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Four Reasons Digital Engagement Is A Marketers Most Important Tool

Marketers know the best way to market a product involves interacting with your customers. Increasingly, these interactions are taking place online, where attention spans are shorter, and competition is fierce. Companies that invest in digital engagement se an average revenue increase of 70%. That’s why it’s so important to move beyond just interacting with customers – you need to engage with them.

20 years ago, Marketers interacted with customers through TV commercials or in magazine ads. The world has changed since then. As computer and smartphone use has skyrocketed, digital engagement has become a pillar of marketing strategies. It is no longer enough to rely on conventional marketing practices alone. Now, more than 58% of small businesses using digital marketing to attract customers. These businesses are turning to digital engagement for several reasons, including:

  • Enhancing customer experience
  • Using Data to Personalize Interactions
  • Building Customer Loyalty
  • Expanding Market Reach

Let’s explore each of these in more detail.

Companies that invested in digital customer engagement saw an average revenue increase of 70%.

Business Wire
Enhancing Customer Experience

The customer experience includes all the interactions a customer has with a brand or product. Every company strives for each interaction to be positive. One of the benefits of interactions happening online is that they are easier to quantify and measure. These metrics provide a reliable gauge of how customers view a brand or product. They show the financial implications of positive online activities. According to Business Wire, companies that invested in digital customer engagement saw an average revenue increase of 70%.

One of the best ways of making online interactions are positive is to make them engaging. This is  accomplished in a variety of ways:

  • Online contest
  • Product builders / personalization
  • Voting and polls
  • Encouraging the distribution of User Generated Content

Social media has become a common channel for companies to engage with customers. Though it is far from the only option. Social Media encourages two way communication between companies and their customer. This in turn increases the positivity customers feel towards the brand. It’s been shown that 76% of consumers value how quickly a brand can respond to their needs on social media. This translates into higher company profits.

Infographic stating that 69% of customers are comfortable with personalization, as long as brands are using their own data and not purchase data
Data and Personalization

Online customer interactions leave a trail of data to be collected and analyzed. This data is then used to improve future marketing efforts and to personalize customer interactions. When customer interactions are personalized, customer engagement and brand positivity soars. According to Zendesk, better digital customer engagement leads to more customer data and better customer experiences.³.

Examples of personalization include:

  • Product or content recommendations
  • Customized email messages
  • Modified website options & content
Building Customer Loyalty

For most businesses, there is value in having customers return to make future purchases. It is often less expensive to make a sale to a past customer, than to a new one. But how can companies encourage this repeat behaviour? Digital engagement now plays a crucial role. By combining personalised content with increased interactions, companies can increase the loyalty of a customer. With loyalty, a little can go a long way. An increase of just 5% can lead to an increase in profits of 25%!

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Growing Brand Reach

Companies grow when they are able to get new customers. The value of a good digital engagement strategy is that is a cost-effective way for companies to reach new customers. This is because engaging digital content

  • collects data on market trends;
  • provides opportunities for word-of-mouth marketing;
  • is easily distributed;
  • is easily found by interested parties.

Companies use the information and knowledge collected by these activities to shape their strategies moving forward.

What Else Is There To Know

As with everything in life, there are always drawbacks. While the benefits of digital engagement are clear, it is important to note that companies need to be aware of some potential pitfalls. These include:

  • Data privacy concerns
  • Content is forever
  • Internal processes and policy changes
  • Rapidly changing technology
  • Can be resource intensive

Navigating these issues can be daunting. Especially for companies that are unfamiliar with digital marketing. By taking smaller steps and focusing on one item at a time, many companies can successfully incorporate digital engagement into their marketing activities. For those that have questions or would like some help, The Casual Design Studio is a great resource.