An effective engagement strategy makes or breaks a product's success. Keeping users engaged is crucial for retaining your users, driving growth, and ensuring long-term customer loyalty. 

This is why you need to actively engage with customers. In other words, you need a well-executed customer engagement strategy. Not convinced yet? Well check out all these benefits: 

• Increases Retention and Reduces Churn: Engaged users are less likely to leave, leading to stronger customer loyalty and long-term customer relationships.
• Boosts Advocacy: Engaged customers often become loyal customers, who then become advocates, promoting your product to others through word-of-mouth. 
• Drives Product Adoption: The more engaged users are, the more likely they are to explore and fully adopt your product's features.
• Provides Actionable Insights: High customer engagement gives you valuable data on user behavior, allowing you to refine your product and engagement strategy based on real feedback.
• Supports Revenue Growth: Engaged users are more likely to convert, upgrade, and remain long-term customers, contributing to consistent revenue.

So, what can you do in order to achieve all of this? In this guide, we’ll explore 10 user engagement strategies that will lead to product success. 

Let's dive in. 

1. Personalize Your Onboarding

A successful customer journey always starts with great onboarding. It's like having a capable tour guide. A mediocre guide will just give a one-size-fits narration of the place you're visiting. A great guide will figure out what your preferences are, and then customize the tour accordingly. This is the main gist of personalized onboarding, and it is one of the most effective ways to engage customers from the very beginning. Customer needs are different from user to user. Therefore, onboarding experiences should be tailored based on those differences. 

For example, a product marketer and a developer will have vastly different goals. By segmenting customers and offering personalized onboarding experiences, you can ensure that each customer gets what they need right away. This shortens the time it takes for customers to find value (otherwise known as the “aha moment”), which works wonders for your conversion.

How to Implement Personalized Onboarding

• User Segmentation: First, segment your users based on factors like role or use case, and guide them through relevant onboarding flows.
• Onboarding Tools: Use software like Userflow to easily create interactive and personalized onboarding guides.
• Analyze User Flows: Leverage product analytics and examine the customer journey and see where users are getting stuck or disengaging. 

2. Communicate with In-App Messaging 

Imagine you're a user in your own product. You're blocked on something and you can't figure it out. Frustrated, you're about to close the app. Right at that moment, a helpful tooltip shows up. You're now back on track. Not only that, you feel less anxious about the product because you can count on it to help you when you get stuck again.

This is why engaging customers in real time is one of the most effective ways of addressing customer needs across multiple touchpoints. Whether you’re guiding them through complex product features, nudging them to complete important tasks, or simply offering tips to get more out of the solution, in-app messages can make all the difference in their customer experience. Plus, it's not difficult to implement. There are many tools you can use to introduce such self-serve support, such as tooltips and chatbots.

The key is context. For instance, if a customer is exploring a feature for the first time, a well-timed tooltip can provide valuable information that enhances their customer experience. If a user is inactive for a while, an in-app message can re-engage them and bring them back into the fold. This type of contextual customer engagement keeps users informed and on task without overwhelming them.

How to Use In-App Messaging Effectively

• Contextual Triggers: Set up triggers for in-app messages based on customer actions, such as completing a task or reaching a new feature.
• Tooltips for Guidance: Place tooltips near key features to guide customers through unfamiliar parts of your product.
• Real-Time Support: Implement chatbots or in-app live chat options for users who may need additional help.

3. Gamify Your Onboarding 

If something is fun and rewarding, you're going to want to do it more. Which is why gamification boosts customer engagement. By introducing elements like points, badges, and challenges, you can create a sense of achievement and motivation that keeps customers coming back.

This could be in the form of offering rewards for completing onboarding steps, celebrating user milestones, or creating friendly competition with leaderboards. 

How to Add Gamification to Your Product

• Milestone Rewards: Offer rewards when customers reach key milestones, such as completing onboarding or adopting a new product feature. 
• Leaderboards and Challenges: Introduce challenges that allow customers to compete against each other, with leaderboards to track progress.
• Achievement Badges: Reward customers with badges for hitting goals, such as mastering a feature or reaching a usage target.

4. Gather Customer Feedback 

How do you figure out customer needs? Simple, you ask them. This is why customer feedback surveys are a must. With customer feedback surveys, you can figure out what makes a smooth customer experience.

You can gauge customer satisfaction, identify pain points, and collect ideas for new features. These interactions also give customers a chance to voice concerns or ask questions, helping you address issues before they lead to churn. 

But not only that, it's a fantastic customer engagement strategy. By actively surveying users and showing that you care about their experience, you build stronger relationships in addition to the valuable insights that can improve your product.

How to Use Customer Feedback for Customer Engagement

• Automated Check-Ins: Set up automated emails or in-app messages that check in with customers at key points in their customer journey, like after onboarding or after using a new feature.
• Targeted Surveys: Use segmentation to send surveys to specific user groups, such as new customers or long-term customers, for tailored feedback.
• Act on User Feedback: What's the use of feedback if you're not going to apply the lesson? Show customers that you value their input by acting on it.

5. Segmentation and Targeted Outreach

When you engage with customers, remember that they're all very different. Some are power users, while others may only use a few features occasionally. By segmenting your customers based on behavior, demographics, or other criteria, you can create a more effective customer engagement strategy that speaks directly to each group’s particular needs. 

For example, you might segment customers based on their feature usage and send targeted messages highlighting advanced features to those who are ready for them. Or you could re-engage dormant customers with personalized offers or tutorials to bring them back. Segmentation allows you to deliver more relevant customer engagement. 

Examples of How to Segment Customers 

• Behavior-Based Segmentation: Segment customers based on actions they’ve taken, such as which features they use the most or how frequently they log in.
• Role-Based Segmentation: Group customers by role (e.g., product, marketing, sales, customer success).
• Lifecycle-Based Segmentation: Create a customer engagement strategy for different lifecycle stages, from new customers to long-term customers. 

6. Reward Loyalty and Milestones

You know those coupons at your local cafe where you collect 10 stamps and get a free coffee? Well, it works for SaaS products too. Recognizing and rewarding customer loyalty is a powerful engagement strategy to boost customer engagement. Celebrating milestones like anniversaries, usage achievements, or product mastery shows customers that you value their commitment and encourages them to continue being a loyal customer. 

For example, you could offer discounts, exclusive content, or special features to customers who reach certain milestones. And don't forget to send a nice message alongside it. That extra personal touch is a must. 

Examples of Customer Loyalty Programs

• Usage Milestones: Celebrate when customers hit usage targets, such as completing 100 tasks or logging in for 30 consecutive days.
• Anniversary Rewards: Send special offers or gifts to customers on their one-year anniversary (or longer) with your product.
• Exclusive Content: Offer loyal customers access to exclusive content, such as advanced tutorials, templates, or community events.

7. Implement a Customer Success Program

Everyone loves to get taken care of. It's why people go to the spa. And it's the same for customer engagement. Sometimes, help centers or chatbots just don't get the job done. Which is why customer success programs are an essential engagement strategy. They create loyal customers, and increase your customer lifetime value. 

This means monitoring customer health, providing guidance, setting up success plans and helping customers achieve their goals. The key is being proactive rather than reactive. This way you can identify users at churn-risk and engage with customers before they ever think about dropping your product. 

How to Build a Customer Success Program

• Proactive Monitoring: Use product analytics to monitor customer health and flag at-risk customers for outreach. 
• Personalized Success Plans: Work with key customers to create success plans that align with their objectives and product usage.
• Regular Touchpoints: Schedule regular check-ins to discuss their progress, offer extra support, and gather customer feedback.

8. Leverage Product Analytics for Continuous Improvement

Data is your best friend when it comes to optimizing your customer engagement strategy. By tracking user behavior, feature usage, and customer engagement metrics, you can identify what’s working and what’s not. This approach allows you to experiment with new tactics, and continuously improve the customer experience.

How to Use Product Analytics to Better Engage Customers

• Determine Key Metrics: identify key user metrics that matter to your customer engagement goals such as customer lifetime value or churn. 
• Identify Customer Engagement Patterns: Use tools like Mixpanel or Amplitude to analyze user behavior and identify which actions lead to higher customer engagement.
• Continuously Iterate: Take your insights and continuously iterate to find the sweet spot in customer engagement. 

9. Engage Customers on Social Media and Review Sites

Customer engagement doesn't just end in your own product. It continues on social media, review sites, and online communities. Having an engagement strategy for these spaces is crucial.

For instance, listen in on what your customers are saying about you on Linkedin or X and actively participate. It shows customers that you actually care about their experience, even when they’re not directly interacting with your product. It creates a sense of community around your brand. 

Same goes for review sites like G2. Responding to reviews—both positive and negative—can strengthen relationships and offer valuable insights into your product's customer experience. 

How to Engage Customers on Social Media and Review Sites

• Monitor Brand Mentions: Use social listening tools to track mentions of your product across platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and review sites like G2 and Capterra. Jump into the conversation when users discuss your product, whether they’re sharing praise or concerns.
• Respond to Reviews: Don’t just focus on glowing reviews—address negative ones too. When you engage thoughtfully, you can turn frustrated users into satisfied ones. Acknowledging feedback publicly shows that your company is transparent and values its customers.
• Foster Community: Create social media groups or online communities where users can connect, share best practices, and discuss your product. This nurtures a deeper connection with your brand and encourages users to engage with each other and your product.

10. Create Helpful Content for Your Customers

Customers are not just seeking a tool. They want a solution. They want someone to help and guide them. One of the most effective ways to do that is to provide valuable content that goes beyond your product. Offer blog content about best practices and industry insights. Create webinars and videos to educate your customers. Make content that educates and empowers your users, which not only enhances the customer experience, but amplifies customer engagement. 

Positioning yourself as a trusted and credible source of knowledge is a must-have engagement strategy. Because not only does it motivate your customers to stick with you and your product, but they share your content with others, creating a network effect. 

Examples of Content That Generates Customer Engagement

• Blogs on Insights and Best Practices: Give tips, insights on the industry. Offer lists of best practices that are relevant to your customers' professional lives. 
• Webinars and Industry Knowledge Sessions: Host webinars that dive into industry trends, best practices, or advanced product features. These sessions not only educate your users but also position your brand as a thought leader in your space.
• Comprehensive Product Guides: Write step-by-step guides that help users get the most out of your product. Cover common use cases and provide actionable tips that make their day-to-day work easier.

Supercharge Your User Engagement

Now that we've introduced you to the ten engagement strategies above, it's time for you to put them to test. Each customer engagement strategy will take time to get right, and you may not find success with them right away. 

But remember, what's most important is testing and making a series of small changes, because perfection is achieved in iterations. As long as you are consistently listening to your customers and updating your product, your customer engagement will soar. 

And if you need a tool to quickly start implementing every customer engagement strategy we have listed, try Userflow. You'll be able to deploy within minutes and see results right away.