Soprano

As marketers and entrepreneurs, I’m sure you’ve read a lot about what converts strangers into brand ambassadors. This also means that you’ve probably heard about the Inbound Methodology, the process that explains how you can attract potential leads, convert them into promising prospects, close the sale, and delight them to continue patronizing your brand. And if there’s one thing that makes this process a solid one, it’s consumer-brand engagement.

Consumer-brand engagement tells us that the bond between the brand and its consumers strengthens as the level of engagement heightens. Research tells us there is an evident gap between the amount of engagement consumers are getting versus the level of engagement that they actually get. Yes, brands have a number of channels that allow consumers to give them feedback. But are consumers getting feedback from the brands?

Analytics company Acxiom did extensive research and came up with these surprising numbers:

• Before making a purchase, 68% of consumers expect exclusive access to deals.
• 67% of customers enjoy time-sensitive discounts.
• 53% are hoping to get further purchase recommendations based on what they have purchased in the past.
• 63% want to have access to other offers based on their purchase history.
• 72% want to receive constant updates on the status of the delivery of their products.
• 53% want to receive notifications should there be price reductions on products they are interested in.

So how do you improve consumer-brand engagement?

Here are a few tips you can use that apply before the purchase, while the purchase is going on, and after the purchase has been made.

1. Simplify the entire customer experience.

Make every process simple. That’s the basic key. Before making the purchase, customers often check out the brand’s website. Is the site easy to navigate? Is the usual information they look for easily accessible? Is the sign-up process tedious or short? When customers see simplicity right off the bat, they immediately associate that complication-free nature with your products and services, making it easy for them to trust you. From there, be consistent and make sure that purchasing the actual product and giving feedback is just as seamless.

2. Be responsive.

This is a given, but a lot of brands still fail to do this consistently. Sure, you probably respond to every possible customer query when the prospect is still in the early stages of trying to figure out what product fits them. You probably assist them all the way until the time they actually make the purchase. But are you as responsive when it’s time for them to give feedback? When they have product complaints? When they have further questions? By being 100% responsive from the start of the buyer’s journey all the way to the end, consumers feel that you are just as committed to their satisfaction as they are.

3. Create relevant content.

Content helps your target audience find you. It is also the very thing that helps them narrow down their choices, eventually deciding to go for your brand. What a lot of brands lack, however, is content meant for existing customers, not just for new ones.

Incidentally, creating content for your current clientele is one of the trends emerging this year. It’s not just about hooking them in anymore. Rather, it’s also about ensuring brand loyalty by answering questions your current users are asking through content.

With a stronger consumer-brand engagement approach, you can ensure a stronger business that you can pull towards faster growth.

What about you? Are the strategies you have in place geared towards stronger consumer-brand engagement? What other strategies do you use to hit this goal?