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There’s data to support this. The Harvard Business Review reports that emotionally connected customers are 52 percent more valuable than those who are just highly satisfied. And a recent Gallup poll found that customers who are fully engaged represent a 23-percent premium in terms of share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and relationship growth over the average nonengaged customer.
What’s more, people who are emotionally engaged with your company tend to buy more products, exhibit less price sensitivity, pay more attention to your communications, visit you more often, and recommend you more.
Why does engaging with customers work? Basically, human nature. Emotions shape our perception of who we are. And people perceive brands to have personalities as well. Using genuine emotions (not manufactured — people see through that) as part of your marketing strategy makes your brand more human and likeable. Which, in turn, influences people’s buying decisions and drives long-term loyalty.
How do you foster an emotional connection with customers? Here are a few building blocks:
Figure out people’s key motivators.
What makes your customers tick? Do they desire a sense of freedom? Belonging? Social-mindedness? Quirkiness? Youth? Refinement?
Run surveys that help you figure out the emotional undercurrents that resonate with your current and prospective customers. Focus groups and face-to-face surveys may be more fruitful, as you can ask follow-up questions and evaluate body language and facial expressions (which can both be far revealing than words when it comes to emotions).
Create positive, emotional content.
Weave positivity into your content marketing efforts. Research shows that marketing content that evokes positive messages has a much higher chance of going viral than negative content. Use the learnings from your surveys and focus groups to determine which chords to strike with your content.
Start a loyalty program.
Make your repeat customers feel special by rewarding them with unique, special perks you know they’ll love. It’s easy to start a rewards program customized to your business with Square Loyalty.
Personalize your messaging.
Blast email campaigns have their time and place (sales, large events), but they can start to seem impersonal if sent too frequently. It’s important to make highly curated email a cornerstone of your email marketing strategy.
Square Email Marketing automatically segments your customer list into loyal, casual, and lapsed, so you can target messages you know will resonate with each group. You can also set up campaigns that trigger email with special offers to people on their birthday or anniversary with your business.
Be conversational.
Be as engaged as possible on social media. Ask questions. Answer questions. Have some fun and bantering conversations with your followers. Be as human and real as possible.
Go omnichannel.
To attract increasingly connected consumers, an omnichannel strategy is important. And analysis shows that customers who engage in an omnichannel experience with a business are much more emotionally connected and therefore more valuable. Learn more about how to create an omnichannel marketing strategy.
