3 reasons why virtual events are perfect for boosting customer engagement

Virtual events are increasingly becoming a preferred method of connecting with your customers and accelerating the onboarding process—they singlehandedly help you boost awareness, develop deeper customer relationships, and build customer trust at a faster pace than through traditional marketing methods. 

Virtual events are also known for being cost effective—saving your budget on food, travel, location and resource expenses—which makes them the perfect fit for accelerating the adoption of new software or services. 

But what are the benefits of using virtual events for customer engagement? And how can you use them to connect with potential customers? In this article, we’ll cover some of the top reasons why virtual events make up for being the best customer engagement tool available today. Read on to find out more about this amazing tool for building customer loyalty and boosting brand affinity. 

What is customer engagement? 

Promoting customer engagement is one of the most effective ways to strengthen your brand loyalty. For example, how long would you continue using a product or service if you were not satisfied with it? How would you feel if your complaints, comments, or support requests were ignored? In the end, it is the engagement that makes customers stick to your products. Engaging with your customers is much more than providing them with useful information or service offerings. It’s about making the customers feel valued and heard, while also building their trust and rapport with your brand. Engagement is all about creating a sense of connection with your customers. But how? You can do it by talking with them, asking for their opinions and being genuinely interested in what they have to say. When you engage with customers, you’re building a relationship with them. This is different from creating a sense of urgency around your brand. For example, in case of a new product launch or a special offer, you can let your customers know about it and tell them what they need to place their orders right away. 

Why is customer engagement crucial? 

Customer engagement is one of the most important aspects of any successful business. It’s only after you establish a solid relationship with your customers that you can deliver them with the products and services that they expect from your brand. Engaging with your customers will help you build a deeper connection with them and make them more loyal to your brand. This will also enable you to understand any needs or expectations your customers have of your product and make improvements accordingly. Engaging with your customers is about creating, maintaining, and strengthening all types of relationships. But one of the most important relationships you need to build is the one with your existing customers. 

How virtual events help boost customer engagement 

Virtual events are live or interactive video-based experiences designed to attract and engage your target audience. This type of event is typically done over a virtual platform such as YouTube, Facebook Live or Marquet. Virtual events allow you to create an experience that feels more personal than traditional forms of marketing, such as newsletters or emails. You use virtual events to directly personalize and strengthen the relationship between your brand and customers or to create a community around your brand. Virtual events can be used to engage with your existing customers, build relationships with prospects, and generate brand awareness. You can also use virtual events to boost your company culture and encourage team collaboration. 

1. Virtual events are ongoing 

Virtual events are perfect for companies that want their customers to engage with their brand on an ongoing basis. For example, an insurance company might host a virtual event once a month to answer customers’ questions and solve their issues. But these meetings can also be used for training purposes to teach customers how to file claims, navigate their service-related system, etc. Similar to virtual events, virtual sales training is another excellent example of how to use virtual events to improve customer engagement. In this scenario, a salesperson is paired with a customer who is learning how to purchase the products or services the other person represents. The person leading the call can facilitate the training process by running training scenarios, asking questions, and demonstrating key products. 

2. Virtual events build trust 

Virtual events can help your company build trust with your customers by demonstrating your brand’s professionalism and deep knowledge of your field. Establishing your band as a knowledge leader in your industry is key to gaining the trust of your customers. Not only will your customers value your insights and advice, but you may become their first stop for answering questions. So how do you use virtual events to garner trust and establish yourself as a knowledgable frontrunner in your industry? Let's look at an example. If you run management software that helps companies hire and manage their team, you can organize virtual events that let a small group of employees and customers interact in a virtual environment. The first virtual event could be a conversation between two managers and their employees about the challenges and triumphs of running a team. This would help build trust between the parties and demonstrate your expertise in the industry. In the second event, the same managers could be paired with a customer who has a similar team-related challenge. The virtual event could help the customers solve their problems as well as provide the managers with insights on how to improve their team’s performance. 

3. Virtual events improve customer satisfaction 

Customer satisfaction increases when customers feel your company is helpful and dependable. Your customers want you to be their partners, not just product vendors. How can virtual events boost your company's reliability? It's easy. For example, if you run an accounting software, you can organize virtual events that let customers and managers interact in a virtual environment. Managers can use these virtual events to train their customers in how to use the accounting software. As the training progresses, the manager can help their customers navigate problems that affect their company’s financial performance. The final aspect of this example is that the manager and customer can then organize a virtual event where the manager can demonstrate how to use the accounting software to solve the customer’s problem. 

Summing up 

Customer engagement is essential for any business to succeed. And virtual events are a great way to engage with your customers, build brand loyalty, and boost sales. In fact, according to recent studies, more than half of the people prefer virtual events to be the main marketing platform. With the help of virtual events, you can boost brand awareness and strengthen your relationships with customers. It’s a great way to engage with your target audience and generate leads for your sales team. 

Keep in mind that virtual events are a cost-effective way to host gatherings in locations where it’s hard to accommodate large groups of people. In addition, virtual events are more cost-efficient than regular in-person activities such as conferences and training sessions, which makes them the perfect fit for accelerating the adoption of new software or services. Virtual events are an excellent way to build trust with your customers and improve customer satisfaction. Finally, virtual events make up for being in-person by providing customers with real-life examples of how your product or service works in action.