56% of brands that developed formal customer engagement strategies reported exceeding their revenue goals in 2020. (SOURCE)
1. Strained Resources
Not all brands have the bandwidth to carry out a fully-baked customer engagement plan from a manual perspective. Fortunately, marketing automation has made it possible for businesses of all shapes and sizes to implement strategies and carry out essential tasks without the need for additional human labor. This is especially true when it comes to customer service solutions for smaller companies.
For example, customers who receive personal messages during their buying journey are 7.2 times more likely to make a purchase. AI-driven chatbots can achieve this objective — and don’t worry, today’s chatbots are nothing like the stilted and robotic communicators of the past. Powered by machine learning and natural language processing, they can analyze data, make personalized recommendations, and intuitively respond to visitors in a natural, engaging way. Chatbots are also highly efficient data collectors that can help build out your marketing lists and segment your audience more effectively.
2. Poor Personalization
While a variety of factors can negatively affect a user’s overall brand experience, poor personalization has quickly become one of the most significant. Today’s consumers don’t have the willingness to wade through irrelevant messaging — nearly three-quarters say they’re frustrated by impersonal shopping experiences and will only engage with messaging that’s clearly tailored to their interests. And almost half say they’ll head straight to Amazon if the brand they’re shopping with doesn’t provide relevant product suggestions.
3. Scaling Creative
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4. Disconnected Customer Journeys
Today’s consumers want complete control over the how, when, and where of their shopping journey. This means to successfully drive engagement, brands must be prepared to engage with their customers across all channels, from website and mobile and to social and in-store. Not only that, brands need to create consistency across platforms — providing users with a cohesive and seamless experience across all major touchpoints is essential for driving engagement.
Take Starbucks, for example. The coffee giant’s rewards program kills it when it comes to customer engagement, due in large part to its masterful leveraging of omnichannel marketing. Whether program members decide to buy their java by app, online, or in-store, they’re able to access their rewards points and have updates to their accounts made in real-time across all channels. At the same time, the app streamlines the buying experience by connecting mobile and in-store experiences, allowing customers to place their orders ahead of time so they can bypass the line when they arrive at the store.
If putting together an omnichannel marketing strategy for your brand seems daunting, it’s important to remember that it’s not really about the number of channels you utilize. Rather, it’s about honing in on the platforms most important to your target audience and keeping the content relevant to each channel. As with personalization, you need robust data resources to do this effectively. The best way to start is to evaluate your channels by digging into behavioral data and determining where you should be focusing your efforts.
5. Lack of Strategy
Today’s consumers want complete control over the how, when, and where of their shopping journey. This means to successfully drive engagement, brands must be prepared to engage with their customers across all channels, from website and mobile and to social and in-store. Not only that, brands need to create consistency across platforms — providing users with a cohesive and seamless experience across all major touchpoints is essential for driving engagement.
Take Starbucks, for example. The coffee giant’s rewards program kills it when it comes to customer engagement, due in large part to its masterful leveraging of omnichannel marketing. Whether program members decide to buy their java by app, online, or in-store, they’re able to access their rewards points and have updates to their accounts made in real-time across all channels. At the same time, the app streamlines the buying experience by connecting mobile and in-store experiences, allowing customers to place their orders ahead of time so they can bypass the line when they arrive at the store.
If putting together an omnichannel marketing strategy for your brand seems daunting, it’s important to remember that it’s not really about the number of channels you utilize. Rather, it’s about honing in on the platforms most important to your target audience and keeping the content relevant to each channel. As with personalization, you need robust data resources to do this effectively. The best way to start is to evaluate your channels by digging into behavioral data and determining where you should be focusing your efforts.
