It’s probably fair to assume that you’ve heard that “chatbots are the future of marketing” and are wondering what all the fuss is about. Each innovation of communication technology provides another new opportunity for marketers to interact with audiences and customers; chatbots are no exception. Chatbots are encouraging businesses of all shapes and sizes to reimagine their marketing focus and implement a conversational marketing strategy.
Even if conversational marketing is new territory for you and your business, a feedback-focused approach to marketing shouldn’t be. Listening to potential customers, one-to-one, and developing a relationship with them through helpful content based on their individual needs has always been fundamental to inbound marketing.
Online chatbots have reshaped how, when and where conversations with customers can happen. It’s important for marketers to address their opportunity to establish a solid conversational marketing strategy, ensuring that this new channel is being used to its full potential. Here are 5 reasons why we believe every business can benefit from conversational marketing:
Create a more human buying experience
We’ve implemented chatbots for many of our clients and have seen them go a long way, handling a range of customer problems, large and small. Sales reps and marketing teams can provide service to existing and potential customers instantly and without the cold formal approach of traditional marketing interactions like emails & phone calls.
Think of your website as the shop floor and your chatbot as the shop floor assistant. If the customer needs assistance you can offer service to them instantly, but even if they’re just having a browse or not interested currently, you’re still there just incase.
Improve customer insight
Conversations are a two-way street. Having chat conversations has allowed our clients to ethically collect valuable information about the people that matter to them the most in an open and transparent way. Chatbots can provide insight into things like the times of day that customers are most likely to message, questions that indicate the type of information that may be missing from the website or whether or not potential customers are finding the website easy to navigate. When you’re communicating and conversing non-stop, you’re learning more about who you’re having the conversation with, non-stop.
Discover new sources of leads
Conversational marketing is one of the most engaging features you can have on your website. Rather than only being able to watch people visit and leave your site, chatbots can encourage valuable conversations with potential customers and encourage them to explore your site further. The conversational marketing platform that we recommend for our clients, Drift, claims that it has added 15% more new leads to its sales funnel by simply having conversations with potential customers through chatbots.
Grow their sales pipeline
Again, Drift points out that conversational marketing now drives 50% of their business. With the right knowledge, scripting abilities and customer insight, chatbots and other conversational marketing methods can help to perfect your sales pipeline, giving potential customers immediate access to your company’s expertise at all times for their needs.
Reinforce your brands personality
Chatbots provide the perfect opportunity to showcase your brand’s personality and tone of voice. Whether you want to be fun like GoPro, formal like HSBC, or quirky like Innocent Smoothies, by personalising your chatbot, you can provide users with the feeling of an organic conversation.
If you have a unique brand with an interesting story to tell, this can be especially advantageous for you. However, no matter your brand’s identity — be it fun, formal, sassy, witty or quirky — you must ensure that the conversation is never stale or boring.
Experiment with different personality styles and see which style your audience responds to best. As with any inbound techniques, it’s important to test and continuously optimise your strategies to derive the most value from what you’re doing. This ensures that you’re providing the right people with the right information at the right time.
Summary
Disclaimer: not everybody is as excited about the chat robot revolution as we are, so be cautious that some team members may feel as though we’re heading towards a Sci-fi horror movie.
We’re not.
It’s highly unlikely that Chatbots will replace the one-on-one experience offered by members of your sales team, but they definitely have a future in inbound. Implementing your conversational marketing strategy sooner rather than later will provide users with access to tailored content in a unique, refreshing and human way, that can build trust and loyalty in even the most competitive markets.
If conversational marketing sounds like something your business or website could benefit from, get in touch with one of our specialists or have a read of some of our other blogs related to conversational marketing and take a step into the future of personalised marketing communications.
