Boost e-commerce sales with user engagement strategies.

Let’s face it: a brand engages with customers from the moment they first interact—whether through your website, social media, or emails. What starts as a one-sided conversation can transform into a two-way relationship that drives loyalty and sales. That’s where customer engagement and customer service come into play.

While customer service is reactive—offering help when problems arise—customer engagement is proactive, fostering connections long before purchase. Engagement is what sparks interest and keeps customers excited about your brand, setting the stage for a seamless experience when customer service is needed.

Studies show that 89% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase after a positive customer service experience (via HubSpot Blog). But what's equally important is keeping them engaged even before and after service interactions. Proactively engaging customers builds trust, ensures loyalty, and keeps them coming back — something that customer service alone can't always guarantee.

Focusing on engagement keeps customers in a loop of excitement and satisfaction. As a result, your customer service becomes just one positive touchpoint in a much broader, long-term relationship built on meaningful engagement.

Engagement: the gift that keeps on giving.

Sales magic is not just about conversions. Sure, sales are great, but real engagement is about keeping your finger on the pulse of what your customers truly think, feel, and need. Picture the difference between a sprint and a marathon—one might get you a quick win, but the other builds endurance, loyalty, and possibly a few referrals.

In short, user engagement isn't just about boosting sales — it's a direct line to insights that sharpen your business. By staying connected, you're keeping customers happy and constantly learning to improve with every interaction. Here's why engagement matters:

• Pinpoints key drivers: Engaged customers reveal what matters most—product quality, shipping, or support. These insights help you focus on what truly drives satisfaction and loyalty.

• Prioritises improvements: Engagement highlights recurring pain points. Use feedback to address common issues like delivery times or website usability.

• Elevates personalisation: The more you engage, the better you understand each customer’s preferences. This leads to deeper personalisation, from targeted emails to tailored product suggestions, boosting customer experience and retention.

• Improves benchmarking: Engagement provides data to track changes in customer sentiment, helping you measure progress and refine strategies after new product launches or campaigns.

How to nail engagement.

Drawing from over a decade of experience, we’ve gathered proven methods to make your customers feel valued and drive a noticeable boost in sales.

Personalised experiences.

Personalisation keeps customers engaged by making them feel understood. Tailor product recommendations based on their browsing history or past purchases. Whether it's dynamic website content or personalised emails, these small touches greatly impact customer loyalty and conversions.

Pro tip: Surprise your customers with a little love on their half-birthday or the anniversary of their first purchase. It’s a small, thoughtful gesture that can leave a lasting impression and convert.

Apps.

As e-commerce evolves, more retailers are turning to mobile apps as an effective way to engage users and collect valuable customer data. Apps allow brands to create personalised experiences through push notifications, tailored recommendations, and in-app exclusives. They also offer an opportunity to collect real-time data on user behaviour, enabling brands to refine their marketing strategies further.

Pro tip: If building an app isn't within reach, focus on enhancing your mobile website. Optimise it for fast loading times, mobile-first design, and add features like push notifications through browser settings. You can still offer personalised experiences by collecting data on user preferences and sending tailored email or SMS campaigns to keep customers engaged.

Interactive content.

Make browsing fun with interactive content like quizzes, polls, or product finders to boost engagement and gather data for personalisation. Brands like Sephora use virtual product finders to match users with the best skincare or makeup, while Nike offers a shoe customisation tool, allowing customers to design their own footwear. These interactive tools engage users and help gather insights into customer preferences for better personalisation.

Pro tip: Identify areas where customers need guidance, like selecting products or clarifying their needs. Then, add engaging tools like quizzes or product finders tailored to your offerings. For instance, a “Find Your Perfect Fit” quiz for apparel or a “Discover Your Skincare Routine” tool for beauty can make the shopping experience more interactive and fun.

Interactive product pages.

Turn browsing into an immersive experience with product videos, 360-degree views, and augmented reality (AR) tools that give customers a hands-on feel without leaving home. The more engaging the experience, the more likely users are to add to the cart and check out.

For example, IKEA KREATIV uses AR to let customers visualize furniture in their homes, while H&M offers virtual shopping in the metaverse. Sunglass Hut allows customers to try on sunglasses virtually, demonstrating how interactive features engage users and drive sales.

In fact, Shopify reports that after implementing AR, Rebecca Minkoff saw customers 27% more likely to order and 44% more likely to add items to their cart after interacting with 3D products.

Pro tip: Start small. Use AR for virtual try-ons or product visualisers, focusing on ease of use. Test customer responses before diving deeper into the world of AR/VR. Ensure your implementation solves a real customer need and enhances their shopping experience.

User-generated content (UGC).

Get your customers involved. Encourage them to share reviews, photos, and videos of your products. UGC builds trust and shows new customers how your products work in the real world. Nothing says authenticity like happy customers showing off their purchases!

For example, our client Hey Harper encourages creativity by offering a €40 gift card for the most creative product reviews. The brand's hashtag, #HeyHarperGirls, helps users feel effortlessly connected to the brand’s community.

Pro tip: Encourage customers to share their experiences by making it easy and rewarding. Run social media contests, offer discounts for photo reviews, or create branded hashtags to build a community.

Loyalty programmes.

Keep users coming back for more! Offer rewards for purchases, reviews, or referrals. Whether it's points, exclusive access, or special perks, loyalty programmes incentivise repeat business and long-term customer engagement.

Let’s look at Uber. The brand has redefined the ride-sharing industry, not just with its services but also with its valuable loyalty program. As an Uber Rewards member, you earn points with every coin spent on rides and Uber Eats orders. These points unlock rewards like Uber Cash, priority pickups, and flexible cancellations. The more points you earn, the higher your membership level, leading to even more perks. It’s all about offering users more flexibility, time, and control, ultimately enhancing their experience.

Pro tip: Make your loyalty program more than just a points system. Offer tiered rewards, exclusive perks, and early access to sales or unexpected discounts. The key is to make customers feel valued and excited about continuing to love your brand.

Gamification & time-sensitive offers.

Create a sense of fun and urgency. Spin-the-wheel discounts, limited-time offers, and countdown timers add excitement, encouraging customers to take action sooner rather than later.

Hey Harper is a great example here. For the waterproof jewellery brand, we designed, built and implemented an actual game on their e-commerce platform, which led to significant increases in engagement. Users who played the game converted 7 times more, added to the cart 10 times more, and had a 9% higher average order value than those who didn’t. This illustrates the power of gamification in boosting user engagement and sales.

Pro tip: Align your gamification with your brand. Create relevant, engaging experiences that enhance the shopping journey and offer simple, valuable rewards to keep customers returning.

Live chat & chatbots… more nay than yay.

Real-time engagement is crucial for guiding customers through purchase decisions. Whether powered by AI or humans, live chats can provide instant support to prevent cart abandonment. However, many AI chatbots fall short, frustrating users rather than helping them. If you're considering chat solutions, the advice is simple: go human or go home! We explore more on this topic on the section below.

What about AI?

AI has a massive potential to improve our lives, but the way it operates may get us feeling a bit paranoid. If you feel like your phone is listening to you, you are not dreaming.

Norton, a consumer cybersecurity brand, confirms this and offers insights on how to stop it.

Talkdesk, a global cloud contact center leader for modern AI-powered customer service sheds some lights on how this “voodoo magic” actually happens.

As AI evolves, its impact on personalisation in e-commerce will be transformative. AI can analyse user data in real time, delivering highly tailored product recommendations and personalised experiences, making every interaction feel unique and relevant. This creates deeper connections with customers, driving engagement and loyalty.

AI will also enhance gamification and loyalty programs by intelligently adjusting rewards based on individual behaviours—keeping users engaged ensures they return for new experiences and incentives.

Additionally, AI predictive analytics makes customer segmentation more precise. By enabling micro-segmentation, AI uncovers specific groups that traditional methods might miss. Behavioural segmentation further analyses customer actions like browsing and purchasing patterns, while predictive segmentation forecasts future behaviour, allowing you to target high-value customers. Finally, dynamic segmentation keeps marketing efforts relevant by updating segments in real-time as behaviour changes like price updates, for instance.

Lastly, although it will take time, AI chatbots will improve. As natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning evolve, future chatbots may become more intuitive, offering better customer service and addressing nuanced needs. The key to unlocking this potential will be designing chatbots to understand context and emotions, creating a more human-like experience.

Tying it all together: engagement, design, and conversions.

As we've explored throughout this blog post, user engagement is the driving force behind conversions and lasting customer relationships. Through personalised content, interactive experiences, loyalty programmes, or gamification, meaningful interactions will always win. With AI refining these strategies, your focus should remain clear: keep users at the heart of your efforts.

However, no engagement strategy will succeed without a striking design and a properly functioning e-commerce store. A well-designed, seamless shopping experience sets the foundation for every interaction. Moreover, make sure your marketing team has everything they need to deliver the best content in the most effective manner, or you’ll be wasting precious time and losing customers.