Pay attention to the signs: How customer signals give you a clear path to better engagement and retention.

Many brands ask the same question repeatedly during the customer experience, and too often they don’t take any action even if the customer has answered or dropped clues (signals) about what they may be searching for. There are many implicit messages customers send to brands when interacting with them, but most brands aren’t set-up to make the most of these signs. This is where Acoustic Connect can be a game-changer, it allows brands to surface these intent signals, and take the most appropriate action.

To be fair, there are some brands that use this information well and Abandon Basket communications exist for that very reason, but there are so many more possibilities beyond that. Let’s look at some of the customer signals that are hiding in plain sight.

On-site searches: This is a powerful tool because a customer is either explicitly telling you what they want or providing some big clues. It may be that the search is for an out-of-stock product. In this case, a “back in stock” alert could be just the ticket, or it may be that the search was vaguer. Customers search for all kinds of things: sizes, brands, colours, items, or even something like “gift ideas for an 8-year-old.” If this information is used well, it can help marketers make much more relevant recommendations. And don’t forget what the customer does once they see the search results page—each interaction and behaviour is a signal.

Filters: When customers visit a site and use the filters, they’re inferring what is important to them. Filtering by price tells us something as does filtering by colour or size. Using these signals can be the difference between providing recommendations that the customer will never entertain versus those that may enticing enough to convert. If someone is online browsing for shoes and chooses to sort prices low to high, and then by items under £150, how much better do you think things will convert if the follow-up recommendations all match those filters?

Increased intensity: When a customer visits a page multiple times, it’s a signal. Either that page is their route into the site, they’re frustrated and going in circles, or their need or desire is intensifying. Looking at the intensity of intent signals like this and being able to take the appropriate follow-up actions could speed up time to conversion.

Frustration: Like the point above, if you see a customer landing on a page over and over again, then this is an intensifying signal. But it can be one that brands don’t want—a frustrated customer caught in a loop. Perhaps they’re trying to find another page and the links on the site are pulling them back to the same page that they already searched, or they’re entering a discount code that just won't accept after repeated tries, or maybe they’re using language with a chatbot indicating intense frustration. Recognising signals like this may help brands intervene at the right time and prevent that frustration from turning into complaints, low review scores, and lapsing customers.

Those are a few examples of the stories your customers may be telling you with their actions. So, when you’re next thinking about your customers’ experience, plot out a typical customer journey from initial exploration through to purchase with a few little struggles or points of indecision along the way. Then step back and look at all the clues from each individual interaction and think what you could do to provide a better experience. I suspect it’ll be a lot and you just need a tool like Acoustic Connect to surface the possibilities that these signals provide. Once you include these signals as part of your personalization and segmentation strategy, it will ensure that your overall customer experience is seamless and drives longer lasting engagement.

Acoustic’s professional services team can help you understand and take advantage of the capabilities in Acoustic Connect so you can elevate your customer experience and increase your speed to conversion. Contact us to learn how we can help you make stronger customer connections.