers with a personal service that’s specifically tailored to them.
Customer engagement software makes it easier for brands to communicate with their customers, and they ensure that customers never miss a chance to connect with their favourite brand. For companies hoping to provide a standout service that’s always reliable on any device, an effective customer engagement platform is a must.
—
Leanplum is the most complete mobile marketing platform, designed for intelligent action. Its integrated solution delivers meaningful engagement across messaging and the in-app experience.