Fresh Ideas to Spark Customer Engagement

Customer engagement is critical to maintaining a loyal customer base, but achieving this consistently is a challenge! So how do you keep things fresh and interesting?

To find out, we asked our consultants panel for fun new ways to create customer engagement – from where best to focus your efforts to maximize results, to real-life examples of what’s worked well and what hasn’t.

Here’s what they said…

15 Ways to Create Customer Engagement

1. Embrace the Power of Micro-Moments

Attention spans are shorter than ever, and customers value quick, meaningful interactions.

Micro-moments – short, engaging touchpoints – can leave a lasting impression, so train your agents on how to use them little and often.

Examples include a quick, witty response on X (Twitter) or a fun fact shared via email.

Contributed by: Dan Pratt, Founder & Director of DAP Consultancy

2. Encourage Agents to Present Their Creative Ideas to a Judging Panel (Just like ‘Shark Tank’)

In a previous role, I put together teams made up of cross-functional people to take an in-depth look at some of the major engagement issues we had identified through our voice-of-customer feedback.

We then got them to work together to come up with creative solutions and then took it to the next level by having them present their ideas back to a judging panel – in a similar fashion to the Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank TV shows.

It’s a fun way to give customer engagement issues the time and attention they deserve!

Contributed by: Nate Brown, Head of CX Advisory for Metric Sherpa and Co-Founder of CX Accelerator

For great advice on how best to gather customer feedback from your agents, read our article: Want Your Frontline Staff to Share More Customer Feedback? Try This!

3. Take Note of Taylor Swift’s Surprise-and-Delight Tactics

A number of months ago, Taylor Swift brought her tour to Dublin. The city was abuzz with excitement, and beforehand, I would have confidently said I was definitely not a ‘Swiftie’.

However, after experiencing the buzz and witnessing the impact of her recent shows in Dublin, I find myself with a newfound appreciation for her as an artist, a leader and a brand powerhouse.

As I delved deeper into understanding what makes Taylor Swift such a phenomenon, several key elements stood out to me, including her authenticity and relatability, making time to interact directly with fans and invite them to exclusive events, as well as making her fans feel heard, seen, and part of a supportive community. There’s an awful lot we can all learn about customer experience here!

What stood out most were her surprise-and-delight tactics. From easter eggs in social media posts to surprise album drops, Taylor’s innovative marketing strategies keep her audience engaged and excited.

So why not introduce surprise-and-delight tactics to your customers? Such as unannounced rewards for customer loyalty, fun social media campaigns, or unique ways to make customers feel special during calls or chats?

Contributed by: Dara Kiernan, leadership development and contact centre consultant

4. Host City-by-City Events to Bring Your Customers Together – Especially Hobbyists

If you have customers who are big fans of your brand or product, especially if they’re hobbyists, why not host a city-by-city tour?

Just like The Royal Canadian Mint did! They brought passionate coin collectors together under one roof, by running a show-and-tell party of the new coins coming out and taking their tour on the road.

This gave customers a chance to go and see the latest coins coming out, as well as meeting fellow collectors and the customer service team they’d been talking to over the phone or email for several years. It was a great way to build customer engagement.

Contributed by: Mike Aoki, President of Reflective Keynotes Inc.

5. Create an App That Gives Users Customized Product Recommendations and Tutorials

One great strategy I’ve seen is organizations investing in technology and new channels to boost customer engagement.

For example, Charlotte Tilbury has a relatively new app which provides customized product recommendations and makeup tutorials for users. This helps new customers to decide on which products to buy and how to use them.

Beyond this, it helps to focus on impactful content marketing which provides value, such as engaging long-form videos, informative articles and visually engaging social media posts.

This works well because customers are always on the lookout for brands to add value, entertain them or provide a fresh new perspective.

Contributed by: Rachel Williams, Founder & Training Consultant at The Experience Corporation

6. Make Sure Your Agents Are Never Short of Inspiration by Capturing ‘Tried and Tested’ Examples of Customer Engagement in Your Very Own Culture Book

Try capturing Moments of Magic® by asking agents to write down their real-life examples of when they created the highest levels of customer engagement – and then share them, so they are easily remembered by others.

You could even put them together in a book of best-practice examples to create your own in-house manual for agents to reference, and get copies printed as end-of-year or Christmas gifts. Just like the Zappos.com culture book.

Contributed by: Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer (CAO) at Shepard Presentations LLC

7. Look for Opportunities to Fill Gaps and Make Waiting More Fun

I’d love to see brands make waiting more fun through artificial intelligence or even thinking about virtual and augmented reality.

Just think what it would look like if, instead of hold music or promotions, you’re doing interactive quizzes, or you’re giving sneak peeks into new products and services coming out soon, or even sharing fun stories about your people and culture.

Unfortunately, there will always be times when customers have to wait, but it doesn’t have to be a negative experience. So stop and think about how you can engineer moments of delight in those gaps instead, to reduce the perception of any friction.

Contributed by: Justin Robbins, Founder & Principal Analyst at Metric Sherpa

8. Make Sure Your Customers Know “What’s in It for Me?”

Today’s customer is sceptical by nature, wondering ‘what’s in it for me?’ when they receive communications or content out of the ordinary. Only brands with very loyal customer bases and a certain tone of voice can run campaigns purely for fun.

So why not support a good cause? Just ensure you make clear your connection to the charity or project, make it personal by also engaging your staff and partner with a leading voice to show you have a clear goal and are trying to do good together with your customers.

Alternatively, if you choose a prize draw, then make the odds realistic, the prize attractive and the entry method minimal effort. Customers may doubt their chances of winning or consider it not worth their time otherwise.

Contributed by: Mark Allaway, Evosa

9. Ask Customers About Their Weekend Plans (and Then Remember to Ask Them How It Went the Next Time You Speak to Them)

An effective and memorable way to engage customers is through the ‘small talk’ you can have with them. Behind every customer, there is a human being.

And the more you talk to that human being, the more the exceptional service you deliver will be remembered.

Something I used to do very regularly in my career was simply asking my clients what plans they had for the coming weekend or holidays.

In that way, I could give recommendations if I had any and ask them how it went when they came back. This is exactly how you create meaningful connections and make yourself remembered.

At the end of the day, customers need to be able to remember the people from the business in order to remember the business itself.

Contributed by: Pierre Bauzee, Founder of Beyond Satisfaction

If you want some simple training messages and techniques to help agents to show genuine interest in customers, read our article: How to Get Your Advisors to Show Genuine Interest in Customers

10. Offer Bespoke Educational Resources That Outperform Gimmicky Giveaways

For maximum impact, focus on combining authentic personalization with tools that empower customers. Incentives such as financial health reviews or educational resources add genuine value and strengthen relationships, outperforming gimmicky giveaways.

The Consumer Duty has set a high bar, but it offers a unique opportunity for firms willing to innovate. By embedding a commitment to good customer outcomes, businesses can foster loyalty, build trust and drive long-term growth.

Contributed by: James Edmonds, Managing Director at Duty CX

11. Stop Relying So Heavily on Email – Make Your Presence Felt!

The things that create the biggest impact are being present and engaging with more than just your key stakeholder. It’s a great way to make yourself known and your presence felt.

It’s much easier to develop good relationships face to face as you have more opportunities to talk about things other than business and to get to know people on a more personal level.

If you can’t be on site, try to encourage online meetings rather than just instant messages and emails.

Contributed by: Katie Stabler, Founder and Director of Customer Experience at CULTIVATE

If you do still need to send emails, we have three practical tips to help you in our article: The Secrets to Writing Better Customer Emails

12. Set Up Your Own Digital Community for Your Customers to Interact With Each Other

Customers love being able to interact with each other, so why not create a digital community to facilitate the conversation?

Though be conscious that you’ll need to set the right tone first. It really helps to invite your positive customers (“promoters”) into the group first before opening it up to anyone and everyone.

Contributed by: Nate Brown, Head of CX Advisory for Metric Sherpa and Co-Founder of CX Accelerator

13. Use Quizzes and Polls to Gather Customer Insights Whilst Keeping Them Entertained

Gamification can transform mundane tasks into exciting challenges.

Contributed by: Dan Pratt, Founder & Director of DAP Consultancy

14. Create Opportunities for Customer Co-Creation

One of the biggest challenges with engagement is for people to feel like they are part of the brand or the business – not just a buyer.

So, look for opportunities for your customers to co-create with you! This could be campaigns to have them name new products, vote on designs, or even just inviting them in to share their stories.

Contributed by: Justin Robbins, Founder & Principal Analyst at Metric Sherpa

15. Whatever You Do, It Has to Be Sustainable!

To build true customer engagement, you have to focus on your core operational strategy. For example, making sure your quality assurance process reinforces a culture where your agents truly want to engage with and take care of your customers.

So don’t aim for a one-off “Big Bang” moment. Engagement has to be sustainable!

If your only goal is to have something go viral on social media, you’re missing the point, and probably not going to be that lucky either – as moments like that are sometimes like winning the lottery.

Contributed by: Jeremy Watkin, Director of Customer Experience and Support at NumberBarn

What Has Your Contact Centre Team Tried to Create Customer Engagement?

Join our LinkedIn community and let us know.

For more great advice on engaging customers in your contact centre, read these articles next:

• Expert Strategies to Improve Customer Happiness
• The Five Cs of Customer Service
• 7 Models for Creating Customer Engagement

Reviewed by: Xander Freeman