Boosting Customer Engagement Digitally: Strategies for Food and Drink Brands

Despite the possibility of a dreaded global economic recession, the food and beverage industry seems to be faring rather well. Statistics and projections suggest that the global food and beverage industry is currently worth about USD 65,495 million, and will likely escalate to the figure of USD 97,087 million if growth rates remain unaffected.

Like any active industry, the food and drink industry is in a constant state of growth and evolution, with new trends being introduced in every area from product specifics to means of engagement. Although there is revenue to be shared within the industry, competition is high which is why restraint owners, food brands, and other members of the same need to be on the ball when it comes to getting their goods, products, and services out.

What Are Customer Engagement Strategies?

Whether you’re a part of the food and beverage industry or any other industry out there, customer engagement strategies are among the cornerstones of overall brand growth. The more your customers and clients take an interest in your brand, share feedback, and tell others about what you’re offering, the better it is for you. Whether you’re offering an edible or drinkable line of products or providing frontend hospitality-related food services, airfood recipes improving customer engagement via the right customer engagement strategy is essential.

Different Customer Engagement Strategies

You’ve got all kinds of customer engagement strategies out there. One article published by Forbes mentions that some of these include; setting up affiliate programs, cold-call emails, digitization, and personalization.

Given that we’re a company that belongs to the technology sector, we’re going to elaborate on ways that specifically pertain to digital customer engagement strategies for food and drink brands.

What Digital Platforms Should my Food and Drink Brand Have Covered?

There are a lot of ways that you, as a restaurant, food service, or brand that produces food or drink related products can boost customer engagement digitally. This is assuming you’ve already covered the basics.

When we talk about covering the basics, what we mean is having access to certain digital platforms so you can allow your clients and customers the same. If you’re looking to do business in this day and age, what you’re going to need is:

• A Website
• A Strong Social Media Presence
• A Mobile App

If any of these three things are missing, you can consider your digital marketing strategy incomplete.

Digital Customer Engagement Strategies for Food and Drink Brands

If you’ve got the three things mentioned above in place, it’s time to proceed to understand different strategies that you could implement to improve customer engagement digitally.

Improve Customer Loyalty Features

Improving customer loyalty is one of the most important things when it comes to giving customer engagement a boost and growing your business. Loyal customers can be extremely beneficial for several reasons. As one community post suggests, they help promote your brand, guarantee a constant stream of business, and make brilliant focus group subjects to help you improve your product or service.

Adding digital customer loyalty related features to your mobile app is a great way to do this. Loyalty features include loyalty programs, redeemable coupons, and exclusive deals offered to long-time customers among others. Adding such features means that people will want to use your app more as doing so will mean more perks! As accessing loyalty features involves data entry, this strategy could also help you accumulate the valuable data you need to better your products and services.

And Let’s Not Limit the Coupons

There are some aspects of improving customer engagement that do not get old and the provision of price cuts, deals, and discounts is most certainly one of them. Almost 90% of customers use coupons one way or another. Loyalty customers aren’t the only ones who should have access to these via your mobile or web-based app. Other customers should too!

Make sure you offer those ordering your products using your digital services some kind of incentive to do the same and chances are, they will keep returning to the platform.

Customer Experience is Key

When it comes to doing business, everything eventually boils down to customer or user experience and this could not be truer anywhere than it is within the food and beverage industry. Where frills like offers and discounts are great, they would probably do nothing for you if the customer experience you provided was shoddy.

It is important to pay close attention to the digital services you are operating. Whether it is a website or a mobile application, once it’s up, make sure it is running right! You would be surprised how many people today use their devices for information and how frequently. Be certain that if and when customers turn to your mobile application or website, the same is functioning efficiently, offering them the information and facilitation they are looking for.

If you’re looking to improve customer engagement, here are some of the things you can attend to by way of user experience for your digital platforms:

• Make sure your digital platforms are always updated with the latest brand information.
• Make sure features like order features or coupon redemption options are always working.
• Make sure your apps and pages are easy to navigate and not overly complicated.
• Make sure your app and website maintenance is regular.
• Endure your apps and web pages offer your customers an efficient feedback channel.
• Add personalization features like address and favorite order saving.

Feedback Is Just as Important

Customer experience and feedback are both related in a sort of loop. The customer experience you provide is what informs the feedback you receive. The feedback received ideally should dictate the customer experience you provide and the cycle continues.

Pepper your app or site with opportunities for your clients and customers to give you their input. Make this task easier for them by offering pop-up polls, mini-questionnaires, and options to provide detailed feedback. Just remember that if you’re working with feedback pop-up features, don’t be too extravagant as customers can find these annoying on occasion.

Apart from allowing channels to receive feedback, make sure you actually respond to what is coming in. Don’t just create channels to junk mail storage. Make sure you dedicate resources to go through the feedback you receive, take in constructive criticism, and work to rectify whatever it is that customers say you can improve upon.

When you pay attention to your customers, it does become apparent and encourages them to engage with your brand even more.

Understand Segmentation

Simply put, market segmentation is the word used to describe the collection of demographical groups that a single market comprises of. Segmentation can be done by age, gender, behavior patterns, and more. Understanding what market segments you’re catering most to and evolving your digital platforms to better their experience is always a great way to increase engagement.

Different market segments are responsive to different features and actions. Millennials, for instance, according to one source prize transparency, strategy, and emotion! Understand what it is your target segment values and work to resonate with the same when it comes to your digital customer engagement strategies.

In Conclusion

Digital platforms have become potent tools for food and drink brands to improve customer engagement and are also brilliant to improve overall customer experience if used correctly. Follow the tips above, implement these pointers, and watch your customer engagement numbers get the boost you’ve been looking for!