How to increase customer engagement: 10 effective strategies

Customer engagement goes far beyond closing a sale — it’s about building lasting relationships that keep that customer coming back. A great customer engagement strategy builds real connections, keeps customers happy, and turns one-time buyers into loyal fans.

Gone are the days when a catchy slogan and celebrity endorsement were enough. Today, customer engagement is a team effort — every interaction matters. The salesperson who closes the deal, the relationship manager who ensures long-term success, the support team that answers questions, and the marketing team that shares new features and updates all play a role in building lasting relationships. Businesses must actively connect with customers across multiple channels to foster loyalty and stand out.

Below, we’ll explore what makes an effective customer engagement strategy, factors that influence engagement, and 10 strategies to strengthen customer relationships.

What is a customer engagement strategy?

A customer engagement strategy refers to the methods used by businesses to offer customers a positive experience that will encourage them to return for your product or service. A solid customer engagement strategy attracts new customers, retains existing customers, and improves overall customer satisfaction with your business.

A decade ago, brands could bank on a catchy slogan and a celebrity endorsement deal or two, and reap the rewards. Today, this strategy won’t suffice. The rise of social media means there’s no off-button when it comes to engaging with your customers. In fact, the purchase decisions of 78% of consumers are influenced by social media posts. With that said, you have to capitalize on every opportunity you have.

Boiled down, a customer engagement strategy is the way in which you interact with your customers both online and in person. A well-constructed strategy will leave customers with positive emotions and associations with your brand, while a negative one will do the exact opposite.

Customer engagement examples include a customer opening a promotional email and clicking through your website to learn more about your products, watching a video you posted to a social media channel, or making a call to your customer support line. Any of these engagements can have either a positive or negative impact on how the customer views their interaction with your company. Notice that all of these engagements provide a meaningful encounter between the customer and your business that extend beyond a sales pitch. Your customer engagement strategy should strive for the same. Effective customer engagement strategies can help improve brand reputation, customer retention, and customer loyalty which in turn can increase customer lifetime value and lower customer churn.

Now that we’ve addressed the what and why of customer engagement, it’s time to explore the how. How do you build an effective strategy? More specifically, what are the components of a solid customer engagement strategy? Below are some pillars of customer engagement that you can customize or mix and match, depending on your business and the goals you’re trying to achieve. 

How do you develop a customer engagement strategy? 

To develop and implement an effective customer engagement strategy in your business, you need to understand what successful customer engagement means to your target audience. There are a number of analytics and metrics that can be used to track customer engagement throughout all parts of the user journey. 

These resources can help inform which part of the customer journey is driving the most user engagement and which part is not meeting customer expectations. Once you’ve identified pain points in your customer experience, whether it’s quantitative metrics or qualitative feedback, you can begin to implement customer engagement strategies that address these pain points to improve your customer experience.

11 proven customer engagement strategies

1. Use conversational services and tools

If your service is available to customers across regions at all hours, then inevitably, you’ll have a portion of your customers who need to reach out to you for support at odd hours. Whether it’s because something is wrong or they need to modify their service, your customers will expect an instantaneous response. 

Being able to speak to a real person in real-time is obviously the preferable option, but that’s not always possible. Among other complications, different time zones and the availability of support agents can make receiving immediate help from a real person difficult.

Enter conversational marketing services such as chatbots, live chat functions, and messaging apps. These tools bridge the gap between you and your customers when connecting is tricky. Chatbots can’t solve all customer issues or answer all inquiries, but they can help navigate the customer to the right place and they can even resolve minor problems. Live chat and messaging apps can provide your customers with immediate service that they may not otherwise get if they call in or email.

2. Use analytics

Collecting customer analytics is imperative to improving your customer engagement model because it allows you to personalize your customer engagement plan based on the characteristics of your customers. How you interact with your customers will depend on many factors including where they’re from, their age, their interests, what they do for work, etc.

Additionally, analytics will help pinpoint what strategies are working and which ones you can shelve. The data extracted will point you to what your customers like and what they dislike. Customer feedback data can help answer the question of what changes your customers want you to make so that you can boost customer satisfaction which will hopefully promote customer loyalty.

3. Customer surveys

Customer satisfaction surveys are questionnaires designed to help your business understand what your customers think about your product and brand. There are several kinds of surveys that can yield rich customer data such as Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS). Customer satisfaction surveys typically contain yes or no questions like “did you enjoy your experience?” or “did the product do what you needed it to do?” On average, these scores are typically high so when you see a sudden spike in negative scores, it will be indicative of a sore point that needs to be addressed. 

NPS, on the other hand, asks users to rate the service or brand on a scale of 0-10. Once you have a substantial number of responses, you can compare your detractors (those who gave you a score between 0-6) to your promoters (those who gave you a score of 9 or 10) to gauge how satisfied your customers are.

The bottom line is that 60% of consumers say they are heavily influenced by negative reviews and 49% of consumers insist on at least a 4-star rating before they feel safe choosing a business for the first time. It’s true that the public won’t have access to the responses to customer surveys; however, these statistics indicate that if a customer is truly unhappy with their experience and decides to share the experience with others, the consequences can be dire for your business.

4. Develop interactive content

Your content plays a large role in engaging customers. To differentiate yourself from the competition you have to create an experience rather than a post that’s only glanced at. Interactive content requires engagement from the participant so that the interaction is an active, rather than a passive one. It helps the customer feel like they’re sharing in a moment that they’re helping to create. Statistics show that 66% of customers will not purchase from a company if they’re presented with generic content. Rather, customers want immersive and personalized content.

A strong customer engagement strategy that incorporates interactive content is including surveys and polls. These surveys and polls are unlike CSAT and NPS, in that their purpose is to generate a dialogue that can be more lighthearted and less feedback-driven. 

5. Use gamification

On the topic of interactive content, another way to get people excited to engage with your brand and product is by using the concept of gamification. Gamification refers to the application of elements that are typically associated with game playing (scoring goals, competing with others, following a set of rules, etc.), to other areas such as marketing in order to encourage customer engagement.

Incorporating game aspects into your customer engagement marketing strategy can improve customer engagement because it provides incentive. Your customers will feel that they have a stake in the interaction. This can be presented in the form of a contest where the winner receives merchandise, a simple draw, or an extended campaign.     

6. Loyalty programs

Loyalty programs can also include elements of gamification. In essence, a customer loyalty program is designed to reward your existing customers for their continued business. When your market is saturated with competition, you need to find a way to not only attract new customers but continue to engage with them even after their initial purchase.

There are many different customer loyalty programs that can build strong brand loyalty. One method is to reward loyal customers through a points program where collecting a certain amount of points can be redeemed for a free discount or service. Of course, free products will always lead to happier customers, but you also signal to them how much you appreciate their business.

We love celebrating customers who take customer communication to the next level — that’s why we created the Front Game Changers program. Each year, we shine a spotlight on the teams and individuals using Front in remarkable ways — whether streamlining workflows, transforming collaboration, or delivering standout experiences. Through exclusive rewards, industry recognition, and opportunities to connect with other leaders, we celebrate their impact and encourage others to redefine what’s possible in customer service.

7. Check on quiet customers

Not all of your customers will be ready to dole out feedback. You may not hear much from some of them after they’ve purchased. Even relationships with quieter customers, however, need to be nurtured. As the saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. It can be easy to focus on new customers or ones that require your attention and take customers who require less attention for granted.

All of your customers should feel the same level of appreciation, even if they don’t all respond to the same engagement strategies. For example, your more active customers might enjoy gamified content, while your quieter customers may feel that the competency of your customer support team is more important. Remember that value creation depends on the customer and needs to be customized based on their needs. Making sure that each customer is happy is the key element to a loyal customer base. 

8. Implement feedback

Social media and review sites like G2 abound with opinions about your business and people’s testimony about their customer experience. Collecting that information and pulling meaningful data from it will help you boost consumer engagement and improve overall customer experience. 

It’s one thing to read reviews and listen to what customers are saying; it’s another to apply those insights to better serve your customers. By doing this you’ll engage customers while also ensuring that your product and service cater to their needs. Feedback is a gift and should be considered in order to retain customers.

9. Spotlight your reviews

Reviews aren’t just a way to measure current customer engagement, but they can also be proof to new customers of how satisfied your customers are. You can use reviews to garner new business when potential customers interact with these reviews. People trust other people’s experiences when it comes to purchasing decisions even when they don’t know them. Consider that 85% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

To be intentional about new customers seeing these reviews, you can showcase them on your website or periodically post some on your social media channels. Remember to be diverse in the kind of reviews you share. That is, make sure that you spotlight reviews across the customer journey, including the process of signing up, onboarding the product, and support for when the customer needs assistance. This will show that you’re delivering a consistent customer experience and that you value your customer relationships at every stage in the cycle.

10. Omnichannel customer engagement

Finally, be sure to engage your customers across a variety of platforms so you aren’t missing a segment of your customer base. All of your customers won’t be available on a single platform, so setting up several channels can help create more opportunities for dialogue between yourself and your customer. 

It’s also possible that some of your customers are less social media inclined, so you need to find other ways to reach them and for them to reach you. They’ll appreciate that they can communicate with you through their method of choice. In fact, 46% of consumers say that using their own contact method of choice to interact would be the most important part of personalized customer service.

Another benefit to having an omnichannel network is improved agility. It will allow you to reach and respond to customers more quickly and efficiently. This will help build your reputation as a responsive and gracious brand that is ready to assist its customers at every turn. 

What factors influence customer engagement?

All of the strategies above will influence and improve your customer engagement; however, customer engagement comes back to the business and how receptive they are to making changes. Sometimes those changes require massive overhauls and the creation of new channels and platforms. It’s often the case, however, that the changes are less extreme and just take some time and creativity.

One of the most important steps toward building an effective customer engagement strategy is collecting data and pulling insights from the data. Above all else, the factors that will play into your customer engagement strategy the most will be who your customers are and what they need from your business.

Elevate your customer engagement with Front

Customer engagement doesn’t mean just keeping the conversation going — it’s about creating meaningful, lasting relationships. When customers feel heard, valued, and supported, they stick around and become your biggest advocates.

Great customer engagement starts with great communication. Whether through collaboration, proactive outreach, or fast, personalized support, every interaction is an opportunity to build trust and loyalty. Front helps teams focus on real connections — not transactions — so you can turn everyday conversations into long-term customer relationships that help you grow.

Ready to take your customer engagement to the next level? Let’s make it happen ➡️