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How to Engage Online Customers

You often hear of the advice that you need to “engage your customers.” Engaged customers are more loyal, and more likely to recommend you to others.

But how exactly do you “engage the customer,” especially online where you don’t get a chance to personally talk to the customer and present your products unlike traditional retailing?

• Get out of the mentality that all you need to sell is to write the features and descriptions of your products. You need to communicate to them why your brand is different from your competitors.
• Understand your customers by knowing what is important to them, the language they use to communicate , their lifestyle, and what they respond to.
• Show what the customers can buy, and explain why they should buy them.
• Use testimonials, stories and photos of customers who have used your products.
• Offer additional content in your website that will provide context to the use of your products (e.g. recipes that can be cooked using your kitchen utensil products)

I discussed in LearningfromBigBoys.com one of the best examples of the use of experiential marketing on the Web today, that by the outdoor clothing company Patagonia.com.

For more information and tips on how to engage the customer, read the article “Building Customer Engagement.”