Do you want to reduce the exchange time to optimize the sales process of your company? Conversational marketing is the answer to your question. With conversational marketing, you engage in an exchange with your potential customers and decrease the time needed before their first purchase. Want to learn more about conversational marketing and how it can help you maximize your sales process? You are in the right place.
What is conversational marketing?
By definition, conversational marketing is a set of smart strategies and tools that shorten a company’s sales process. Thanks to automated tools like chatbots, engaging in real-time conversation with prospects and customers becomes very easy. In addition to providing real-time answers, conversational marketing via a chatbot also provides tailored answers to customer questions. This is a great way to ensure that prospects will be interested in your offers and services instead of looking elsewhere.
Conversational marketing is also a more personal way to address potential customers who enter your company’s website. It’s a bit like in real life, when a customer enters a fashion store, the store clerk asks him how he can be useful. No matter what question he asks, the salesperson will be able to give him the right answers or otherwise guide him in his choice. In addition, the salesperson will give him/her the necessary advice regarding the item he/she wishes to purchase. If the customer is satisfied and happy with the help you have given them, they will definitely change their status from potential customer to customer. In conversational marketing, it is the chatbot that plays the role of the salesperson.
However, many people still confuse conversational marketing with relationship marketing when they are two quite different concepts.
Conversational marketing
Most digital marketing experts believe that conversational marketing is simply the 2.0 version of relationship marketing. However, it is a little more elaborate than that. This concept is presented as a dialogue between the consumer and the brand. Contrary to the old marketing techniques, the consumer is the one who initiates the dialogue and not the brand.
Conversational marketing has become even more interesting for commercial companies since the popularization of social networks and instant messaging systems like Messenger or WhatsApp. Consumers no longer hesitate to express their needs on these different communication channels. As a result, the brands concerned are obliged to respond in order not to lose customers and potential customers.
Relationship marketing
Relationship marketing is the creation of a personalized relationship between a company and its customers. Unlike conversational marketing, it is the company that takes the initiative to engage in dialogue, not the customer, until the customer makes his or her final decision to buy a product.
In relationship marketing, the dialogues set up by companies are studied beforehand according to the consumption habits of customers and prospects. For example, in a mailing strategy, the company first encourages the customer to test the product or service it offers. Then it invites the customer or prospect to proceed to buy the product again and again. The company may also encourage the customer to buy the same brand or model. In this kind of strategy, it is clear that it is the companies that are initiating the conversations.
How do you know if using a chatbot in conversational marketing is successful?
Like any marketing strategy, it’s important to know whether or not using chatbots in your conversational marketing is paying off. For this, there are several indicators to consider:
- The success rate of the chatbot compared to the business objectives ;
- The duration of the conversation and the number of messages exchanged to validate the exchange;
- The number of users and the number of conversions to know if each answer provided is adapted to each request;
- The activation rate to see if user engagement has an impact on the level of sales;
- The failure rate of solution proposals or when the chatbot fails to provide the right answer to the query;
- The number of conversation abandonments, i.e. the answer provided by the chatbot does not correspond to the question;
- The number of connections that do not result in a conversation.
There are still other metrics that measure the performance of chatbots in your conversational marketing strategy, but these are the most important.
What are the benefits of conversational marketing?
For companies, conversational marketing is a strategy that consists of giving their customers and prospects the means to more easily engage in a conversation. This communication strategy offers several advantages such as:
Optimize sales
In recent years, the majority of companies opt for the implementation of a live chat on their site and on social networks. It is usually a chatbot that appears immediately when a visitor arrives on their website.
Thanks to this intelligent tool, the visitor can discuss and get instant answers to his questions. In addition, the chatbot can also guide the visitor to the offer best suited to his request or help him with a problem related to his purchase.
Contrary to contact forms, chatbots are very appreciated by Internet users since they allow to have a real time discussion. This means they can get the answers they need when they need them most. Better customer experience means better engagement and sales, which is a great way to ensure a better return on investment.
Better engage your audience
Conversational marketing also allows you to more quickly engage the customers and prospects you interact with. Remember that the more personal and personalized the communication, the more the customer will feel involved. Here again, the use of a chatbot is more than interesting. Nevertheless, the personalization and the quality of the answers given are very important and require a perfect knowledge of the context of the exchange. Thus, each conversation is individualized and adapted to the context. The challenge is always to engage the customer, by providing the right answers or offering appropriate content.
On the other hand, if your chatbot does not know the subject of the request, it will ask the same questions every time. This could have a negative impact on the customer experience.
To offer a permanent availability to its visitors
By using chatbots, you make your business available 24/7. As a result, your customers and prospects can visit your website and get answers from you at any time of the day. Visitors will be more likely to come back to your website if they are sure to get answers and help if they have problems.
Know your audience better
Encouraging your visitors to fill out a contact form allows you to collect information and personal data about them. However, what do you really know about them? For this, there is nothing better than a direct conversation, even if it is done by chatbot. This is the best way to learn more about your audience, their real needs, the problems they face, and therefore how you can help them. By listening to them, you will surely be able to provide them with solutions adapted to their concerns. By doing so, you are sure to score points in the eyes of your audience compared to your competitors.
Reduce the sales process
When a visitor fills in the contact form on your website, there is no certainty that it will lead to an appointment. With the chatbot, you can optimize your chances of making your strategy work by asking the most appropriate questions according to the context of the exchange. A chatbot will also allow you to see if it is an interesting lead or not.
We are currently living in an era where social networks and instant messaging applications such as WhatApp or Messenger are becoming more and more important in the daily life of each individual. With this in mind, it’s safe to say that conversational marketing is one of the best tools for perfecting your sales strategy.
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