With today’s technology we can get in contact with a great deal of potential customers online. But the one problem most businesses experience is the conversion of the actual customers. And this is because they fail at engaging with them. In the past businesses could sound a sales pitch through radio and simply wait for the return from their advertisement. But that’s not the case nowadays as people have basically grown tired of being sold to. What they expect from businesses is trust before they throw forward their hard-earned cash.
If you don’t want to fail the first and most important process of engaging with a potential customer online, you need to continuously provide them with useful and valuable information and in a personal manner that will BUILD TRUST.
Below you will find 7 effective ways to engaging with customers online.
#1: Create Communities or Groups for Your Customers
You can build an online community to interact and engage with your customer and that can be done through forums. This was and is still the best and effective technique used where you can engage with your customer and this is also where your customers engage with each other. Most businesses are connecting with their customers through social media which is the next most popular technique. You can find your potential customer any day on their preferred social media account of choice. So instead of getting them to interact with you on your forum, simply find them on;
- Google plus Communities
- Facebook Groups
- LinkedIn Groups
That’s just to name a few as there are many social media groups, communities and networking sites that allow businesses to create a platform for this purpose.
#2: Host Webinars and Google Hangouts
The next most effective way to engage with your customers is through;
- Webinars
- Google Hangouts
This innovative method gives you the opportunity to engage with a large number of targeted audiences or your actual potential customers. This method also gives you the chance to a more personal interaction with them. Customers always love live visual connection with the business they’re associated with because it gives them the opportunity to get their questions answered immediately – and that’s what customers really want.
Additional Tip: You can also at the end of the webinar or hangout, get your customers to send in more comments/questions through your support email or get them to further engage with you or your support team through Facebook and Twitter. This allows for more engagement and continuous interaction with customers.
#3: Allow Your Customers to Be Your Co-Creators
Are you working on a new project? Well another great way to engage with your customers is to allow them to work together with you as your co-creators. This is where your customer feels that they’re important to you and your business. They will feel proud that their input has helped made your project better. This is not advisable in all situations but is necessary in terms of building a strong relationship.
Additional Tip: Reward your key participants by awarding them a certain prize for the most participation or you can just give them recognition for their valuable input.
#4: Celebrate With Your Customers
When your business reaches a certain milestone in your journey; like reaching your first 1,000 registered users, be sure to celebrate your success with your customers and make them feel proud that they were the heroes who made this possible.
Fans are passionate about a certain sports team they follow because they actually feel involved in the sport when they cheer for their team to win. So by praising the winning team they include themselves in the praise by saying “we won the game”. You need to cause your customers to develop this mentality – make them feel part of your success and sing them praises for being the force that drives your business success.
#5: Offer Your Customers Exclusive Contents
Member’s only (content) access is another great way of engaging with your customers online at the same time making them feel special that they are part of an exclusive group. It doesn’t need to be a charged access but a simple registration process to gain access to the content that’s provided only for them. This content would not be available to the public unless they opt-in as registered members.
Additional Tip: Offer special discounts for registered members and also create them a member’s only forum where they can discuss certain topics and engage with each other and you or your team.
#6: Solve a Problem Together With Your Customers
If the stats in your business support data base is very high on a certain issue, it maybe technical, a good way to tackle this issue better is to ask for user interaction and input and solve the problem together in a group. This is very effective and creates a stronger bond where everyone feels more like a team.
#7: Offer Ways to Interact with Your Customers
Every blog has a space below for visitors to leave their thoughts and comments. There are many good plugins to integrate with your blog so you give your readers a chance to engage with you and other readers or they might just want to thank you for the valuable information they have just learnt from your article. Be sure to always respond to your visitors or readers’ comments, thanking them for participating. If a reader leaves a question always reply as it may seem bad if you leave their questions unanswered.
Additional Tip: Include social profiles on your site like;
- Disqus
- Google Plus
This method gives your visitors and readers multiple ways than one of engaging with you.
Conclusion:
Today’s technology has given businesses many effective ways to build trust and loyalty with customers online – also allows them to interact and continuously engage with customers on everyday basis. Capitalize on these free tools and resources for your initial contact with your potential customer and a continuous engagement online. If you aren’t utilizing these effective ways and methods then you have to start today – don’t matter if your business is small or just a start-up, if you implement these 7 ways you will see growth in your business a lot sooner. Let’s hear it if you know more effective ways of engaging with your customers online.
