Relevant, convenient, real-time interactions with consumers are among the trends that offer brands the most opportunities. Across multiple channels, conversational marketing is a great ally for building lasting relationships and meeting users’ new needs. Learn what defines it and how to bring it into your next strategies.
A real-time dialogue in tune with how people use new technologies today, in the way and in the place they choose. With enormous potential still to be tapped, conversational marketing gives brands a particularly useful tool for meeting needs right away, in a helpful and personal way.
In general terms, it is the heir to email, voice messages, SMS and live chat. In practice, though, it is much more, and it delivers massive impact thanks to new technologies. As the digital era changes the way we communicate, conversational marketing calls for a shift in mindset for the industry, which has to work every day to build a lasting, meaningful relationship with potential customers.
In a dynamic, hyperconnected world, brands can no longer rely only on traditional communication channels. Users move through complex journeys across a variety of platforms every day: they look for inspiration and information about what interests them, but they also want to receive personalized messages.
The rules of the game for consumers
Conversational marketing needs to support the entire customer purchase journey and work organically so it makes an impact in every area of the business. What do we mean? Let’s see:
- Conversations need to follow the customer’s schedule: a dialogue can start at lunchtime, pause because the user had other things to take care of, and pick up again smoothly at night. It’s consumers’ needs that set the pace.
- Conversations need to be scalable: the number of needs to be met must not put the personalization of customer dialogues at risk. This is where the use of bots, for example, lets brands deliver relevant, useful interactions at scale.
- Conversations can’t happen in isolation: using data well makes contextualized interactions possible, ones that give customers real solutions instead of generic answers. No customer will be satisfied if they’re asked about their problem or concern over and over again. Knowing consumers in depth is the best way to help them.
- Conversations need to happen where customers are: whether with a human or a bot, companies must make sure conversations take place on the channels users prefer, on the web or on mobile. Offering a toll-free number as the only option is no longer enough.
It’s clear, then, that conversational marketing doesn’t rely on a single tool; it means weaving together multiple solutions. For example, more than 2 billion messages are exchanged every month through the most popular social media chats: users contacting brands to buy, file complaints and get help. It’s in the places where users feel comfortable (chats and other instant messaging services) that interactions become most valuable.
Today, more than ever, customer satisfaction and retention are a priority, as is investing in new communication technologies. Conversational marketing opens up hundreds of opportunities for new communication strategies: are you ready to take advantage of them?
