A great product or service is essential to attracting customers, but is it enough to retain them? Data shows that companies are no longer competing solely on products or services. Now, they’re competing on customer engagement and experiences too. According to Salesforce, “80% of customers say the experiences provided by a company are as important to them as its products and services.” Customer engagement goes far beyond a transaction. “It's an intentional, consistent approach by a company that provides value at every customer interaction, thus increasing loyalty,” according to Outreach. The question is, how do you increase customer engagement? Here are three ways you can engage your customers and earn their loyalty.

Build a Community

Customers need a place to engage. By using social platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn, you can bring your customers together. Invite them to follow your company’s social profiles for updates and announcements, or to join an organized LinkedIn group. You can incentivize customers to engage in these groups through social contests or rewards for social shares.

A step further would be implementing a hub or active community like Influitive, which can help increase conversation on a platform where customers are encouraged to engage with the brand, company, and each other. Creating communities like these also provides user-generated content that you can share on social media or your website.

Deliver Engaging Content

Today, customers don’t just want high-quality content, they expect it. According to HubSpot, “Content marketing is important because it answers your audience’s questions and helps you build trust, develop relationships, improve conversions, and generate leads.” The content you create doesn’t have to be complex. Consider creating simple, useful content like a blog post that answers frequently asked questions or an infographic that highlights how to use your product. Content tailored to consumers’ interests, preferences, and favorite services or products can help keep them engaged with your brand.

Provide Rewards and Incentives

Simply providing the space for engagement may not be enough. Rewards and incentives can help drive customer behavior while compensating customers for their time. Providing small digital incentives for social shares, referrals, testimonials, and reviews can help increase engagement while simultaneously expanding your customer base.

Curious how you can deliver incentives? Most of our customers use Reward Link^®—the fastest, easiest way to email recipients a choice of digital gift cards. Reward Link also provides customization and tracking, so you never have to worry about keeping track of physical gift cards.

Are you interested in exploring the power of digital rewards to increase customer engagement?  Request a demo to learn more.

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