In this competitive era, it is imperative for businesses to have a positive image amidst their existing and prospective customers. The changing trends in marketing help SMEs build a positive and high brand recall. Implementing and selecting from the plethora of available marketing technologies to quickly scale and achieve business goals is yet another way of growing quickly for startups today. Technology has made it easier for us to study business behavior and trends and accordingly interact and chalk out strategies for customer engagement.

Customers today prefer instant responses and information easily available with a few taps. This is only possible for a business to achieve with a mobile-first approach for any sort of customer engagement. So, whether a SME is trying to woo customers and generate leads, through paid ads on social media, or a startup that believes in generating engaging messages, to organically attract customers to their website or app, they need to make sure all content packaged for mobile users is easy to consume and is also available in various formats.

Businesses today need to be agile and think out of the application and website ecosystem to connect with the customers. Instead of waiting for the customers to reach out to them, they are engaging with customers on channels they already use and prefer such as WhatsApp and social media messaging apps. Thus, Mobile engagement is helping SMEs broaden their horizons and scale up quickly.

So how do businesses go about selecting their channel mix for their customer engagement strategy? Let me share some tips to help businesses and budding entrepreneurs get started.

Study user behavior

The company needs to dive into buyer personas and their current interest and find out where they are more active. Is it messaging apps? Is it social media? Do they prefer getting reminders through recorded calls? Investing in a new messaging channel can only be justified if the customers are likely to spend enough time and are responsive on those channels. The statistics can be prepared on the basis of demographics, online surveys conducted by the companies or through available industry databases.

Study user behavior

The company needs to dive into buyer personas and their current interest and find out where they are more active. Is it messaging apps? Is it social media? Do they prefer getting reminders through recorded calls? Investing in a new messaging channel can only be justified if the customers are likely to spend enough time and are responsive on those channels. The statistics can be prepared on the basis of demographics, online surveys conducted by the companies or through available industry databases.

The customer engagement strategy

Businesses today are moving towards a customer centric strategy by providing a more personalized and richer customer experience. If companies are looking at serving customers at scale or personalized communication or a mix of both, they need to review their current customer engagement strategy. Using a Marketing Automation tool can give them a unified view of the customer, analyze large sets of customer data and personalize communication and use various channels to disseminate your message.

The customer engagement strategy

Businesses today are moving towards a customer centric strategy by providing a more personalized and richer customer experience. If companies are looking at serving customers at scale or personalized communication or a mix of both, they need to review their current customer engagement strategy. Using a Marketing Automation tool can give them a unified view of the customer, analyze large sets of customer data and personalize communication and use various channels to disseminate your message.

Select the channels for engagement

Figuring out the right channel mix might take some time and perhaps also some trial and error. Every channel also serves a different purpose. For example, one can consider SMS and Email for transactional and OTP alerts, Voice IVRs and chatbots for customer support, social media and push notifications as part of their digital promotional strategy, and messaging apps such as WhatsApp to share information on demand.

Select the channels for engagement

Figuring out the right channel mix might take some time and perhaps also some trial and error. Every channel also serves a different purpose. For example, one can consider SMS and Email for transactional and OTP alerts, Voice IVRs and chatbots for customer support, social media and push notifications as part of their digital promotional strategy, and messaging apps such as WhatsApp to share information on demand.

Everyone loves instant messaging

The channel mix also needs to be reconfigured based on changing user behavior and marketing trends. Businesses are leaning towards messaging apps as they want to reach out to customers where they are, instantly. Therefore, businesses are leveraging messaging apps, social media ads, multi-channel chatbots, and push notifications for reselling and providing customer support.

Everyone loves instant messaging

The channel mix also needs to be reconfigured based on changing user behavior and marketing trends. Businesses are leaning towards messaging apps as they want to reach out to customers where they are, instantly. Therefore, businesses are leveraging messaging apps, social media ads, multi-channel chatbots, and push notifications for reselling and providing customer support.

Make sure you have the resources to support your vision

However, if companies do decide to invest in any channel or Marketing Automation tool, they need to have the resources and technology expertise to ensure that they can deliver a rich customer experience to the customers who opt-in to receive messages and offers. Businesses need to ensure automated responses and information on demand is available using automated workflows. 

Make sure you have the resources to support your vision

However, if companies do decide to invest in any channel or Marketing Automation tool, they need to have the resources and technology expertise to ensure that they can deliver a rich customer experience to their customers who opt-in to receive messages and try to connect with them on the selected channel. Businesses need to ensure automated responses and information on demand is available using automated workflows. 

Once the companies have settled on their channel mix and decided on the customer strategy they want to adopt, they are half their way to building a long-term relationship of trust with their customers. When choosing the mobile engagement tools, not just staying at the top of mind of the customer would be their priority, but keeping the customers engaged with relevant and personalized experiences should also be a business goal. Whatever strategy and channel mix the business adopts, they need to make sure that they have the technology expertise onboard to scale as the company grows. That is where we come in, with almost two decades of experience as mobile communication leaders, Karix can ensure optimal results for your customer engagements, whether you need to hyper-personalize messages using Marketing Automation or reach your consumers across channels such as Chatbots, Email, Voice, SMS, Messaging apps and more at scale.