How to Get More Customer Engagement on Your Website

Just because you build a business website, does not mean that prospects will come. But once someone visits your site, how can you keep them there through effective  engagement? The goal is to increase the number of pages they view and the overall time they spend on the site. More time will ultimately mean a deeper impression of the company’s brand and a higher prospect of them eventually buying.

Remember that in this fast paced Internet world, most prospects will not pick up the phone and call the number listed on the website. They see it as too time consuming. In fact, by 2020, customers will manage 85 percent of their relationships without talking to a human.

Let’s look at five ways to increase engagement of website visitors so they will ultimately convert to customers.

Effective Customer Engagement

1. Chat

This is a very inexpensive tool that can become a huge marketing machine. Hamid Shojaee, CEO of Pure Chat, says his company helps small businesses turn “website visitors into customers with our live chat software. Generating leads and driving sales is a critical challenge for small teams and we’re thrilled to provide a ridiculously easy way to help solve that problem.”

Research shows that almost 50 percent of sales typically go to the vendor that responds first. Being able to easily chat with visitors to the website is the best way to quickly foster engagement. The prospect knows that someone is there to answer their questions. Make the chat box design inviting with very few fields (name and email only) and be available to talk at the peak hours. This can be determined through the website’s analytics. Remember that chat can be responded to through a mobile app too and should be available on every page of the website.

2. Link to Internal Pages

One way to keep prospects on the site longer is not to let them leave! Links to external sites may be useful, but they do not further engagement of the prospect for the company. Craft the visitor’s journey by linking to many internal website pages from information on each page that will further the brand impression.

3. Search Feature

There is nothing more frustrating than visiting a website and not finding the information that is needed. Always have a search box on the site so the visitor can get what they require. It is easy to add a custom Google search engine to any website.

4. FAQ

As previously discussed, most customers do not want to take the time to call the number on the website. They would like to find the answer themselves in the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section. List the top 10 questions customers ask and their answers. On this page, make sure the chat window is available if there are further issues that still need to be addressed. “With texting and social media, people are more comfortable sending messages,” says Patrick Henshaw, General Manager of ETI Limousine & Charter in Texas “Live chat is just another way of texting with businesses.”

5. Enable Comments

Everyone wants to leave their opinion. On informational pages, give the visitor the ability to comment on the content that is presented. This is an excellent way to engage a prospect especially when the company responds to their comment.

A small business can even take it one step further. With tools like PureChat, users can see a list of active website visitors, find out which pages they’ve viewed and look up past interactions with returning prospects. With this context about an individual on their website, small businesses can start more relevant chat conversations.

Do you use chat or any of these other tools on your website? How do you engage your customers?

Online Customer Photo via Shutterstock

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