Benefits of Adding Conversational Marketing Strategies to your business.
Conversational marketing: What is it?
Conversational marketing is simply a marketing strategy that utilizes human-to-human conversation. Instead of connecting with customers through the “filter” of an email, video, or advertisement, conversational marketing puts you in direct contact with leads and customers.
Over the centuries, businesses have experimented with a range of marketing tactics. That being said, all of these methods attempt to reach clients, sell them something, provide support, or provide them with a “call to action” for a product or service.
Throughout history, we’ve gone through telegrams, letters, phone calls, billboards, emails, internet pop-ups, and countless other sales tactics. All of these strategies have various pros and cons, but they all share one crucial flaw: the lead doesn’t get to choose when they happen.
If a lead isn’t expecting an email or a sales pitch, their mental state just isn’t primed enough to be sold something. Even if the email is sent to a targeted lead, they’re probably going to forget they even saw the notification or open the email much later.
These types of marketing strategies only succeed if the lead is highly targeted. If not, they simply complicate and delay the conversion process. If you’ve worked in sales, then you already know that “time kills deals.” There are numerous delays that you have to deal with in sales, whether you’re engaging in outbound or inbound marketing. Nobody enjoys making a phone call to a business and being put on hold, sending an email and waiting for a response, or god forbid, “submitting a ticket” and waiting for a reply.
Conversational marketing allows businesses to communicate with the right people at the right time, giving them the right information completely on demand.
Examples Of Conversational Marketing
One of the most obvious real-world examples of conversational marketing is the Facebook business page. This method is completely taking the world by storm. Businesses know that there are already 2.7 billion people on the social network, so all they need to do is make themselves available. On this social media platform, they know their target market is waiting. This means no extra work for a near-unlimited supply of potential customers.
We already know this system is working wonders for brands across the globe. There are an estimated 2 billion messages being sent between Facebook users and businesses via the Messenger app each year. Chat apps like these allow businesses to conduct conversations with customers in order to answer questions, set appointments, deliver quotes, or anything else. Customers can use it to browse, buy, or receive support.
Why make a client dial a phone number, wait for it to ring, go through robots, wait on hold… And then finally have a conversation with a real person when they’d much rather focus on getting on with their lives? Chat apps allow them to send a message, put their phone in their pocket, and then check it when they have time. The key thing here is that this entire process happens on the customer’s time. They are in control.
Another great piece of conversational marketing innovation was Dominos Pizza’s idea to let people order pizza by texting their “pizza emoji.” Customers first set up a profile on their app and create an “easy order.” From that point on, every time they text the emoji Dominos replies and asks them to type “order.” The customer is then charged and the pizza is delivered.
Both of these tactics completely surpass outdated marketing methods by allowing the customer to do everything on their own schedule. With conversational marketing, you put customers in the driver’s seat and create leads who are 100% targeted.
Why it works
- People prefer instant messaging
Instant messaging is becoming the most preferred means of communication, especially among the younger generations. Now that society has become obsessed with their smartphones, the majority of people are already spending time looking at their screen, sending messages to their friends via Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and others. This is why conversational marketing is so important; it’s an adaptation to important changes in communication habits among the masses.
- It shows off your personality
Instant messaging with your customers allows you to show off your personality, which is a defining factor in human-to-human connection. You can easily ask questions, confirm that you understand and hear the customer, and then recommend or sell something – all in real-time. It also gives you the chance to take an extra second, think about your answer, and then respond in the most effective matter. This is not the case with any other communication medium.
You can make jokes, send emojis, negotiate, come up with discounts, or do whatever you want to personalize the experience and make it more “human.” This contrasts with the monotony of a templated support email or answering machine. You also get a very clear image of who your customers are, what their problems are, and what they want. It’s like having a free analytics program, allowing you to tailor your business to what your audience wants as you discover more about them.
- It’s easily scalable
With conversational marketing, you can talk to huge amounts of people at the same time without it ever becoming unmanageable. Even if you have to take more time to respond, a customer doesn’t mind waiting for the message notification to pop up. They’re still free to do other things while they wait. This is not possible while on a phone call. The important thing is that their particular issue gets solved with virtually no effort from them. You can do this even if your business doesn’t have lightning-quick res
How to make it work for you.
- Start Small
As previously noted, conversational marketing is highly scalable. You can start with a relatively affordable and accessible chat app, and increase your level of service as time goes on. As your business grows, you can connect your expanding customer base with more human conversational marketing specialists. Regardless of how many human specialists you have, they can provide you with a range of services:
- Lead qualification
- Answer Questions
- Receive feedback
- Schedule appointments or meetings
- Promote or advertise things
- Promotion
With conversational marketing, you can send a mass message through a chat app in the same way as you would send a marketing email. As long as you do it sparingly, open rates for marketing promos are exponentially higher in instant messaging apps compared to email. Instant messages also allow customers to respond, ask questions, or schedule an appointment. A good promotion with a simple call to action through instant messaging is an easy, free way to convert leads.
- Make your customer’s experience easier
Landing on a website and spending time trying to find what you’re looking for is annoying. If you know that 85% of visitors to your site are there for the same thing, why make them work for it? Why not have a chat app instantly pop up and help with that particular issue. Whether your customers need to see a schedule, prices, a phone number, a chat app on your homepage can work wonders for the customer experience.
- Organize your CRM
Obviously, not all leads can be converted to paying customers on the first, second, or even third interaction. However, you can still have a chance at converting them in the future by reminding them of certain events, promos, or discounts. You can do this by funneling them into your CRM and constructing a pipeline for them.
The same goes for paying customers. As soon as someone becomes a paying customer, you can put them into a retention pipeline using conversational marketing. With a simple “thank you message” after their purchase, you can promote additional products in the future.
When you build an organized CRM database around your customers, you can pay special attention to each and every lead and funnel them through a predetermined pipeline. This will convert lost sales, increase retention revenue, and allow you to nurture already existing leads in a timely manner.
- Minimize the time between conversation and sale
It’s always good to personalize conversations and be “human” – but a standardized, highly efficient timeline of your conversational marketing is the key factor in maximizing your cash flow in the long run. The tried-and-true marketing principle of “ABC” (Always Be Closing) still applies in conversational marketing. Conversations with your lead that get straight to the point look more professional and are more time-efficient for both you and the customer. This also makes the sales process easier to perform because you always have the necessary steps in mind before you start the conversation.
It’s similar to when waiters at a restaurant ask you what your plans are for the rest of the night while you pay the bill. They may be attempting to be nice and personalize the experience, but in reality, they’re just making things awkward rather than simply closing the deal. Don’t be that guy.
Conclusion
Implementing a conversational marketing campaign is going to be different for every business. It all depends on who their customer is and what they’re trying to accomplish. If you’re interested in conversational marketing, it’s important to know your customers well and to anticipate their needs. Once you do that, you can construct a cohesive, efficient customer experience. With conversational marketing, you can generate more leads, more paying customers, and a dependable revenue stream long into the future.