Got your website? Great. Have all your content? Wonderful. Graphics look good? Fantastic. Are your visitors engaged? Wait, what? You haven’t thought about that? You figured just having your billboard up on the information superhighway was enough, didn’t you? Visitors are going to speed on by without even looking your way. So what went wrong? Engagement, you lack engagement.
For marketers, one key metric is “time spent on website” which is how long visitors stay on your site. Average times vary but most agree that less than 60 seconds is typical. Some even identify 15 seconds as the average, so if you can’t capture someone’s attention in 15 seconds, how effective is what you’ve put online?
Fortunately, there are more than a billion websites and that means there’s some best practices for improving website engagement. If engagement is your primary focus, then one thing needs to be said—you must be willing to test. A lot. Your industry and audience will react differently so be open to trying different tactics. Here are a few:
Chat Widgets
This seems obvious, but when it comes to immediate interaction, chat should be at the top of your list. A widget gives you the opportunity to engage in a one-to-one conversation with your site visitors. You can create a widget that greets the visitor and when the visitor interacts with the widget, you can send them to the appropriate division that can handle the conversation. This could include sales, support, general inquiries, and more. Unique flows can be set up to ensure your visitor has a great experience with your company. The team at Botsplash can lead you through chat options.
Ask for Help
Most people are very generous by nature and want to help those who ask. Engage your customers by requesting feedback on a new feature, design, or even an ad. But most importantly, listen to what they have to say and if you’ve collected their information, thank them! With your customers’ help, you may create a better experience for future customers. Consider an outbound SMS text campaign asking for your customers’ help. Botsplash can work with your marketing team to ensure high deliverability.
Craft a Meaningful Video Campaign
Meaningful means that it brings value to your customers. No chest beating here, bring useful tips that help your customers use your product or service. Give people an opportunity to learn more. The key is make an effort to regularly update the material and keep the videos under two minutes long.
Video Chat
When we talk about video, we’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about video chat. During the pandemic, we turned to video conferencing to stay connected. If you have a sales or support focused business, you can offer the ability to video chat and walk your customers through form fills or demonstrate how to solve a problem. When video is embedded in chat and there’s nothing that needs to be downloaded, there is an easy connection that can be made at the convenience of your customers and prospects. Botsplash offers video chat built into the platform with no additional software needed by the company or the customer. Everything is built into the widget and platform.
Free Stuff or Contests
This is a little tricky as you can get traffic and engagement but is it traffic and engagement from the prospects you want? You may see contests or giveaways for tablets, phones, or other pieces of desired technology. There might be free gift cards or gift certificates. If you’re a retail, B2C site, these might make sense and not be off-putting to your customers. If you choose to give something away, it needs to make sense to your brand, otherwise you may find yourself losing traffic. Know your brand and overall strategy before employing this tactic.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, test everything. Dig into your site metrics, look at how platforms like Botsplash can help you connect with your customers through chat, text, and video chat. There are so many different ways to engage with your customers and visitors, that if you are simply putting up a virtual billboard, don’t be surprised if your visitors just drive on by.
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