The Internet is an ever-changing landscape, steadily growing and expanding as more and more information finds its way online. As this happens, the amount of noise on the Internet also continues to increase. Search engines try their best to give users the best sites for their needs, but with so much extra nonsense out there, it can be difficult to find the right site. And even if you do find the right site, without the proper website engagement tools, you might leave disappointed.
The customer journey now begins online and your first impression is everything. Website engagement tools and user engagement platforms are becoming a popular choice for companies looking to turn a website visitor into a customer. While there are a lot of tools out there, what matters is not which brand you choose, but how you use them.
In this article we are going to explore how to use website engagement tools to make a difference for your site and its success. Hopefully once we are done you will be ready to take on any engagement problems that you might face.
Basic principles
When it comes to engaging users online, there are a few basic principles you need to understand. Website engagement tools can do a good job for you, but if you want to take your engagement to the next level, you’ll need to keep a few things in mind.
User engagement is unique for every website
Just like snowflakes, every website online is unique in a variety of different ways. What this means to you is that there is no one-size-fits all solution to your website issues and problems. It also means that you shouldn’t expect something that worked on one website to necessarily work for yours.
As you start to look at your website and how your users interact with it, think about what makes your site unique. In an ideal world, a visitor would come to your site, see your value, and start a conversation that blooms into a business relationship. There are a few too many factors in the way of making sure this happens every time, but we can do our best to get rid of as many variables as possible.
The way that good websites are designed is with the user in mind. Not only how they will interact with your site, but their needs, wants, and goals. From the design of your website to the content you create, you should always keep in mind what makes your site and users unique.
Website engagement tools will affect your bottom line
According to Wendy Lea, CEO of Get Satisfaction, user engagement has an impact on everything from your marketing efforts to your bottom line.
“Your bottom line is riding on your ability to deliver excellent service while you are meaningfully engaging customers. In order to build loyal relationships that extend and last, you need to understand the basic principles of the new definitions of customer engagement and put them into action.”
You need to be using website engagement tools to deliver excellent service while engaging with your customers. In so doing, you will be able to create a meaningful engagement experience. Here are a few approaches to doing this.
- Engagement should exist in a full spectrum of online and offline experience.
- It needs to be customer driven while still mutually beneficial to both parties.
- Engagement should be results driven
- You should be meeting your users everywhere (website, blog, social, etc.) to engage them.
Engagement boosts your marketing efforts
User engagement on your site is important for many reasons, but boosting your marketing efforts is one of the most important. If you think about it, each of the following areas of improvement come from engagement on your site.
- Increase conversions.
- Lower a high bounce rate.
- Increase search engine visibility.
- Build trust and long term relationships with your users.
- Increase social media following.
- Enhance the perceptions of the company and brand.
Boosting these engagement levels helps you understand your users and potential customers even better. Once you have started to track user engagement metrics, everything will be laid out before you to improve your marketing decisions.
Website engagement tools
Now that you are familiar with the basic principles of website engagement, let’s talk about a few different tools you can use to run a successful campaign.
Social login
By letting users login using their preferred social media profile, you are showing them that they can trust your site. Not only that, but by being logged in, there is less delay when it comes to making a purchase or interacting with the site.
- More than 50% of online users will opt to go to another site rather than complete yet another sign-up form.
- Around 90% of the users who do register won’t come back to your site if they forget their username or password.
- 73% of online users prefer to log into websites through social login.
You will not only engage with more users, but you will have more users, period. Consider a social login option as a website engagement tool to reach keep your bounce rate down.
Social sharing
Going along with the social login tool, social sharing is another good way to get more users to your site and keep them engaged throughout the entire process. Over 75% of users have more than one social networking account, so this is an area you simply cannot ignore.
By having a widget or menu on each page of your site for users to share to their networks you are giving them the ammunition they need to help your company succeed. Engage with them the right way the first time and amazing things can happen.
HubSpot
HubSpot is an inbound marketing and sales software that works with companies of all sizes to increase engagement. They can help you with social, SEO, CRM, email, blogs, and the analytics tools that you need to succeed.
Incorporating HubSpot into your website engagement tool-belt is a good way to put the best foot forward when it comes to take user engagement into your own hands.
So many more
There are plenty of other website engagement tools I could talk about, but as far as the basic of what you need for success, what we have covered is just about all you need to know. As you get started and begin to see results, you will have to be the judge of what tools will be the best for you, your company, and your website.
Remember what we said at the beginning about being unique in the digital world. As long as you always keep the end user in mind, you should have no problem being
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