10 customer engagement strategies to build better connections with your customers

Keep an eye on Yelp, Google, Facebook, and other sources for great customer reviews.

A recent survey found that only 50% of customers think brands are doing a good or excellent job at personalization. As consumer expectations evolve, businesses must adapt to keep customers engaged with their brand and its products. Disengaged customers are more likely to look elsewhere the next time they want to make a purchase.

Personalized interactions are just one of several ways to kindle the engagement fire. In this guide, we’ll explain 10 easy ways to enhance your customer engagement strategy and strengthen connections with your audience.

How to increase customer engagement: Key takeaways

Customer engagement strategies are frameworks for building meaningful relationships across the entire customer journey through personalized interactions, proactive support, and consistent communication. Engaged customers are more likely to spend with your brand, have higher lifetime value, and create powerful word-of-mouth marketing.

How to improve customer engagement differs from business to business. Some effective customer engagement strategies include:

Meeting customers where they are by researching their preferred channels and being active when they’re most engaged online.
Personalization at scale to meet customer expectations, which is achievable through AI tools and customer data.
Providing omnichannel support to create seamless experiences and immediate service.
Offering educational content that builds trust and credibility while providing valuable, helpful information.
Using data analytics to anticipate customer needs and reach out before issues arise.
Being active on social media through authentic conversations that build relationships and glean valuable feedback.
Loyalty programs and post-purchase support to drive retention and create opportunities for ongoing engagement.

Platforms like RingCentral RingCX make it easier to increase customer engagement across all touchpoints.

What is a customer engagement strategy?

A customer engagement strategy is a framework for building and strengthening relationships across the customer journey. Every touchpoint and interaction is tailored to deepen the connection to each customer. By focusing on raising engagement, you can increase customer satisfaction (CSAT), loyalty, and lifetime value.

Today’s customer expects consistent brand experiences across multiple channels. They want seamless interactions and immediate 24/7 customer service and support. Customers also expect brands to understand their wants and needs, personalizing content.

An AI customer experience platform like RingCX can help you streamline tactics, deliver value, and keep customers engaged.

Benefits of customer engagement strategies

It takes a lot of effort to keep your customers engaged. Here are some of the advantages of customer engagement strategies to show you why it’s worthwhile:

More happy and loyal customers

Providing relevant and useful content or offering personalized service shows customers that you hear them. In return, they reward you by actively engaging with messaging and your sales, marketing, and success teams.

An engagement strategy deepens connections by giving customers what they want. It gives them something positive to take away from every action, demonstrating value and increasing customer loyalty.

Inspire brand ambassadors

Yelp reports that 93% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase. Thanks to social media, it’s easier than ever before for customers to advocate for your brand. It’s just as easy, though, for consumers to make noise about negative experiences or poor service quality.

When customers are engaged with your brand and its products, they’re more likely to shout about it positively from the digital rooftops. People typically trust those kinds of recommendations and customer reviews more than your own promotional material on online marketing channels.

Deeper connections and customer insights

Engagement is a two-way street. Customers who want better personalization are willing to give you more information, as long as you use it for good.

They’re willing to let you collect data on shopping behavior and demographics if it means they get better experiences. Engaged customers are also more likely to participate in CSAT surveys and submit customer feedback that drives valuable insights.

Using the right tools, you can leverage that information to deliver laser-focused content and interactions, creating a positive feedback loop that builds credibility and trust.

Increase customer lifetime value

Average customer lifetime value (CLTV) is a straightforward metric. The longer customers stick with your company, the more they spend. By engaging with customers at every opportunity, you’re strengthening their bonds with your brand. They’ll be less likely to turn to competitors because they know you deliver value and consistency.

Delivering immediate service and helpful support only continues to reinforce partnerships. Your team can proactively engage customers and retain them with personalized, relevant offers.

Stand out from the competition

As the market increasingly floods with options, more companies will offer similar products at the same price points as you do. The great differentiators will be experience, service, and value.

While competitors can copy your features or match your pricing, they can’t easily replicate the relationships you’ve built with your customers. Customers stick with you not just because of what you sell, but because of how you make them feel. Instead of constantly competing on cost, you can compete on experience and relationship quality.

10 customer engagement strategies you may want to try

There are many methods for engaging customers. There’s not one single perfect tactic for customer engagement that will work for everyone, but here are 10 strategies you can try to increase customer engagement:

1. Meet your customers where they are

You can’t engage with your target audience if you don’t know where to find them.
Whether it’s your website, social media channels, or phone support, you need to meet your customers where they expect to find you. You also want to be active at the same time your customers are.

Meeting your customers where they are reduces friction in building connections, facilitates personalization, and increases engagement with your brand.

Customer engagement ideas

• Research your audience’s preferred channels – Conduct market research to identify where your target customers spend their time online, from Google, to TikTok, to your website.
• Analyze peak engagement times – Use analytics tools and customer feedback to discover when your customers are most active online.
• Monitor activity across touchpoints – Track peak hours for your online store, customer support interactions, and social media engagement to understand your customers’ natural rhythms.
• Tailor your cadence accordingly – Use timing insights to optimize when you post content, send emails, and make yourself available for customer support to match your customers’ preferences.

Customer engagement strategy example

Fast food brand Wendy’s provides various options for ordering and interacting with the brand. This includes digital ordering through third-party services and a mobile app, as well as regularly interacting with customers on platforms like Twitter. Engaging customers where they are has helped the company see a 3-4% annual net growth.

2. Personalize interactions at scale

Today, 76% of customers expect personalization. However, manually customizing every interaction isn’t realistic for most businesses.

Instead, use the right tools and data to deliver personalized experiences automatically. This means leveraging customer purchase history, browsing behavior, and preferences to tailor communications, product recommendations, and support interactions.

Personalization at scale makes customers feel valued and understood without requiring massive manual effort from your team. It delivers experiences that connect with your audience and show them you see them as unique individuals.

Customer engagement ideas

• Embrace AI personalization tools – These can make it simple to tailor content, emails, and experiences based on customer data and behavior.
• Use dynamic website content – Such content changes based on visitor location, past purchases, or browsing patterns.
• Implement personalized product recommendations – Make relevant suggestions on your website, mobile app, and in follow-up communications.
• Tailor support interactions – Streamline resolutions by adding context according to customer history, recent conversations, and preferences.

Customer engagement strategy example

Netflix uses viewing history and ratings to personalize content recommendations for each user. Their algorithm analyzes what you watch, when you watch, and how you rate content to suggest new shows and movies. This personalization keeps over 300 million Netflix users engaged and subscribed.

3. Start with a welcome message

Touchpoints in the customer journey, such as registering a new account or signing up for a newsletter, often designate a turning point in your relationship—the customer is giving you contact information and other details.

Don’t lose momentum by keeping people waiting for a proper introduction. Welcome messages create immediate engagement, and are therefore a great first step in a customer relationship.

Customer engagement ideas

• Automate personalized welcome emails – Use AI customer engagement and automation tools to add personal touches to initial messaging.
• Include recommendations – Suggest relevant products and service upgrades.
• Don’t neglect onboarding – Send an onboarding checklist and knowledge materials for customers to get up to speed.
• Have an SMS welcome option – Send a warm and welcoming text message to customers who prefer SMS over email.
• Offer a one-time promo – Send a discount code for new customers to use for their next purchase.

Customer engagement strategy example

Who Gives a Crap is making waves by offering a subscription service for customers to use more sustainable toilet paper. Customers who sign up for a newsletter receive a promo code as part of a welcome email. Equally as important, environmental shoppers are reminded that the value of the brand is that 50% of the profits go towards promoting access to clean water.

4. Offer omnichannel support and engagement

Customers use multiple channels when shopping and engaging with your brand. A Salesforce report found that email, phone, and online chat were in the top five channels; however, 71% of customers prefer different channels depending on context:

That means they may interact with a Facebook post to enter a competition, use your mobile app to shop, and join a live chat to connect with support.

Customers expect a seamless experience regardless of whether or when they switch channels during a purchase or support journey.

Customer engagement ideas

• Use a contact center solution – Use a CCaaS platform like RingCentral RingCX to integrate all of your support channels, empower agents, and increase first contact resolutions (FCR).
• Gain customer feedback – Use surveys and account settings to record each user’s preferred channels for marketing, sales, and support.
• Integrate shopping channels – Use ecommerce platforms to unify your online store and mobile app for a seamless checkout experience.

Customer engagement strategy example

One of the US’s most capable third-party logistics providers for SMBs, Worldwide Express, made the switch to RingCentral RingCX. The platform immediately enabled them to serve customers with omnichannel support, exceeding their service level goals and retaining more engaged customers.

5. Create a rewarding loyalty program

Rewarding loyalty is a great way to keep customers engaged with your brand. Customer loyalty programs enable shoppers to get something in return for maintaining a relationship with you. You reduce churn and increase lifetime value while customers get economic value, special perks, or unique gifts.

Customer engagement ideas

• Loyalty program app – Create a mobile app where customers can track their purchase history and progress toward rewards.
• Give them a choice – Allow customers to choose from a tier of reward options for better personalization.
• Gamify – Use badges, titles, stickers, and progress bars to engage users with gamification.
• Integrate social media – Use social channels to promote your rewards programs and incentivize loyalty program members to create and share user-generated content (UGC).

Customer engagement strategy example

The Starbucks Rewards program drives customer engagement. Program members earn stars for every dollar they spend. They can track their progress online or via a mobile app, receive exclusive benefits like a free birthday drink, and enjoy personalized promotional offers. As a result, the company has nearly double the retention rate of the industry average:

6. Listen to your customers

Nobody likes to be ignored. Any important part of any customer engagement strategy framework is to find out what your customers think. You want to collect valuable feedback on how they really feel about your products or services, your brand, and the overall customer experience.

Whether it’s a quick voice survey after a support issue or a website feedback form, the important part of the process is to take action and show customers they’re valued.

Customer engagement ideas

• Send post-purchase surveys – Ask specific questions about their experience while it’s fresh in their minds.
• Monitor social media mentions – Track what customers are saying about your brand across platforms.
• Offer multiple feedback channels – Make it easy for customers to share suggestions through your website, app, SMS, or email.
• Host customer focus groups – Gather deeper insights through structured conversations with target audience segments.
• Act on feedback visibly – Announce changes you’ve made based on customer input to show you’re listening.

Customer engagement strategy example

Slack starts the listening process by letting users know they can respond to every email they receive. The company also monitors support tickets, social media, and in-app feedback to address bugs and upgrade or implement feature requests. By actively engaging with its customers, Slack continually improves the customer experience.

7. Converse on social media

Social media isn’t just for memes and spreading brand awareness; it’s also a space for conversation. In a 2024 Sproutsocial report, 48% of social media users stated they had interacted with brands more in the past six months than previously:

Listening to mentions and replies is useful for gathering customer feedback. Just don’t forget to comment, reply, and engage with your followers and target audience segments.

Customer engagement ideas

• Always respond – Engage with every comment, even if it’s just a simple “thank you” or an emoji.
• Use social media management tools – Receive alerts and automate replies to stay engaged 24/7.
• Share behind-the-scenes (BTS) content – Give customers a peek into your company culture and processes.
• Make it interactive – Ask questions, hold quizzes, and take polls to encourage followers to share their opinions and experiences.
• Collaborate with customers – Create competitions around user-generated content and share customer stories.

Customer engagement strategy example

Duolingo has developed a social media content strategy that prioritizes digital customer engagement. They use humor by featuring their mascot, Duo the Owl, in wacky posts that target their audiences on TikTok and Instagram. They actively participate in current trends and memes while sharing UGC and offering relevant content that relates to user journeys and struggles to learn a new language.

8. Create valuable and educational content

Offering valuable and educational content shows customers that you aren’t only focused on making a sale. Creating content that solves problems or shares pro tips will keep customers engaged and coming back for more.

Besides onboarding customers or helping them get the most out of your products and services, you’ll also be increasing credibility and trust.

Customer engagement ideas

• Create how-to guides – Develop step-by-step tutorials that solve common customer problems.
• Host webinars and workshops – Offer live sessions where customers can learn and ask questions.
• Share industry insights – Publish reports, trends, and data that help customers make informed decisions.
• Build a knowledge base – People love self-service. Create searchable resources that customers can access anytime.

Customer engagement strategy example

At RingCentral, we offer tons of useful and educational content for our users. Anyone can access our blog, which covers trending topics and how-to guides. RingCentral University is our online resource for customers to engage with webinars, videos, self-paced tutorials, and other learning materials to optimize their virtual call center and other communications.

9. Use data and be proactive

By the time customers are coming to you with their problems, they may already be going cold. Instead, you can anticipate their needs and reach out first.

Use data analytics tools to reveal patterns in customer behavior. Glean insights that help you predict when they might need support, want to upgrade, or be at risk of churning. Proactive engagement shows customers you’re paying attention and care about their success.

Customer engagement ideas

• Monitor usage patterns – Identify customers who might benefit from additional features or support.
• Send renewal reminders – Reach out on customer preferred channels before subscriptions expire with helpful renewal information.
• Offer timely recommendations – Suggest relevant products or services based on purchase history and patterns.
• Provide maintenance alerts – Notify customers about updates, maintenance, or potential issues that may affect service levels.

Customer engagement strategy example

Amazon leverages customer data and predictive analytics as part of its customer engagement strategy. They keep customers informed on potential logistics delays that may affect shipping times or stock availability. In addition, the platform sends timely messages to customers when it’s likely time to reorder a product, such as laundry detergent.

10. Deliver excellent post-purchase support

The relationship with your customers doesn’t end after a sale. Your service, support, and success teams take the reins of the buyer’s journey, having the opportunity to add more value and continue your customer engagement program.

Delivering exceptional post-purchase support requires you to provide a cohesive, unified CX. This includes offering onboarding, troubleshooting, and ongoing follow-ups to ensure customers get maximum performance and value from your products and services.

Customer engagement ideas

• Implement comprehensive onboarding – Guide new customers through setup and initial usage with customer success teams and knowledge bases.
• Provide omnichannel support – Offer help through phone, chat, email, and social media using a contact center solution like RingCentral RingCX.
• Leverage AI chatbots – Use AI-powered virtual agents to offer immediate 24/7 service that guides customers to solutions.
• Send follow-up communications – Check in with customers to ensure satisfaction and offer additional assistance.

Customer engagement strategy example

LA’s go-to for modern primary care, The Doctor, improves customer engagement with comprehensive post-sales support. They switched to RingCentral to integrate all customer communication channels, resulting in a 25% reduction in average handling time.

From the same platform, they automate communications for appointment bookings and host face-to-face video follow-ups to ensure patients have the care they need.

Build better relationships with the right customer engagement strategies

The concept is simple; engaged customers are happy, loyal, and more likely to stick with your brand. Engagement isn’t a stop on the customer journey, it’s driving the train that keeps bringing consumers back to your products and services.

As more brands use experiences as a primary differentiator, you’ll need to implement effective customer engagement strategies.

Give your customer engagement program a jumpstart with RingCentral RingCX. Our platform makes it easy for you to provide omnichannel service and support from one platform.

AI Agent Assist ensures your team always has the guidance they need to reach fast and relevant resolutions. RingCX analytics help you track important quality metrics and better serve your customers. On top of all that, our intelligent virtual agents keep improving customer engagement by offering 24/7 self-service.

Sign up for a demo with our team and find out more about RingCentral RingCX today.

Customer engagement strategy FAQs

What are customer engagement strategies?

Customer engagement strategies are plans that businesses use to build meaningful, ongoing relationships with their customers across all touchpoints. These strategies focus on creating value beyond transactions through personalized interactions, proactive support, and consistent communication.

Why have a customer engagement strategy?

Customer engagement strategies help improve customer loyalty and satisfaction. Better engagement also improves the overall CX by delivering value and showing customers you care about their needs.

How do I create and develop a customer engagement strategy?

To develop a customer engagement strategy, start by researching where your customers spend time and which channels they prefer. Implement personalization tools, create valuable content, and establish omnichannel support systems. Use data analytics to track customer behavior and preferences, then continuously test and refine your approach based on feedback and performance metrics.

Which metrics can track the success of customer engagement strategies?

Key customer engagement metrics include customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), Net Promoter Scores (NPS), customer lifetime value (CLV), and retention rates. Also track engagement-specific metrics like email open rates, social media interactions, first contact resolution (FCR) rates, and repeat purchase frequency.

Updated Sep 18, 2025