Successful interaction with users is the primary goal of any modern business site, regardless of its type. Whether it’s a regular landing page with information about the company or a full-fledged online store – all web products must somehow engage with clients, motivating them to complete the target action. An adequately debugged connection is the key to increasing your website’s conversion rates, views, and sales. Let’s discuss how to do this and how we can benefit from modern web engagement tools.
Tools for Engagement In 2022 – Everything You Need to Know
The web resource success lies in its popularity among users and the performance of specific actions by them, such as:
- following the specified links;
- request for a callback;
- further communication with managers;
- purchasing certain products or services online;
- viewing your content;
- spreading your ideas.
Online interaction has become an integral part of the process of nurturing customers and generating leads who are ready to become your customers. However, the prevalence of this phenomenon has made users more selective and demanding. Now, web managers need to think not only about how to engage users on your website. They also need to think about ways to keep them there.
These ways of keeping customers on your resource and motivating them are the web engagement tools we will discuss today.
Tools for Engagement – Simple Analogies For Better Understanding
Imagine that you are at a seasonal fair where many people want to sell you their goods or services. Each entices you in its own way – offering bargaining, little gifts for free, or the opportunity to ride on an attraction. Drawing an analogy with the online business, the fair is a competitive commercial space; sellers are its representatives; free goods and attractions are ways to engage with clients. And the more exciting and sophisticated these ways of interaction are, the more likely you are to leave money in a particular place. Everything is simple.
Moreover, the higher the competition, the more influential the answers to how to engage with customers become. It becomes an absolute must to keep your business going and grow as you progress. However, the approach to using the website engagement tool changed dramatically after the pandemic, when it turned from an entertainment gimmick into a serious business strategy.
Although discounts and gifts still attract users, your care and attention have become more valuable to them. The quality of service provision has become more valuable than pricing policies and bright, attention-grabbing elements of e-commerce.
Features of Post-Pandemic Engagement Solutions
Of course, we cannot ignore the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has initiated global social and technological transformations. The Nielsen Norman Group has released a unique study on user behavior change, noting the rapid growth of web interaction and online commerce. Changes began to be implemented significantly back in 2020, but their implications for business are especially relevant now.
Speaking about ways to engage with clients in the context of post-pandemic changes, it is worth paying attention to the fact that they all focused on:
- Ensuring uninterrupted interaction, making most services and goods available 24/7 through support automation.
- Reducing decision-making time, achieved through improved targeting tools and algorithms for quickly finding solutions to client problems.
- Shortening the sales cycle by minimizing customer nurturing and improving advanced communication.
- Increasing loyalty and creating trusting relationships based on emotional attachment to go beyond ordinary transactions.
Thus, the best audience engagement tools have become those that have turned from “unusual web features” into feature-rich online assistants. Such solutions now demonstrate not only the perfect web resource functionality but a desire to take care of the client’s needs and wishes.
Modern Solutions to Engage With Clients More Effectively
Interaction with web resource visitors indicates the relationship between them and your brand. It is an experience that can be appreciated and shared with other people, increasing or decreasing the online presence of a business. Thus, a modern website engagement tool is a multifunctional solution for setting up the quality of your online service and an excellent opportunity for its rapid improvement and automation.
Practical Considerations for Choosing the Perfect Website Engagement Tool
Experienced marketers and web developers have long taken care of the presence of a lot of manuals and compiling ready-made lists like the 21 best website engagement tools. However, the systematization of solutions and advice on choosing the right product is still insufficient. The more information about tools for engagement appears the more difficult it is to choose one thing, a specific solution.
Qualified web developers are always guided by the logic of minimizing website functionality to keep its fast performance and loading. Most modern products to engage with clients are standalone software and plugins, the glut of which can negatively affect the work of a web resource. That’s why we advise choosing all-in-one solutions with customization options like BirdSeed.
By using this as an example, it is very convenient to study the features and benefits of web engagement tools that can dramatically improve the quality of your online service.
Best Engagement Solutions for Interacting With Website Users
There are many ways to engage with clients more effectively. They differ depending on the scope and method of application – for example, separate tools for social networks, analytics, or external interaction. Today we will pay special attention to on-site features that you could implement directly on the pages of your website.
Why is that? The answer is simple – strategies for interacting with the audience are usually complex and multi-component, which can be difficult for beginners to cope with. It’s always best to start with just one website engagement tool and increase the number as you reach your goals.
#1 Tool, Traditional: Push-Up Notifications
Gone are the days when developers used push-up notifications only for system alerts. It is a helpful feature with many advantages, such as easy setup and seamless data connectivity. That’s why you’ll find it beneficial to learn how to make a good thing of push notifications and turn it into a feature-rich website engagement tool.
#2 Tool, Effective: Self-Service Opportunities
Today’s self-service is not only a great way to save money on managing your commercial assets but also to engage with clients. More and more users perceive this as an unusual interactive experience that simplifies the purchase process. However, it’s not enough to just set up e-commerce plugins and attach the product directory. Self-service still needs third-party control, which you can make as convenient and unobtrusive as possible with software tools for engagement. For example, you can qualitatively improve interaction with customers through live chats.
Don’t forget about customer satisfaction metrics, which should motivate you to improve. The same Bird Seed offers an advanced feedback management system and a built-in knowledge base for this.
#3 Tool, Design: Smart Widgets
We classify smart widgets as interactive interface elements – for example, progress bars, countdown counters, planners, etc. Unlike engagement tools from the previous paragraphs, these widgets are rarely found in the basic functionality of website visual editors. However, developers love these interactive web engagement tools for their fantastic ability to motivate users. The extensive customization options allow everyone to integrate widgets into existing designs seamlessly. It is also beneficial when updating the site for seasonal events and discounts or offering services with a choice of an appointment time.
Even more good news is that all MotoCMS website templates have a set of interactive widgets in their basic functionality. It also works great with external extensions, allowing you to extend your web resource capabilities with apps like Bird Seed.
#4 Tool, Social: Live Chat
There is a lot of debate among analysts today about the introduction of live chats, which can both improve lead generation and cause dislike due to their intrusiveness. Either way, this tool for engagement is an easy attention grabber and can be an invaluable aid to customer nurturing if set up correctly. Therefore, we recommend using special software with advanced functionality and customization options to get the most out of the live chat.
Apps like REVE Chat or Intercom are great for this. However, you will only be able to engage with clients through instant messaging in this case. In the Bird Seed app, live chat is one of the core features you can complement with video messaging and external integrations. You can safely use other features of this, making the solution multi-tasking.
#5 Tool, Thoughtful: Real-Time Support
The main difference between real-time support and live chat is the wide variety of ways to contact you and attract real people. For example, a user may request a call with a manager or an expert consultation about a particular product or service. The success of real-time support depends on two factors – the ability of your operators and a properly configured application on the website. The right tool will dramatically simplify the technical part of the task. You just have to train your managers, which the knowledge library can help.
Some Additional Tips for Engagement Tool Implementation
In addition to the apparent interaction tools available to the user, many hidden but no less effective ones exist. These solutions and tips can help website managers create content and improve existing engagement tools’ functionality.
Bonus #1 – Automated Customer Feedback Tools
We once mentioned the importance of interactive user feedback in an article about emojis in design. However, we considered only options for designing evaluation systems, not implementation methods. While exploring the functionality of Bird Seed, we were pleasantly surprised to find ample opportunities for working with client testimonials. Using this can be a win-win solution, allowing you to engage with clients unusually and allowing users to appreciate your concern and desire to improve the service.
Never forget about reviews because this is the best organic ad that other visitors are guided by. Therefore, ideas for automating ratings and reviews can do an excellent job for you.
Bonus #2 – Interactive Content Tools
There are two types of content – passive and active. For the most part, passive content is informative, and users cannot interact with it – blog posts, videos, podcasts, etc. It is essential to fill any website, but it does not motivate visitors.
Interactive content encourages the audience to participate actively and engage with it in some way – click, twirl, collect, count, enter information, and so on. Such elements perfectly “fresher” and “dilute” the static content and increase users’ interest. Among the many ideas for interactive content are often infographics, small web applications, and plugins that extend the functionality of websites. They are great at keeping users’ attention, motivating them, and boosting your conversion rates accordingly.
The engagement software tools are the perfect assistance in generating and implementing interactive content to make your service more “alive” and customer-oriented. Besides, introducing versatile solutions like Bird Seed will be a great alternative to using an abundance of third-party plugins simultaneously. It will also fit perfectly into strict business resources, where the presence of colorful and distracting elements can confuse the audience.
Bonus #3 – Knowledge Bases and Ready-Made Scripts
We have already mentioned the knowledge base to support the best audience engagement tools that you can use. Let’s discuss this in more detail and find out what it is to manage a website.
Knowledge bases are software that allows you to organize and create the information necessary to ensure seamless interaction between customers and employees:
- answers to frequently asked questions;
- communication scripts for sales representatives;
- user guidelines;
- internal and technical documentation;
- handbooks and manuals for employees.
Such solutions make it possible to simplify and automate the work with internal documentation by collecting all the necessary information in one place. Among the many benefits of this, many site managers and marketers often use the knowledge base to engage with clients more effectively. Based on this, specialists create scripts for chatbots and information resources for automated customer support.
The most popular knowledge-based solutions are Document360, Zendesk, and KnowledgeOwl.
Notably, Bird Seed also has its own knowledge library, additionally allowing the use of videos and even third-party resources. Superior convenience for minimizing the number of working programs and plugins!
How to Engage With Customer – In Conclusion
The desire to engage with clients is about improving the online experience and the quality of service, which visitors to commercial web resources so appreciate. In fact, it does not matter what tools you use for this and in what quantity. You want to take care of your site guests and make their stay on your site more convenient and exciting.
Choosing the best audience engagement tools is more about your convenience and productivity. The more solutions you use, the more difficult it is for your managers to control the quality of their work and cope with the increased online workload. We still prefer versatile products and actively recommend them to our customers. It is very convenient when all tools for engagement are collected in one space and offer users maximum creative freedom for implementing unique interactive ideas.