Modern consumers are able to purchase nearly anything they wish on whatever device they want, the eCommerce experience has dramatically changed which is why providing excellent eCommerce customer engagement is vital for business as it increases customer retention.
As consumers increasingly rely on online shopping, their expectations for better CX also continue to rise, which has made eCommerce customer engagement critical today.
73% of customers point to customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions.
The most successful eCommerce brands understand that customer engagement is the key to growth. It improves customer loyalty, builds relationships, and increases conversions. In fact, research shows that repeat customers spend up to three times more than one-off buyers.
However, it can be difficult to achieve without the right tools or strategies.
It is not enough just to have an attractive website or a good product catalog; eCommerce businesses need top-notch customer engagement strategies if they are going to succeed in today’s competitive marketplace. Let us discuss the important techniques and best practices for boosting eCommerce customer engagement and ensuring consumers keep coming back.
What is ECommerce Customer Engagement?
ECommerce customer engagement is defined as the emotional connection between a consumer and a brand. Usually, the customers that are highly engaged, tend to buy, promote, and show more loyalty.
ECommerce customer engagement comprises the activities and strategies used by online retailers to acquire, retain, and grow their customer base. It includes tactics such as personalized communications and product recommendations, providing helpful content like tutorials and educational materials, offering discounts or incentives, and creating social media campaigns, among other strategies.
Providing an outstanding experience is a key component of your eCommerce consumer engagement strategy. A fully-engaged customer contributes more revenue than average. If you don’t have a solid customer engagement strategy for your eCommerce store, you could be missing opportunities to interact with customers and build strong relationships.
The aim of this type of customer engagement is not only to promote your products but also to create a stronger connection between customers and your brand.
Benefits of ECommerce Customer Engagement
E-commerce customer engagement is essential for providing an effective and memorable experience across customer journeys. Whether it’s offering online support, tracking customer behavior, or helping customers browse products, the benefits of e-commerce customer engagement allow businesses to form stronger relationships.
- Increased Customer Loyalty: Engaging customers over e-commerce websites helps create a sense of loyalty with them, as they enjoy the effort taken by the company to interact with them. Engaged customers are 5X more likely to stick to the same brand in the future.
- Improved Brand Visibility: E-commerce customer engagement is a great way to improve the visibility and popularity of a brand, as customers are likely to promote brands that take time to engage with them.
- Better Understanding & Insights: Engaging customers online provides companies better insights about their buyer’s behavior and preferences which can help inform and improve their marketing strategies in the future.
- Lower Costs: Compared with traditional methods of engaging with buyers, e-commerce customer engagement is relatively more cost-efficient and hence allows companies to reach out to more people around the globe while expanding lower amounts of resources and money.
- More Opportunities for Cross-selling and Upselling: Engaged customers are more likely to purchase other products or services offered by you.
- Boosted Return on Investment (ROI): ECommerce platforms that offer targeted marketing messages can boost lead conversion rates and better ROI.
9 Most Popular Strategies to Boost ECommerce Customer Engagement
Building customer loyalty is essential for successful e-commerce companies, as it boosts word-of-mouth marketing and reduces churn rates. Building your online store on the best eCommerce platform or following modern payment methods is not just enough. There are always some ways to make the best of it.
Here is a list of useful tips to increase customer engagement in eCommerce.
- Design an Outstanding User Experience
- Offer Loyalty Programs
- Leverage AI and Automation Technologies
- Offer Self-Service Options
- Triggered Marketing Emails
- Collect Product Reviews to Build Online Reputation
- Provide Real-Time Support with Live Chat
- Use Segmentation and Dynamic Content
- Leverage the Power of Social Media
#1. Design an Outstanding User Experience
When it comes to growing customer engagement, design elements are extremely crucial.
A smooth, seamless user experience and navigation flow will captivate users, and encourage them to visit again and place more orders.
Make sure your website design reflects the tone of voice you want to communicate with customers; think about what would make their online shopping journey easier, faster, and more enjoyable.
#2. Offer Loyalty Programs
One way to keep customers engaged and coming back to your eCommerce store is by implementing a customer loyalty program. Loyalty programs are the best way to make existing customers valued. It is important as it costs 5x less to retain customers than acquire new ones.
A loyalty program is a rewards program that offers incentives and perks to customers based on their repeat business. It’s a great way to increase customer retention and foster long-term relationships with your customers.
Amazon, the biggest e-commerce company in the world, launched Amazon Prime as a paid program.
The loyalty program gives its members access to benefits consisting of two-day delivery, and free streaming of videos and music for a monthly ($12.99) or annual fee ($99/$49). It also gives users a chance to invite a friend for a reward of $5 Prime Referral Credit.
Some common loyalty program incentives include free products, exclusive discounts, cash-back rewards, and birthday coupons. The key is to create incentives that align with your customer’s interests and offer real value for their loyalty to your brand.
#3. Leverage AI and Automation Technologies
Another effective strategy for boosting e-commerce customer engagement is leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation technologies. AI and automation can help personalize the customer experience by providing tailored product recommendations, personalized marketing messages, and proactive customer service.
Likewise, automated email campaigns that trigger based on customer behavior and purchase history can help keep customers engaged and entice them to return for repeat purchases.
How bots can fit best for customer engagement of your eCommerce site.
- Recommending the right products – Bots are widely used to improve customer service, suggesting customers find the right products or services that will streamline the user experience.
- Provide personalized experience – Customers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences across all touchpoints.
- Engage customers 24×7 – Bots are available round the clock to engage customers and answer their common queries instantly. They are easily scalable and reduce the number of support tickets.
- Predict user intent – AI-powered chatbots have the capability to detect intent and follow up with relevant conversation flows to engage and delight customers.
#4. Offer Self-Service Options
Forrester research shows that 53% of customers are likely to abandon an online purchase if they can’t find a quick answer to their question. Hence, offering self-service options is extremely vital.
By offering self-service options such as FAQs on your website, you’ll provide prospects with everything they need while they’re browsing on your site—and reduce the number of tickets and phone calls that could hamper the agents’ productivity.
Besides this benefit, there are various tools available that work together with AI technology like Drift or Hubbot that streamline online conversations between an AI support agent and one-click problem resolutions delivered straight away at point-of-contact – win-win scenario!
#5. Triggered Marketing Emails
Using triggered emails is a great way of improving eCommerce customer engagement.
You can use triggered emails such as abandoned cart reminders and follow-up emails after purchase in order to engage customers further down the line after initial contact has been made.
While abandoned cart reminders are sent when prospects have added items but failed the follow-through checkout process, follow-up emails typically include incentives such as discounts on future orders – both email types serve the purpose of increasing retention which keeps existing consumers engaged for a longer period of time – result: extra revenue stream!
#6. Collect Product Reviews to Build Online Reputation
Gone are the days of just showcasing products for purchase with no reviews or customer feedback attached about their quality.
Modern consumers want all available information before making an informed purchase decision, which can come from reviews written by current users of the product or service, as well as from professional product reviewers.
Your goal should be to showcase both kinds of reviews (unless there are none available) so customers have a comprehensive view of each product and service your company offers before deciding if it’s right for them – which helps keep their engagement high.
#7. Provide Real-Time Support with Live Chat
79% of consumers prefer live chat because it provides them with immediate support at the time they need it. Live chat is the best tool that delivers exceptional value in terms of engaging visitors in real time and increasing customer satisfaction.
It enables eCommerce businesses to connect with their customers at any given moment and offers solutions to their problems or queries, ultimately leading to an increase in customer satisfaction.
Brands like Intuit and Sam’s Furniture incorporated live chat and had a significant increase in sales conversions.
Key ways how live chat helps to boost your eCommerce engagement.
- Engage customers proactively – The visitors who just browse or compare prices, proactively engaging with them when they need help, increases the chances that the visitors will convert into buyers.
- Understand customer pain points – Live chat empowers support agents to tap into the pain points of the visitors and provide the best solution.
- Gain insights into customer behavior – The tool helps to learn a lot about your customers based on their visited pages.
- More sales via mobile – Live chat helps to integrate a mobile chat window and can guide the customers to complete the purchase.
Live chat can boost sales, too – a business can upsell products, cross-sell complementary items, or offer personalized discount codes to incentivize the purchase while the customer is still browsing.
Having a well-trained team of customer support personnel available on live chat ensures that your e-commerce store is constantly engaging with customers and satisfying their needs.
#8. Use Segmentation and Dynamic Content
Segmentation and dynamic content are powerful tactics for personalizing the customer experience.
These strategies involve breaking down customer data into specific groups or segments based on demographics, behaviors, or other characteristics. Once customers are segmented, e-commerce companies can use dynamic content to personalize the customer experience.
Dynamic content is content that changes based on the customer’s behavior, preferences, or other predefined criteria.
For example, an eCommerce company may email personalized product recommendations based on the customer’s past purchases. Or, they may display a different homepage for customers who have shown an interest in a specific product category.
#9. Leverage the Power of Social Media
Online stores with a social media presence have an average of 32% more sales than those that don’t.
Social media should be utilized in order to reach out directly to customers in an authentic manner, share feedback over different platforms, and create a sense of community across multiple networks.
A strong social presence enables you to slice and dice the content you create and reach out to your audience through it.
It covers selecting the right social media platforms, creating engaging content, and using social media analytics to optimize performance. ECommerce brands can also use social media as a customer service channel, allowing customers to reach out with questions or concerns.
By providing excellent customer service on social media, e-commerce companies can build customer loyalty, prevent churning of unhappy customers and strengthen their brand.
Examples of Successful ECommerce Consumer Engagement
E-commerce customer engagement is an essential component of successful e-commerce businesses. Customer engagement helps businesses maintain relationships with their customers, build loyalty and trust, and increase sales and revenue.
Here are some examples of brands that have successfully implemented strategies to engage their customers:
Amazon Prime – Providing Customer Experiences that Put People First
As a leader in eCommerce customer lifecycle engagement, Amazon offers its Prime members exclusive benefits including free two-day shipping, discounts on select items, and access to streaming services like Prime Video. These services further enable customers to become invested in the brand and create a stronger sense of community around shared personalized experiences.
Warby Parker – Personalizing Shopping Experiences through AI Technologies
Warby Parker’s online eyewear shop is designed to provide an easy shopping experience to its customers. From helpful video tutorials to virtual try-on tools and chat agents available round the clock, Warby reaches out easily with all the necessary information needed by the consumer while allowing them to book virtual appointments at the same time. This makes it incredibly easy for customers to get these customized products without ever leaving their homes.
Adidas – Utilizing Social Media for Better Engagement
Adidas has been able to revamp its brand image through expansive content initiatives on social media channels such as Instagram and YouTube. Additionally, Adidas also offers reward points for every purchase which later can be redeemed against future purchases or refer to friend rewards which incentivize existing customers or fans of the company’s products. The success of Adidas’s campaigns highlights how important properly engaging with audiences is when companies want to increase sales or foster loyalty from their fan base.
Bonobos – Using Free Shipping to Build Customer Loyalty
Bonobos built its customer loyalty around offering an excellent post-purchase service experience which includes an easy returns process without questions asked policy and options like next-day delivery throughout major US cities so you never run out of Bonobos clothes again! Beyond this program, Bonobos have also cultivated powerful relationships with their customers by sponsoring events throughout different cities in North America so customers can learn about sizing problems for themselves directly from a Bonobos product expert!
ECommerce Customer Engagement Best Practices
Engaging with customers is key to building a successful eCommerce business.
Here are 10 best practices for eCommerce customer engagement:
- Personalize communication with each customer by understanding their needs, expectations, and preferences. It will help to delight customers by aligning your products/services with what they are looking for.
- Respond quickly to customer inquiries and complaints by leveraging the power of live chat to your customer service. It will deliver real-time sales and support assistance and improve customer satisfaction.
- Create loyalty programs and reward customers for repeat purchases as customers are your biggest assets. Keeping them happy by rewarding them with surprise coupons or discounts with retain them and increase their lifetime value.
- Use email marketing to keep customers informed about new products and promotions. It will keep the customers notified about the new add-ons and promotional offers.
- Leverage social proof to attract and engage prospective customers. Social proof such as testimonials makes your brand trustworthy and influences customers, which results in their advocacy.
- Use e-commerce chatbots to provide quickly to manage customer expectations efficiently. Bots are available 24×7 and deliver instant answers that reduce the number of support ticket increases and in first-contact resolution.
- Offer free shipping or returns to encourage customer purchases. The stores that offer the privilege of free shipping, returns, or exchange increases eCommerce customer engagement and sales.
- Provide detailed product information and reviews to increase customer confidence. Featuring customer reviews and success stories strengthen customers’ trust in the brand.
- Use retargeting ads to bring back customers who abandoned their shopping carts. Putting efforts to bring back customers showcases how you as a brand value your customers by offering the best deals to them.
- Continuously analyze customer data to improve the overall shopping experience. It will help to identify the gaps and the areas of improvement so that you can outline strategies accordingly.