7 – Create a community with purpose
One way to strengthen relationships with customers is by creating more interaction points and building communities. Increasingly, communities are gaining ground among consumers, as well as lowering customer support costs for customer service.
However, if a brand is building a community, it should consider going beyond just answering questions. Business owners should think of this space as an opportunity to keep their customers engaged and show that the brand shares common values with them.
Also, experiment with creating your community in a closed form, to give a sense of exclusivity to members. Creating content or “members-only” spaces can be a strong incentive for fans to avoid being left out. “Interested consumers can join the community through an email sign-up, a purchase, a series of purchases, posting a review, or any other goal you set.
8 – Use data with transparency
Since Google announced the intention to eliminate third-party cookies by 2023, many brands had to start rethinking the approach to personalization and switching to cookieless tracking. In recent years, personalization has become almost standard for online shopping, however, what personalization means to consumers and marketers doesn’t always match up.
Consumers don’t perceive excessive personalization as a positive thing that makes brands closer to them. However, they are still willing to share personal information with companies. So, to access their customers’ data, brands need to approach personalization in a way that engenders trust. For instance, creating Gated Content. White papers, webinars, case studies, infographics, and so on, are some of the examples. Many customers are willing to share data such as their email addresses in order to get exclusive content.