Welcome to the knowledge bank

Our regular schedule of insight, resources and advice on how home and interior brands can improve their sales and marketing.

Episode 1 - 10 Rules for Better Customer Engagement

Customer behaviours change quickly and new trends can set the course on what is expected from brands to be considered a “good customer experience”. Many home interior brands are falling behind in this area resulting in dwindling customer engagement. Here are 10 key rules to pick those customer engagement metrics back up and avoid falling behind.

1. Take, and act on, customer feedback

One of the most valuable methods of increasing customer engagement is to increase your understanding of their needs.

Customers, especially in B2B marketing, are looking for a value exchange.

Defining what is valuable for your target audience should come from the horse's mouth - bolstering your engagement rates in the process.

2. Invest in personalisation

According to Hubspot's state of marketing report, around 75% of marketers believe a personalised experience increases sales and the likelihood of a contact becoming a repeat customer.

As audience expectations around a personalised user experience increase, so do the engagement benefits for those brands that have taken action.

3. Connect your touchpoints

Meeting customer needs at each touchpoint they engage with is a key component of a good customer experience and subsequently better customer engagement.

Spend the time mapping out your customer journey so you can identify each area where your customers are engaging - creating content that matches these spaces.

4. Reduce the number of clicks

The more interruptions you present to your online audiences, the less likely they are to engage with you in a meaningful way.

Remember, your engagement rates need to reflect those engagements that are genuinely valuable.

Look at ways of reducing the number of clicks your users need to take before they get what they are looking to achieve. For example, our AI-powered image search tool, Shop That Look, is designed to reduce the required number of customer interactions to 2-3 clicks from browsing to basket.

5. Identify pain points

Always review the touchpoints that your audience is commonly hitting - consider how these are working out for your audience and how they could be improved to make them more appealing.

Ask your audience (see rule 1) what channels they get information from. Are you covering these within your touchpoint journey?

6. Make the most of your data

Your ideas are opinions without insights and your insights are ideas without data.

Pick out your engagement objectives, then conduct a small exercise so you can plan exactly how you are going to measure your success.

Pick out your engagement data this way to avoid getting overwhelmed.

7. Define (and protect) your brand

Your brand is more than just your logo. Consider your messaging and positioning within your market. Is your audience able to relate to your brand at each point in their journey?

Make sure that your brand is consistent across each channel you are covering.

Not looking after your brand can lead to poor interpretations, which means less brand recall, which means colder prospect engagement.

8. Know your audience

It is essential that marketers invest their time and attention into painting a clear picture of their target audience. Create your market segments and develop a clear market persona.

This is your target audience, and you need to appeal to their needs, so define it well.

9. Reward customer loyalty

Exchange further value to your existing customers to help them engage with your brand.

Delighting your existing audience is a fantastic way to develop a positive reputation with other prospects through testimonials and advocacy.

It's also a great way to bolster your personalisation activity - gathering useful information for long-term customers to build on your relationship with them.

10. Invest in technology

Falling behind on how new tech is impacting your marketing is increasingly likely to result in customers considering your online experience poor.

Explore your options for investing in new tech for your home interior brand to help engage your target audience better.

Boost your online engagement with Onfigr

Our tools can help home interior brands create a remarkable customer journey and propel your customer engagement to the next level.

To learn how we can help you achieve your marketing goals, get in touch.