In this face-paced world, no one has time to wait for a reply for an email they send to a brand or wait for their call to get picked up by the customer service team.
Today’s customers want their questions answered in the quickest way possible while connected on a more personal level with brands they love. That’s where conversational marketing comes in.
Conversational marketing is the idea that you should be talking to your customers like they’re friends. It’s not about pitching products and services, it’s basically all about having conversations with customers and helping them with questions they have. Done right, conversational marketing can help generate leads, increase brand loyalty, and develop customer insights; all things that will make your business more successful in the long run.
We’ve listed some essential reasons why conventional marketing can be such a game-changer for your business.
1) Customers demand more personalized and quick solutions
In this digital era, old-school marketing methods like print ads, commercials, and even cold calls are intrusive. They are no longer as effective because customers want more personalized attention. They don’t want to feel like they’re just another number or faceless person that a business is trying to sell something to.
Today’s customers want to interact and have meaningful conversations with their favorite brands while solving their problems. This means businesses need to be prepared to engage in a two-way conversation or else they risk getting left behind.
Conversational marketing is about creating friendships, not transactions. As soon as you approach them more like friends than numbers, you’ll start seeing better marketing results.
2) Understand customers’ needs
When your customers interact with your conversational AI, such as chatbots or voice search-optimized websites, each interaction from them will be stored in your marketing or sales funnel.
By tracking all these interactions, you’ll be able to better understand your customers’ needs and pain points. You can then use this information to create more personalized content that will help them solve their problems faster, developing brand insights that can further improve your bottom line.
For instance, when you see that your customers use chatbots mostly to ask what kind of business you are, you can provide them an explainer video with a brief copy rather than simply direct them to your homepage and ask them to explore your brand themselves.
If they see how helpful you are with answering their questions, there is a good chance they will come back and stick around your brand– which translates to boosting customer loyalty and satisfaction.
3) Create a better customer experience
When it comes to building positive experiences with your customers, there’s nothing to build strong experiences other than having real conversations with them and helping them. Gone are the days when you ask them to wait for callbacks or go to your FAQ page for their questions.
Conversational marketing AI allows you to cater to your customers’ needs 24/7. They can answer your customer’s questions in a matter of seconds, wherever they are, whatever device they use.
Not only do you give them an immediate response, but you can also provide one-to-one, more personalized feedback. When you are there whenever they need you, you give them a positive customer experience.
Another way conversational marketing can help improve your customer experience is by helping them find the right products and services for what they need much faster than any other method out there. It cuts down on time wasted on irrelevant content that doesn’t help them solve their problems.
In the end, you’ll have a more satisfied customer who will be willing to pay for your services or buy your products– which is great news if you’re looking to grow your business even further.
4) Build an online reputation
Leveraging conversational marketing also shows your customers that you’re a cutting-edge brand that’s always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to reach them. In other words, you’re a few steps ahead of your competitors. This can help you build a strong online reputation as being a forward-thinking business that cares about its customers’ needs.
When your customers know that you’re constantly working on improving their experience with your brand, they’ll be more likely to stick around and even recommend you to their friends. Good online reputations also help businesses attract new customers through word-of-mouth marketing, which is one of the most powerful forms of marketing there is.
5) Reduce customer service cost
When you have chatbots that work 24/7, you can reduce your customer service cost. With chatbots, you can reduce customer service costs by up to 30%. Your customer service team doesn’t have to answer the same, mundane question over and over again. This way, they can focus on more sales-related tasks, increasing their productivity as well as your business’ revenue. That’s why conversational AI can be such a powerful complement to your customer service team.
Chatbots are also great for providing faster responses since there’s no waiting time before they get back with an answer or trying to figure out what department should help them in the first place. This means that customers will be happy since they get an answer almost immediately and your staff is happy too because it reduces their mundane tasks and the time needed to respond.
In addition, chatbots can also work for customer relationship management (CRM) purposes by collecting data on their preferences so you know what products or services will interest them in the future– which translates into more sales conversions down the road. Plus, you’ll know what products or services they will need in the future, allowing your brand to get a headstart.
6) Convenient for both your business and your customers
Conversational marketing is also convenient for both you and your customers. For starters, it’s a very flexible marketing strategy that can be tailored to fit any business size or type. In this case, it’s much easier to scale up or down than other marketing strategies, so it can be adapted depending on your business needs.
When you can provide the same level of customer service no matter where your customers are or what device they’re using, you’re providing an added convenience that they’ll definitely appreciate.
Final thoughts
In short, conversational marketing is an easy and cost-effective way for businesses big and small from all industries to boost their customer service experience– which leads to happier customers who are more loyal to your brand. It helps you to put your customers’ needs at the center of the equation. To engage them in the long term, they must feel loved, valued, listened to, and understood.
