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- Week 3: Customer Relationship Management
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Welcome back!
Customer engagement is the heartbeat of any successful business— it converts casual buyers into loyal fans and brand advocates. That’s why this week, we’re diving into how to keep the spark alive with your customers, making sure they always come back to you for more.
We’ll look at how companies like Airbnb, GoPro, and LEGO inspire engagement by creating emotional experiences, encouraging user-generated content, gamifying, and leveraging social media.
LE(T’S)GO!🛻
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Strategy
Got You in Your Feelings
Out of the countless products and services you buy in your lifetime, only a select number of products and brands become go-to’s or staples.
So how do you become one of those lucky few? Be memorable! What does it take to be memorable? Create emotional experiences to strengthen connections to your brand and drive engagement.
This may seem somewhat intuitive, but you may not realize just how important emotions are— especially compared to other factors (like customer satisfaction) that may seem more relevant. A Motista study found that retail customers who feel an emotional connection to a brand spend up to 2X more than those who rate themselves as “satisfied” with the brand.
When compared to customers that are simply “satisfied,” emotionally connected customers also had a 306% higher LTV, and stuck with the brand for an average of 5.1 years vs. 3.4. On top of that, they recommend brands at 71% compared to 45%.
We know, “emotional connection” sounds super abstract and hard to tangibly create.
But, it’s really the core purpose of marketing, which uses psychology and feelings to draw in people who will back your business.
Between your design, advertising, and user experience, you can create emotional reactions by connecting values, desires, and aspirations to your brand.
Using the art of narrative to create an authentic story with your brand at the center is an especially powerful way to be memorable.
Set the scene with real-life experiences and real people to help potential customers empathize. Better yet, try to resonate with their sense of purpose and identity.
If you’ve ever experienced a LEGO store, you know how the life-sized sculptures, interactive displays, and play areas make it oh-so-tempting to buy a set of your own. You may have seen these stores host events like workshops or building competitions, which get the adrenaline pumping and associate the brand with excitement.
Take a look at this ad:
As a parent, few things are more fulfilling than seeing your kid beaming with joy and pride as they see they build their creative visions into reality. This is what we mean when we talk about creating emotional connections: tapping into values, identities, and feel-good experiences.
User-generated Content: LEGO & GoPro
From planning, creating, and editing to publishing and promoting, generating your own content as a brand can get real costly real fast.
Instead of spending all that effort creating your own content, why not let the customers provide content for you?
Not only does this save you time, but it also boosts customer engagement and personal connection with your brand. Cheaper and more effective? Yes please!
The LEGO Ideas campaign is a prime example of how to implement this idea. In the Ideas section of their website, users can submit their own designs which can garner support from other LEGO fans. Get 10K supporters and your idea could be reviewed by LEGO and turned into a product sold in stores!
This works so well not just because creating something and getting recognition for it feels good, but also because users go to social media to share and promote their designs, creating even more hype around the brand.
GoPro has adopted a similar strategy, encouraging customers to post user-generated content online in their annual Million Dollar Challenge, where users submit their action-packed camera footage for a chance at winning hefty cash prizes.
This challenge helps the brand reach new audiences through organic social media promotion while also providing GoPro with enough high-quality footage for a year of content to be used in TV ads, store kiosk video reels, and social media posts.
Drive Engagement Via Socials
Getting organic social media promotion from user-generated content strategies is ideal, but you should probably also have your own initiatives to drive engagement on the social side.
Airbnb, for example, focuses on building communities for hosts and holding contests to boost online engagement.
On the host side, Airbnb manages hundreds of Facebook groups for its Host Club program, where hosts connect to ask questions (different local rules can get confusing) and get feedback on their listings from more senior hosts.
On the traveler side, Airbnb leans into user-generated content, frequently reposting customers sharing their experiences:
Airbnb also frequently partners with celebs like Lady Gaga to provide overnight stays at their place as an exclusive offering, tapping into different fanbases to encourage new audiences to experience Airbnb.
Bonus: Gamification
Gamifying is the ultimate strategy for boosting customer engagement— after all, it triggers some of the strongest, most primal emotions that motivate action. If you’ve ever played Kahoot or Quizlet Live, you know what we’re talking about.
Duolingo has pulled out all the stops to make language learning more exciting. Positive reinforcement through instant feedback (an upbeat ding and Duo’s pleased expression) taps into our sense of accomplishment and pride. The introduction of badges for specific accomplishments increased purchases in the Duolingo store by 13% and increased referrals by 116%.
The social aspect of the app includes leaderboards that drive friendly competition and trigger our desire for social status. Plus, friends and competitors can see your badges earned, making you more motivated to learn and earn them.
Emulating Snapchat’s approach, Duolingo shows streaks to give users a reason to keep coming back.
Looking Ahead
Although we separated our strategy tips between customer journey and customer engagement these past two weeks, the truth is that they go hand in hand. Inspiring engagement should be a priority at each step of the customer journey, and well-designed customer journeys can boost engagement with your brand.
Getting customers to use your product, stick with it, and show it off is all about tapping into emotions and psychological needs. Show them— or better yet— let them experience how great it feels to use your product, and if you can, tap into their sense of identity, values, and ego to really lock in that connection. The best part about successfully doing so is that highly engaged and connected customers often create a source of free marketing content!
To finish off our theme of customer relationship management, we’ll focus on collecting and implementing customer feedback to drive improvements, enhance satisfaction, and foster lasting loyalty. Look out for these tips in your inbox next week!
Here’s a reminder of this month’s subtopics:
Customer Relationship Management
Week 1: Personalization
Week 2: Customer Journey
Week 3: Engagement (This week)
Week 4: Feedback
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