Why Customers Want “Conversational” Marketing

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What is Conversational Marketing?

Conversational marketing is a method many businesses are using to move customers through the sales funnel more quickly than with traditional approaches. Conversations that are triggered with a single click, hosted by Live Chat or AI chatbots, can let businesses learn enough about prospects to quickly qualify leads. Instead of sending someone to a landing page to fill out a form – which then takes time to process – live chat or bot conversations can use questions to move the prospect through the funnel more rapidly.

Why Do Customers Like Conversational Marketing?

Our digital experiences have trained us to expect immediate results. We become impatient if content doesn’t load fast enough because we’re accustomed to fast internet speeds, and we’ve bought into the idea that what we want should be available instantly. Conversational marketing feeds into those expectations and delivers these benefits to consumers:

• Convenience and Speed: Customers and prospects can get answers to questions immediately, any hour of the day and every day of the week. They won’t have to wait for your business to open or to suffer long hold times on the phone.
• Personalized and More Precise Communication: Automated live chat or AI chatbots can learn about a prospect’s needs very quickly using a series of questions that build on one another. Potential customers will feel “heard” because the conversation is tailored to meet them where they are on their own personal sales journey.

Conversational marketing is based on a customer-centric approach versus a business-centric one. Customers can engage when it’s convenient for them, rather than having to wait for the company to respond. They’ll also be treated to an experience that is personalized, not the generic one used for all non-qualified leads. But are consumers receptive to the conversational marketing approach? Customer engagement company, Twilio, says they are, and found that 89% of customers like using messaging to communicate with brands.

How Do Businesses Benefit by Using Conversational Marketing?

Using a traditional lead generation and qualification approach, businesses would likely need to take several actions before a salesperson can even talk to a prospect. After a customer lands on a website and fills in a form, the lead is entered into the company’s CRM and the lead gets scored. After many more steps to qualify the lead, a salesperson would finally connect with the prospect.

Using a conversational marketing approach, the lead qualification process is made simpler and happens more quickly. That’s probably the biggest benefit for businesses. Some other advantages of using conversational marketing include:

Reduction in Form Abandonment

According to business guide, The Manifest, 81% of people will start to fill out a form but then leave the site before it’s completed and submitted. With conversational marketing, customers aren’t left on their own to complete a form. Instead, they can immediately begin to interact with a real person or an AI bot to keep the sales qualification process moving along.

Collect Better Information About Customers

Another drawback to relying on forms is that they can collect only a limited amount of data. By using messaging, a company can learn why someone landed on its web page in the first place and dig deeper to determine which features or services the prospect feels are most important.

Conversational marketing is also useful in developing customer personas. Companies don’t have to rely on third-party research, but can get first-hand information about a customer’s motivations, pain points, buying habits, and other psychological and behavioral input. Messaging with consumers can also provide an opportunity to collect customer feedback about a product or service.

Using transcripts from the conversations, businesses have access to valuable data that can help them improve their products and interact more effectively with their customers. It may even provide opportunities for a business to cross-sell or upsell during a conversation.

Scalability

If you’re the owner of a small business, you may not have the necessary resources to follow-up with every lead. Lead qualification requires a staff of knowledgeable salespeople and product support specialists, and it’s a very time-consuming process.

With the use of AI chatbots, however, your company can talk to hundreds of prospects simultaneously. You won’t have to worry about leaving any leads behind.

Build Better Customer Relationships

AI chatbots can use context to understand what customers need and want. When consumers’ needs are being met, it’s easier for them to trust the company and become loyal to its brands.

A conversational marketing approach also makes the brand seem more human. Live representatives or chatbots address the consumer by name and find other ways to personalize the experience that’s impossible to achieve by simply visiting a website.

It’s Always a Good Idea to Talk to Your Customers

During a time when in-person conversations aren’t feasible, it’s necessary to find new ways to start talking again. Using Live chats or AI-run chatbots to message with prospects is a safe and effective way to learn more about your customers, find better-qualified leads, and convert those leads into customers more quickly.