Engagement is a buzzword that’s thrown around a lot in the digital space. Are your target customers interacting with the content you publish? Are your posts being shared organically with friends and family of your target audience? Engagement, as a concept, is important because it shows that your audience is enjoying and feels attached to your marketing efforts.
But, how do potential clients measure your company’s engagement? With 63% of millennials stating that they monitor the social media presence of the brands they love, or are interested in, it’s critical that your company appears, at a glance, to be engaged.
Let’s scratch beneath to surface to understand how your audience forms an impression of your brand’s engagement.
1. Facebook Message Response Time
Facebook will tell viewers of your Facebook Page how quickly your company responds to messages. Before a potential customer even interacts with your page, the response time is presented along with other vital company information. These stats indicate to a consumer how digitally engaged your brand is. A response time of more than a few minutes is a pretty good indicator that a brand is disengaged with their social media audience.
2. How Easy is it To Find Your Company’s Phone Number?
When a customer has a question about a product or service, where is the first place they go to find answers? You guessed it, Google! How easy is it for customers to find the appropriate method to reach you? An SEO agency can help your business ensure that it shows up in Google’s search results. The information included in the pages that populate in Google’s search results need to include an easy method for immediate contact.
The most popular contact methods your customers want:
On-Site 24/7 Chat Support
Mobile, App-Based 24/7 Chat Support
A 1-800 number to reach your 24/7 customer support team
E-Mail or Contact Form that is monitored 24/7
You’ll notice that the most popular option for getting support is via a chat service. Chat is quick (if it’s properly staffed), and it’s easy to interact with while performing other tasks. A phone call requires total conscious attention. A chat can easily communicate most issues, while allowing the customer to multi-task. And, your bottom-line benefits because a single agent can handle multiple chats at one time (although this should be carefully monitored to avoid a negative impact on customer service).
3. Is your site mobile and IoT friendly?
The number of internet-connected devices used by customers is mind-boggling. From smartwatches to refrigerators, and everything in-between, the Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly expanding. This directly impacts how customers engage with your brand.
For example, Amazon offers “Dash Buttons”, which allow their shoppers to instantly order a refill of a household item with the press of a button. This not only places a brand inside the homes, offices and vehicles of the customers that are most loyal to the products they use every day, but it allows for a refill to be ordered, charged and delivered without the use of a smartphone, tablet or computer. This invention has literally connected the pantry to the internet. That’s crazy, right?
Wrong, it’s smart business. Consumers want to interact with the brands they love, and fulfill their needs with the absolute least amount of effort possible. Your brand needs to interact and engage customers on the platform they’re most comfortable with; whether that’s a pantry shelf, or their smartphone.
If your company’s website isn’t mobile-friendly, you have a problem. Brafton reports that “21% of all ecommerce purchases take place on mobile devices.” Are you comfortable watching a fifth of your market head to the competition’s mobile-friendly platform for ordering and interacting with their services?
In today’s digital age, it’s mission critical that your brand is perceived as engaging with the customer. Customer service isn’t just about offering a solution; the medium for offering that solution is critical. Facebook, smartwatches and even the kitchen table are all places your brand needs to be present and hyper-engaged. If a message comes into your team, how long does it take for your customer service team to provide a meaningful response? And, no, those auto-replies to trouble tickets do not count.
Your customers are watching, before they even click, call or stop by. Are you comfortable with what they’re seeing and feeling?
