Is your business “jumping the shark” to keep your customers engaged and loyal to your brand?
This saying has an interesting origin story, actually—the Fonz.
You know that moment when your favorite TV show turns a bad corner and takes desperate measures to keep their audience watching even though the show should’ve just said sayonara?
That’s what happened when Fonzie went water-skiing in a shortie-short swimsuit paired with a leather jacket and jumped over a great white shark. It also happened with every episode after Michael Scott moved to Colorado.
Don’t turn to obviously desperate measures to keep your customers or resort to engagement methods that no one really appreciates (ahem, TikTok*). Turn to these proven tips instead.
*Okay, yes—even TikTok has its uses. If you’re Lil Nas X, feel free to ignore this snark.
8 Tips for Increasing Customer Engagement and Loyalty
Here are eight tips to increase customer engagement and loyalty…without resorting to jumping the shark.
1. Use TikTok and Other Social Media Platforms Wisely
Okay, okay. Yes, we have hard feelings about some social media platforms, but it doesn’t mean they can’t work. You just have to know your audience and post accordingly.
No one wants to see their orthodontist dancing to Cardi B. But an orthodontist that posts before/after photos with a quick, personable, technical explanation that sounds like someone you’d trust your teeth to? Yes!
2. Lean into Learning
Anything you can learn from a customer can be used against them. Er…for them.
Where are you missing the boat? What do they want from your brand? How can you better meet their needs and expectations? They’ll tell you, believe us. It just takes follow up action on your part, and you’ll have customer loyalty for life.
Listen to SurveyMonkey when they say most consumers (61%) trust companies to act on feedback they receive.
3. Say Sure to Surveys
Repeat this mantra three times, “Interactivity inspires engaging interaction.”
Surveys, polls, and quizzes go a long way in drawing customers in and making feedback fun, especially when incentives are attached. Surveys work better than social media and chat tools for getting feedback from all age groups.
4. Prioritize Customer Service
No number of engagement and loyalty antics will work if your customer service is, for lack of a more appropriate word, crap.
There’s no substitute for being friendly, helpful, and efficient.
5. Make Customer Loyalty Convenient
The fewer sharks your customers need to jump over to get what they want, the better.
Quicken the browsing experience. Optimize the search feature. Streamline the purchasing process. Would you want to use your site? Whatever you can do to make buying from your site enjoyable, get it done.
6. Be Reliably Consistent
In all good things, be consistent. Let customers see what you’re doing on a daily (or weekly) basis. Respond to feedback right away. Post on social media. Thank them for their purchase.
Don’t let your customers forget you exist.
7. Don’t Be Stingy with Rewards
Anyone can give new customers a one-time 5% off their first order. In fact, customers have come to expect it and are disappointed when at least 10% isn’t on the table.
Know what else customers expect? To be rewarded for their loyalty. They’re giving you what you want, and they deserve something in return. Whether it’s an exclusive weekly deal or a points accrual system to earn store credit, thank your customers for giving you their time and money. Check out Shoe Carnival's Yeti Railroad gamification campaign to see this principle in action.
8. Play With Gamification
Of course, we want to emphasize how gamification magnifies the customer engagement experience by amplifying awareness, buying behaviors, and advocacy objectives.
Here are some examples of what a gamification platform that is customized for a brand and its audience can do:
- Increase visitor return rates by up to 10x.
- Improve click-through rates by 60%.
- Generate higher mobile return visitors and downloads by up to 3x.
- Improve social media engagement rates by 2x.
- Use media to raise engagement and awareness by 20x.
Quick FAQs: Customer Engagement & Loyalty
We get a lot of questions about customer engagement and loyalty, so here’s a quick answer for some of the most common.
What Is Customer Engagement and Loyalty?
Customer engagement is about making emotional connections and building relationships through communication at various touchpoints.
Customer loyalty is when your best customers visit and spend time on your site, purchase and enjoy your products, and encourage others to convert.
What Is the Relationship between Customer Engagement and Customer Loyalty?
When a brand engages a customer, the customer feels the brand is being loyal to them. In turn, the customer becomes more loyal to the brand. It’s a profitable win-win correlation.
What Is a Customer Engagement Example?
An example of customer engagement and loyalty is when someone:
- Opts in to allow an app to see their physical activity stats
- Sets goals with other users within the app
- Participates in weekly challenges to win rewards
Why Is Customer Engagement and Loyalty So Important?
If you want to upsell more easily and increase brand advocacy, you need your customers to be loyal and engaged.
Tailor Your Campaign
Just like trying on a swimsuit, chances are your company won’t benefit much from a one-size-fits-all approach. Get gamification that fits so well it looks like it was tailored just for you (no leather jacket required).
Learn more about CataBoom’s results-driven gamification and engagement platform, and then schedule a demo!
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