Customer Engagement in Ecommerce - The 3 Cs That Matter

Despite being one of the most frequently used terms in the field of eCommerce marketing, ‘engagement’ can be challenging to describe.

Is engaging customers merely a means to an end?
Or is it a separate objective?
Is it limited to social media?
Or is it present throughout the entire client journey?

Gaining clarity on these issues is crucial if you want to comprehend how to cut through the digital noise and create a brand that consumers will remember.

What is customer engagement in ecommerce, really?

Customer engagement is the interest your company receives through a variety of interactions, including clicking on search ads, subscribing to SMS deal notifications, making purchases, using reward points, and more. Ideally, these encounters add up over time, indicating a customer’s increasing interest in your company.

The engagement challenge

Although increasing consumer involvement may seem like a simple objective, doing so is far more difficult.

Up to 10,000 advertising messages are sent to consumers every day, which is highlighted by their crowded inboxes and continuously updating social media feeds.

According to Campaign Monitor, fewer than one in five customers open emails from merchants.

According to Blockthrough’s Adblock Report, one in five U.S. customers use ad blocking software, with more than one in ten doing so on their mobile devices.

According to Contentsquare’s Digital Experience Report, customers typically spend less than a minute on a web page and leave after five pages on average if they don’t find anything of interest.

The Three Cs of Customer Engagement in Ecommerce

The main issue of client engagement in this crowded, fast-paced market is persuading them that your company has something to offer—and doing it repeatedly to garner loyal attention.

Although it’s instinctive to want to contact every buyer at once, it’s better to focus on a few important channels and develop brand trust with the appropriate demographic.
Put these fundamental ideas at the centre of your approach for success.

1. Curating Needs

Anticipating clients’ needs and wants is half the battle of engaging them; anything you offer should be timely and relevant. In this regard, it is beneficial to:

Make your material unique.

Ecommerce personalisation is now required; according to a Salesforce survey, more than half of customers (55%) and nearly three-quarters of consumers (73%) expect companies to understand their specific needs and expectations.

Have an opinion.

The goods you display might convey the sass, finesse, or practical thriftiness of your brand. However, it also pays to give the subject matter specialists on your team a forum for discussing their ideas and suggestions for clients; assisting customers in sorting through their alternatives may be a terrific way to convey your brand voice.

2. Conversing The Right Way

Brands and consumers can now communicate with one other in the digital age. Create highly interactive experiences built around a give-and-take dynamic that empowers customers rather than resisting this shift.

Implement conversational methods for business. Conversational commerce naturally allows customers to have a conversation with your business about their wants for products and services.

People can interact with your brand in real time as they shop through phone calls, messaging applications, live chat, or video sessions.

It makes sense to feature UGC, such as customer reviews or influencer content, to highlight real customer voices because 89% of consumers trust recommendations from individuals they know.

UGC can be reused in social media postings, on your website, or through additional means.

Next, ask for engagement, whether it be through Instagram stories polls or TikTok hashtag challenges.

3. Consistently Delivering

Creating a seamless journey for customers once they begin interacting with your company is essential for increasing their engagement.

Consider techniques to keep customers longer without being intrusive or demanding.

Send an email narrative in installments. It’s no secret that eCommerce email marketing works well to keep customers interested with timely communications and offers.

Email sequences can be started by a variety of events, including initial purchases, newsletter signups, and review submissions, to mention a few.

Reward ardent supporters with perks. Offer distinctive experiences that keep your customers on their toes, such as “sneak peek” shopping occasions or members-only stylist consultations.

Introduce a points system that rewards online re-engagement if you have a loyalty programme. In addition to purchasing purchases, members might receive credit for posting on social media or writing reviews.

Engagement with a customer extends much beyond a single click or transaction.

You must investigate methods to track individuals at various points of the eCommerce consumer experience if you want to truly comprehend how clients are connecting with your company.

The following KPIs listed below can complement and contextualize more common revenue-centric metrics such as conversion rate.

Time

Examine the areas where shoppers linger and the reasons why they leave. To learn more about which marketing methods work best, compare behaviors by source, device, and content type. In this vein, you could monitor:

– Time on site/session length
– Time on page
– Watch time (for video)
– Usage of interactive features (quizzes, profile builders)
– Number of visits prior to purchase
– Number of days prior to purchase
– Bounce rate

Referrals

When customers go out of their way to recommend your company or its goods to friends, it’s a strong sign that your messaging is compelling and desirable.

Use informational points like: to gain a better grasp of how referrals function for your brand.

– Number of “shares” your social media posts earn
– Social media tagging and hashtag usage
– Number of promotional emails forwarded
– Number of shopping carts saved and emailed
– Shares of product links
– Promo code redemption by non-subscribers/non-followers
-Net Promoter Score (NPS)
– Number of wish lists created, or number of items added to wish lists

Loyalty

An effective engagement strategy should eventually result in repeat customers and sales. Track these measures to capture the growing loyalty of your customers:

– Repeat visits
– Creation of a username and password on your eCommerce site to store payment and shipping details for future reuse
– Number of customer reviews contributed
– Loyalty club membership signups
– Usage of loyalty club features
– Redemption of loyalty rewards
– Customer lifetime value (CLV)

In conclusion

Earning brand engagement can seem harder than ever as more and more brands compete for customers’ attention online.

However, you may encourage enduring consumer loyalty by being true to your brand’s genuine essence and by integrating channels to produce meaningful experiences.

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