Shopify has made it easy for anyone to set up an eCommerce website. But, having a website alone does not guarantee success. You need to engage with your customers and create relationships with them. Today customers have endless choices and advertisements may make them notice your brand but you need to do more to convince them to make a purchase. Here are a few clever ways you can engage with customers and earn their trust.
Create Useful Content
Content creation is an integral part of every Shopify marketing strategy. Publishing unique, useful content serves many goals – it draws organic traffic to your website, positions your brand as a thought leader in the industry, builds trust in the brand and more. A study by the Content Marketing Institute found that 79% of respondents agreed that content marketing increased audience engagement. You can publish content in the form of blogs, articles, infographics, videos, etc. Content for customer engagement even includes answering questions on forums like Reddit and Quora. Irrespective of the medium, it must be customer-centric, relevant, original and attractive. When it comes to written content, it must be grammatically correct.
Star Tip: Avoid purely promotional content. At the same time, make sure you use relevant keywords to make your content SEO friendly.
Start a Rewards Program
Everyone loves feeling special and enjoys a little VIP treatment. Implementing a rewards program can go a long way in improving customer engagement. It makes your customers feel valued and the promise of points, discounts and prizes make them loyal to the brand. According to a recent survey, 75% of customers make repeat purchases from companies that offer rewards. They are also more likely to recommend a brand if it has a loyalty program. There are many different types of reward programs you could design. Customers can earn points by placing orders online, referring the site to others, leaving reviews, etc. The Shopify App Store has many applications that can be used to build, customize and manage a reward program.
Star Tip: Gamify your Rewards program by letting customers climb up levels for more benefits by earning points.
Leverage Social Media Social Media is a great budget-friendly way to connect with prospective customers and stay engaged with your existing customer base. Setting up an account does not cost you anything. Each platform, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and so on offers a plethora of opportunities to promote your brand without shouting about it. You can use social media to launch new products, talk about upgrades, share reviews, hold contests and more. Talk about the brand and the people behind it. It’s also a great platform to share your content. You can even repost content from your followers to make them feel part of your journey. The key idea here is to put up regular posts and develop a relationship with your customers.
Star Tip: Social media is also a great direct communication platform. When customers raise questions or concerns, address them promptly to reaffirm their faith in the brand.
Work with Influencers
Today, you cannot talk about social media without mentioning influencers. Influencers are people with a very high number of followers. They’re minor celebrities in their own right. Working with influencers can expand your reach and boost traffic to the website. Influencers typically ask for a fee to put up a post about your brand. Some may also collaborate with brands in exchange for products of a certain value. Either way, you need to keep your budget in mind when finding the right influencer to speak up for your brand.
Star Tip: If influencers are beyond your budget, make your existing customers into influencers by giving them incentives to promote your brand. People trust reviews by other people like them much more than they trust brands advertising themselves.
Start an Email Campaign
Emails can be used for much more than just confirming orders. This is a cheap and powerful tool for customer engagement. Every dollar spent on developing an email campaign has an ROI of $40. This makes it one of the most effective customer engagement channels. Email campaigns can be used to announce new product ranges, give seasonal discounts, talk about events and even simply give your customers updates about what the brand is up to. To make your campaigns more effective, break up the audience into demographic groups and customize your campaigns accordingly. For example, a brand selling clothing can promote different products for men and women.
Star Tip: Like the other content you create, make sure your emails are informative and not spammy.
Personalize Customer Interactions
Lastly, finding out a customer’s name is not difficult. When customers sign up for a newsletter or place an order, they share their names with you. Use this data and other information you have about the customer to improve the Shopify customer service experience by personalizing every interaction. It could be as simple as addressing them by their name in emails. Send them a gift card or a discount coupon on their birthday. If a customer has abandoned a shopping cart, send out a reminder email. You could also personalize their experience by suggesting products you think they would like based on their previous purchases.
Star Tip: Mention the customer’s name in the email subject to increase your email open rate.
FAQs
- How can you segment customers to personalize interactions? Shopify helps eCommerce merchants segment customers by providing many filters. You can segment customers by city, account status, average spend, language, etc.
- Can you add a blog to your Shopify website? Yes, you can add a blog to your Shopify website. From your Shopify login navigate to Online Store > Blog Posts and click on Create Blog Post. You can then add a link to the blog to your main navigational menu.
- Can you add product reviews to the Shopify product pages? Yes, you can use a Product Review app to allow customers to leave reviews on your website.
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Illustrations by micheile, Solenfeyissa, Natasha Remarchuk from Unsplash and Ouch!
