7 Tips for Boosting Customer Engagement Within Your Online Shop

As a business owner, it’s important to understand that there isn’t always a direct correlation between good products and good sales. Out of your competitors, you could have the best products on the market, but without the work put in to boost customer engagement, there’s every possibility they will not gain the attention they deserve. In fact, research shows that customer acquisition relies more on how well you present and promote your product than on the product itself. So how exactly do you boost customer engagement within your Shopify store?

Reaching Customers Outside of Your Online Shop

Our first tip is to take things outside of your online shop. There are several avenues you can use to acquire and encourage customers, with one of the most popular in recent years being SMS marketing. With higher open rates than email marketing – up to 98% – SMS has proven to be one of the most effective channels for driving engagement and boosting sales. Unlike email, which can often get lost in a crowded inbox, test messages are typically read within minutes of being received making Shopify SMS marketing a powerful tool if you want to send out timely promotions, flash sales, or automated cart abandonment reminders.

Personalising Product Recommendations

In the same vein, SMS marketing can also be useful for personalising product recommendations – which is another area that you will need to get right to boost customer engagement. So long as it is based on data they have explicitly shared with businesses, personalisation is appreciated by 70% of customers, with 76% getting frustrated when this doesn’t happen. By using customer data and behaviour analytics, you can show customers products that align directly with their preferences, previous purchases, or browsing behaviour. This can then increase the likelihood of repeat purchases and work to boost their engagement whenever they click on your online shop.

Building Customer Reviews

The vast majority of potential customers will read reviews before they purchase a product. With this in mind, you should be encouraging existing customers to leave reviews and share user-generated content to act as social proof. By displaying reviews – including photos or videos of customers using your products – you can work to boost engagement on your page and make your brand feel far more authentic. It’s important to remember, of course, that consumers tend to trust the opinions of fellow buyers over branded content. Especially if those opinions are coming from people they know, which brings us nicely to our next tip!

Take Advantage of Influencer Marketing

Over the last decade, influencer marketing has become a powerful tool for expanding reach and tapping into established audiences. By collaborating with influencers in your field, you can formulate endorsements that direct traffic to your online store, so long as those influencers are experts at creating authentic, engaging content that resonates. Whether it’s through product reviews, tutorials, or unboxing videos, this kind of content can be hugely influential in grabbing the attention of buyers and giving them a more reliable reason to check out what you have to offer.

Being There for the Customer

Another good way to boost customer engagement is by being there for them. Adding a live chat feature to your site, for instance, can allow customers to quickly get answers to their questions, reducing friction during the buying process and working to form a more tangent link between them and your business. It’s important to remember, of course, that one of the leading reasons for abandoned carts is a lack of customer support. By resolving concerns instantly and reassuring customers, you can not only reduce your bounce rate but also enhance customer satisfaction, fostering a sense of appreciation and – hopefully – loyalty down the road.

Creating Loyalty Programs

Speaking of loyalty, another way to continually drive customer engagement is through setting up loyalty or rewards programs. These allow customers to earn points from making purchases, referring friends, or engaging with your store on social media – points that can then be redeemed for discounts or exclusive offers. Like the personalisation aspect, this is a good, easy way to keep your customers engaged with what you’re doing, as they’ll be on the lookout for good, worthwhile offers that are tailored just for them.

Creating the Right Aesthetic

Lastly, as we mentioned before, it’s not about the products themselves, but how you present them. So make sure you present them in the best way possible. An online store should be beautiful to look at, easy to navigate, and provide a seamless shopping experience that any customer will enjoy. If you make sure that the overall design of your online store looks great – while accurately reflecting your brand’s identity – there’s every chance you will appeal to a wider audience, and engage them well enough to get them buying.