How Customer Engagement Will Evolve In The Coming Years
Building Lasting Customer Connection: From Engagement To Conversion Brands that embrace this shift will build more than customer bases—they’ll build communities. The journey from connection to conversion is shaped by trust, relevance and relationship. In a world defined by automation and scale, real human connection is the edge that sets winning brands apart. As digital fatigue rises, customers will gravitate toward brands that make them feel seen, heard and connected. To earn that connection, companies must shift from broadcasting to enabling, from selling to supporting and from control to collaboration. The AI insights you need to lead We don’t spend nearly as much time walking into physical stores as we once did, forcing businesses to adjust to this new reality by supporting mobile delivery and curbside pickup. According to the 2022 Shopper Experience Index, 64% of shoppers had engaged in hybrid shopping in the previous six months, and 30% said they were shopping online at least once a week. Businesses must continue to lean into technology adoption to meet today’s customer behavior. To understand customer intention, we should know why a customer started interacting or working with us. Manu Mathew is CEO & Cofounder of Cohora, a platform that helps brands drive customer growth, retention and advocacy through engagement. If you aren’t happy with the results you see, then evaluate your customer engagement framework to see what steps may be missing. I’ve known Shampa for about three years – since ConvergeHub (then called Converge Enterprise) was a contestant in CRM Idol. Engage, monitor, improve – the virtuous cycle at the core of the XaaS Effect The key is to integrate engagement into every step of the customer journey, rather than treating it as an add-on. Customer expectations have dramatically shifted in the last two years. Brands must know what channels to use to reach customers and what messages are most effective. In an always-on, always-connected world, it can be difficult, to say the least. I believe every company will move in this direction in the next few years, and this will drive business growth over the next decade. So, it’s only a question of when, not if, we will all engage through immersive, seamless experiences. Take the time to assess your needs and evaluate the pros and cons of each software option in order to determine which customer engagement software is right for you. When deciding on a customer engagement software for your business, there are a few factors to weigh. It’s often easier to re-engage a customer that is already familiar with your offerings than it is to find and educate a new customer on your product or service. Customer experiences and personalization will never decrease in importance. Businesses looking to capitalize on the cookieless world will adopt the platforms that will able them to take advantage of their first-party data. The future of communications will ultimately reach 360-degree ubiquitous engagement across all vectors of communications—discovery, commerce, support, service—and every type of interaction. Companies that are in the very early stages of enabling this level of connection, however, may feel overwhelmed by the task, and it can be difficult to know where to begin. First-party Data Means Digital Survival They also may need to determine what those options mean for management and scale. What’s most important is that businesses take a proactive approach to exploring the customer engagement opportunities available today and tomorrow to ensure they remain in line with—or ahead of—the competition. The connections between the underlying systems that combine to create this kind of escalation are not trivial. This conversational commerce, where brands can better communicate with consumers in a more personalized, real-time delivery across channels, has emerged to support consumers throughout their entire buying journey. Third, due to the increased amount of digital customer engagement, most companies found that they could glean more significant insights about their customers.