Creating a great customer engagement strategy is one thing, but implementing it is another. Even with an easy-to-use visual campaign builder<\/a> that makes mapping out your messaging strategy effortless, you still need to make sure you’re hitting the right notes with your communications.<\/p>\n So how do you know what your messages should look like to be as effective and engaging as possible? Below, we share key best practices for successful customer engagement, the anatomy of a good message, and a few examples to get your juices flowing.<\/p>\n Customer engagement is the process of building a relationship between a business and its customers. It encompasses all customer communications over the course of the customer lifecycle, and aims to help customers get maximum value from your product while strengthening their ongoing relationship with your company.<\/p>\n Successful engagement depends on sending the right messages, to the right people, at the right time and place, to help them get to a desired outcome. The channels can vary, but at Intercom we focus on a wide mix of messaging types such as email<\/a>, in-app messages<\/a>, Product Tours<\/a>, Mobile Carousels<\/a>, and customizable bots<\/a>. Above all, the best customer engagement feels conversational<\/a> \u2013 a friendly back-and-forth exchange that builds trust and confidence at every step.<\/p>\n It sounds straightforward, but the nuance is that there is no single quantifiable definition of engagement across different products. For a productivity app an engaged customer should be logging in every day to add and complete items, whereas for tax software, an engaged user might only log in a couple times a year.<\/p>\n When you get to the point quickly, your messaging becomes instantly clearer. Clarity makes your writing easier to understand, easier to retain, and more enjoyable to read, and all of that makes your readers happy.<\/p>\n No matter if your company is B2B or B2C, keep your business communications action-oriented, and quickly explain what you want the reader to do. Here are some examples of clear, accessible language:<\/p>\n We\u2019ve all become experts at ignoring messages that aren\u2019t meant specifically for us. Adopting a personal tone<\/a> can make all the difference in improving customer relationships. At a minimum, address people by their name. Replace company logos with photographs of real individuals, which helps make a personal connection.<\/p>\n At Intercom, when selecting the type of message to send to our customers, we often use an in-app chat style message or a simple plain text email, because they feel handcrafted and direct. We know they are likely to get better engagement than something that looks like it was sent to the masses.<\/p>\n A word of warning, however \u2013 it\u2019s possible to come across as too personal when you don\u2019t know the customer. No one likes overfamiliarity from folks they\u2019ve never met. The tone you should aim for is akin to leaving a voicemail for an aunt you only ever meet at family celebrations. Warm and friendly, but respectful about what you don\u2019t yet know.<\/p>\n One of the basic tenets of communication is that the more you try to appeal to everybody, the more you end up connecting with nobody.<\/p>\n To land effectively and build brand loyalty, your message has to be specific and appropriate to the customer.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you\u2019ve just launched your photography app and have acquired those all-important first 100 customers. All of these signups share an interest in your business, but they\u2019re not necessarily interested in the same thing. Some will want to know about your shutter speed and focus settings, some will be interested in your dancing hotdog filters. Your job is to tailor your message to both types of customer.<\/p>\n “The key is in carefully defining your audience for each message, and targeting them based on their behaviors so that the message is as relevant as possible”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A powerful feature for creating personalized messages is to include custom attributes in each message, specific to each customer. For example, you could use transactional messaging<\/a> to send multichannel messages triggered by specific customer actions or dates. You could contact everyone who has nearly reached storage capacity in your photo sharing app, and let them know exactly how much space they have left. Maybe you could mail your customers about their incomplete orders, or you could message your customers about their unfinished projects to encourage them to complete them.<\/p>\n The key is in carefully defining your audience for each message, and targeting them based on their behaviors<\/a> so that the message is as relevant as possible.<\/p>\n You wouldn\u2019t send a message to business customers in the US on the Fourth of July, so be aware of major holidays<\/a> in other parts of the world where you might have lots of customers. What might be an oversight to you might display a lack of insight to your loyal customers.<\/p>\n Your customers have given you permission to email them but don\u2019t abuse their inbox. Depending on the nature of your app they are there to enjoy themselves, complete a job, or save time, not to hear about what they can do to make your life easier.<\/p>\n The more people there are in your company, the harder it is to maintain a consistent voice and tone. A company style guide helps ensure a consistent voice in your brand messaging. We love published examples from Mailchimp<\/a> and Slack<\/a>. At Intercom we\u2019ve also shared why we think a style guide for a brand experience is so important<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tone is more subtle and depends on the context of the message. As you\u2019re writing, consider the reader\u2019s state of mind. Are they relieved to be finished setting up your product? Are they confused and seeking help through customer support? Are they disappointed to have reached the limits of your free plan? Once you have an idea of their emotional state, you can adjust your tone accordingly.<\/p>\n You have a limited amount of words to play with so be clear and direct. When viewed on a desktop the average inbox will show about 60 characters of the subject line. But increasingly, email is read on mobile devices \u2013 more than 50% according to estimates. In that scenario, you can\u2019t be sure that any more than 30\u201340 characters will be visible, which means you have less than 6\u20138 words to get to the point. Our own research has found that, on average, messages that are opened have shorter subject lines.<\/p>\n Of course, it can\u2019t just be any 5 words; you have to make sure they\u2019re interesting too<\/a>. Above all, avoid the temptation to tell your customers that you miss them<\/a> \u2013 that approach rarely works! To ensure you pick the best subject line for your customers, why not A\/B test<\/a>?<\/p>\n The majority of messages we send aim to get recipients to perform a task. Yes, sometimes you just want to start a conversation, but most of the time we want readers to to act. It follows that you need to give message recipients a clear next step.<\/p>\n A good call to action should be persuasive and compelling. It should also be more descriptive than \u201cclick here.\u201d Use command verbs to make it clear what clicking a link or button will lead to:<\/p>\n It\u2019s also necessary to give readers a reason why they should complete your call to action. Make sure the content directly related to the button or link is sufficiently explanatory and clearly shows the benefit of taking the action.<\/p>\n Giving a call to action a sense of urgency can also help (\u201cGive ExampleApp a try \u2013 free for 60 days\u201d), though there\u2019s a fine line between a sense of urgency and coming off as pushy.<\/p>\n Now that we\u2019ve covered the characteristics of a good message, let\u2019s apply these principles to a few different types of messages you might want to send. We\u2019ve used messages like these to help grow and scale Intercom \u2013 we hope a few of them will help you do the same.<\/p>\n Just as a mai\u0302tre d\u2019 can set the tone for your whole experience at a high-end restaurant, a welcome message sets the tone for your product. Welcome messages<\/a> should focus on things that will actually help the recipient get value from your product<\/a>, such as:<\/p>\n Many customers who sign up for a product only use it once. This is especially true for products with a free trial. That\u2019s why you can\u2019t rest on your laurels and assume someone has committed to your product just because they signed up \u2013 they could easily just be curious to check it out.<\/p>\nWhat is customer engagement?<\/h2>\n
5 customer engagement best practices that drive results<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1. Get to the point<\/h3>\n
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2. Adopt a personal tone<\/h3>\n
3. Make it relevant<\/h3>\n
4. Consider cultural differences<\/h3>\n
5. Speak consistently<\/h3>\n
Anatomy of an effective message<\/h2>\n
![\"anatomy](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/message-anatomy--700x628.png\")
<\/p>\n1. Subject line<\/h3>\n
2. Call to action<\/h3>\n
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6 example messages for better customer engagement<\/h2>\n
1. Welcome messages<\/h3>\n
![\"intro](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/welcome-700x552.png\")
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2. Activation messages<\/h3>\n
![\"Milestone](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/milestone-700x579.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/announcement-700x398.png\")
The value of a new feature isn\u2019t a product of the time and resources you put into building it. It\u2019s about whether or not it solves a customer\u2019s problem and it\u2019s up to you to show them how.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/feedback-message-700x254.png\")
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