The new phase of user engagement

Customer engagement is extremely important. Engaged users not only interact with a business but also use and promote its products – things that help it stay ahead of its competitors.

However, traditional methods of customer engagement are decreasing in effectiveness. For example, the average open rate of email newsletters stands at 21.33% and the average click rate is at a mere 2.62%.

Though marketers are taking advertising online to reach younger audiences, studies have found that 59% of millennials skip ads on platforms like YouTube, and more than half of Generation Z users have ad blockers on their browsers.

The rise of mobile technology has also presented new challenges to businesses looking to connect with users.

While the availability of multiple channels such as email, SMS, social media, and push notifications has made it easier for companies to reach customers, people consequently experience information overload, which makes keeping and retaining customer attention an uphill task.

Both user attention and engagement are now coveted prizes in the eyes of marketers and product developers. But while engaging users is becoming more difficult, many companies are rising to the challenge, using new and different techniques and technologies to do so.

Eyes on the prize

One example is internet company Sea. Two of Sea’s subsidiaries, ecommerce service Shopee and gaming platform Garena, utilize a variety of strategies to boost user engagement and drive sales across different platforms.

Shopee has rolled out a variety of initiatives to create a holistic shopping experience for its customers. One is through gamification: Users can earn Shopee coins – the platform’s currency that can be exchanged for discounts – by playing simple in-app games like Shopee Shake.

Some games have a community element as well. In Shopee Farm, players water a plant and receive a reward when it is fully grown. Friends are able to water each other’s plants, which encourages players to rope others into the game and onto Shopee’s platform.

Photo credit: Shopee

Users can also see what friends have been buying through the Shopee Feed, turning online shopping into a communal experience. Much like typical social media platforms, customers can follow friends and sellers, and receive real-time updates on purchases, deals, and other events happening on Shopee.

For Garena, the company launched mobile game Free Fire in 2017 in order to tap into the mobile gaming market. With an install size of just 1GB, Free Fire is much more accessible to users in developing markets, for whom data consumption and storage space are significant concerns, enabling Garena to engage with a whole new pool of customers.

The gaming company has also put fans at the center of what it does. From cosplay tournaments to celebrity-led charity matches, Garena has created an ecosystem where fans can engage with fellow gamers and enjoy their favorite games across a variety of mediums.

Photo credit: Garena

Such approaches have paid off: Sea’s total adjusted revenue in the last quarter of 2019 was US$909.1 million, an increase of 133.5% from US$389.3 million for the same period in 2018.

Rewriting the rules of user engagement

Both Shopee and Garena are constantly evolving, taking into consideration user needs in order to better engage with them.

Shopee is working to deliver more personalized shopping experiences through an AI-driven recommendation engine, and Garena’s recently-launched Booyah livestreaming app caters to the rising demand for mobile gaming content.

Companies need to explore different ways of connecting to customers. By creating unique experiences that are intriguing, fun, and helpful to users, brands are able to engage them better, keeping them on their platforms as they consume and advocate for their products and services.

Featuring Omer Iqbal, engineering lead for Booyah at Garena, and Zhong Nan, product lead of search and recommendations at Shopee, “Rewriting the Rules of User Engagement with Shopee and Garena” is an online event that will explore specific examples of how the two companies have utilized emerging technology to create new forms of user engagement.

This event will take place on Wednesday, July 29 at 4:00 pm SGT, and is free for anyone keen on attending. Click on the button below to register.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.