For years, online businesses, especially smaller ones, have followed a somewhat passive model of customer engagement. The site is live, and the digital storefront is effectively "open." The expectation is that customers will visit when their need arises, reacting to the demand created by external marketing.

This "wait and see" approach, while foundational, is becoming insufficient in a hyper-connected world where consumers are bombarded with messaging at every turn. Instead, the new model of customer engagement demands a shift from being reactive to actively meeting customers where they are, when they need it. This evolution, powered by new technologies, can be a game-changer, even for small startups lacking armies of development resources.

Related: Is Your Company Hitting These Engagement Metrics? If Not, You're Going to Lose Customers.

The limitations of solely relying on so-called inbound website traffic are becoming clearer. Consumers belong to numerous loyalty programs (on average, over 15) but actively engage with fewer than half of them. There are many reasons for the lack of engagement: Their attention is extremely fragmented, and the sheer volume of our modern world's digital noise makes it challenging to stand out when a customer finally remembers or searches for a company's........

© Entrepreneur