Customer Engagement is a complex and multi-dimensional concept that captures every interaction between a customer and a business. One thing is crystal clear: customer engagement goes beyond commercial transaction.

It’s not about buying and selling, it’s about customers feeling “connected” and excited about what business offers, how it treats them, and what it stands for.  It is about the feeling of dedication and enthusiasm through the services offered, the type of service and the identity of the business itself.

 Importance of Customer Engagement 

Based on a 2022 study, technology and social media’s rise have played a vital role in accelerating and facilitating the growth of client’s engagement, particularly since 2021. This period marks a key point in both interest and application in the field.

The growing interest in Customer Engagement stems from it’s association with concepts such as customer loyalty, trust, satisfaction and value creation and is expressed through:

• word of mouth

• constant communication

• recommendation to new customers  (According to McKinsey, engaged customers are 50% more likely to suggest the brand.)

• participation in business actions

However, the major question is: why, despite widespread access to technology and social media, are customer engagement efforts still considered a challenge?

What puts Customer Engagement in danger ?  

 The Impact of Scattered Data in Building Customer Engagement  

Before any marketing or promotion attempt, before starting to generate ideas for increased engagement, you need to have your customers data analyzed to gain perspective about who exactly your customers are.

According to a Harvard research, 32% of companies highlight the dominance of disjointed and siloed data across different departments that affects their company’s customer engagement efforts negatively.

Consumers now desire fast, personalised service across multiple channels. In fact, 86% of them are more likely to pay more for a greater and more unique experience (SuperOffice). Scattered customer information means lack of insights and analytics about clients, hindering strategic decisions such as segmentation and personalised experiences.

 The Critical Gap in Customer Engagement Tools 

Another significant challenge is the absence of innovative customer engagement platforms, noted by 29% of businesses. Understanding your customers is just the beginning; fostering retention and long-term relationships requires the use of groundbreaking apps and consistent effort.

As noted by  Frederick Reichheld, a minor 5% increase in customer retention can dramatically boost profits by 25% to 95%.

The customer lifecycle involves stages such as lead acquisition, conversion into customers, and retention through quality, authenticity, and emotional connections. As a result, companies need the means and the right formula not only to select information but also to process data and create targeted strategies in order to boost customer engagement rates, thus maintaining their existing clients.

   How to manage challenges jeopardising customer engagement   

 Centralizing Data: A single source of truth-Zoho CRM 

Companies of different sizes and markets want their customers to be involved with their brand and interact with them on a consistent basis, which result in them being satisfied and loyal.

McKinsey shows that 64% are more likely to purchase more frequently than non-loyal, non-engaged customers.

To achieve this goal, it’s necessary to understand customer interests, needs and what inspires them. In order to achieve a clear understanding of customers’ preferences, businesses need to embrace customers relationship management, to centralize data.

Zoho CRM is a powerful tool for:

• storing and centralizing disparate data in a company

• organising customer interactions, sales details, and preferences

• offering reports on sales performance, customer behavior, and forecasting

• integrating with other Zoho apps or third-party apps for seamless data sync

Maximizing Personalization with Zoho CRM’s Guided Selling Feature 

Zoho CRM’s in-built CPQ engine facilitates Guided Selling, which helps salespeople make personalised product recommendations to customers. This feature suggests products based on the customer’s unique needs and preferences. Instead of manually sifting through a long list of products, salespeople can quickly find the most relevant ones for each customer and generate accurate quotes.

Additionally, Guided Selling considers not only product-related factors but also other related factors like accounts, contacts, vendors, and deals, making the sales process even more personalised and efficient.

With such a feature a customer is more likely to be satisfied, thus actively clicking on your services and interacting with the company.

  Strategic E-Mail Marketing with Zoho Campaigns

Through Zoho Campaigns companies can enhance interaction and retention by embracing key strategies such as:

• segmenting audience for more relevant communications based on past interactions, behaviour, preferences, and purchase history

• employing A/B testing to refine messaging (you can send two emails into two separate groups and make only one change in call to action-bottom, subject line or template and measure what works better)

• automating email workflows to ensure timely engagement (for example, welcome series for new subscribers, nurture series for prospects, and re-engagement series for inactive customers.)

 The Power of Integrated Zoho Apps in Maximizing Customer Engagement 

 From Social Media Presence and Digital Marketing Performance to Feedback Analysis and Learning Initiatives 

A blend of zoho applications could craft a targeted, multi-channel engagement strategy. The question that arises is how each app contributes to building a multifaceted approach.

Zoho Social enhances brand presence across various platforms, allowing for the creation of a distinct Brand Voice through:

• Crafting targeted campaigns.

• Scheduling posts in advance.

• Monitoring social activities.

• Analyzing performance across different channels.

Consumers are more likely to buy from (78%), choose (77%), and recommend (76%) a brand they’ve had positive engagements with on social media.

Marketing Automation includes a broad spectrum of tools and functionalities designed to automate various marketing processes, repetitive tasks and customer interactions across multiple channels.

• It enables lead prioritisation by scoring them based on engagement to focus on high-potential prospects.

• It uses Journey Builder for personalised paths from awareness to loyalty.

• It nurtures clients and achieves high engagement levels.

Zoho Survey facilitates interactive engagement and  measures customer satisfaction,  turning interactions into dialogues where every customer’s feedback is a stepping stone to personalised journeys

• Through question formats like sliders, rankings, and open-ended responses a company collects valuable feedback. This creates a win-win situation: customers express their opinions and interact with the organisation, while the business gains insights for improvement, hence redefining it’s approach.

Trainer Central as an alternative customer engagement portal, is designed for trainers to create online training programs. Combined with other Zoho apps, this approach can guide the development of a dynamic 360-degree customer engagement strategy since lifelong learning and creating value for customers remain timeless trends and highly effective techniques. Trainer Central enhances clients’ understanding of new or existing services by,

• creating webinars for educational purposes (clients are not obligated to know about your innovations, you need to teach them)

• collecting information and visualising data with Zoho Analytics integration

 Revolutionising Customer Engagement 

The secret for Customer Engagement lies in focusing on the quality of your service and adopting a buyer centric approach based on trust. While first impressions are important, establishing a strong presence in your field demands organisation, precision, perseverance, and patience.

Social media can have a big impact on your relationship with customers but it’s crucial to diversify your communication and interaction methods and quantify the results of your practices in order to excel. Select the data, gain insight and personilise your strategies!

If you are willing to break through the celling and chase every opportunity technology, Zoho and Repath Solutions offer, contact our experts to achieve unparalleled levels of customer engagement transformation and success. Make your business a customer engagement specialist.