Conversational Marketing is taking the marketing world by storm. Chatbots and conversational AI are appearing all over the digital landscape. By 2020, nearly 80% of enterprises are predicted to use chatbots to automate and scale responses to customer inquires.
What exactly is Conversational Marketing?
It’s a strategy that helps companies shorten the marketing and sales cycle while strengthening business relationships by engaging in real-time conversations with potential and existing customers.
Photo by Joshua Ness on Unsplash
There are five key principles of Conversational Marketing:
- Conversational Marketing is Customer-Oriented
- Conversational Marketing is Conversational
- Conversational Marketing Is Personalized
- Conversational Marketing Is For Marketing and Sales Teams
- Conversational Marketing is Frictionless
While terms like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Automation can sound daunting to a marketer, there are easy ways for you to apply these principles to your existing marketing strategy.
Let’s take a look at five easy ways you can get started with Conversational Marketing.
Live chat gives you the ability to start conversations with potential customers right on your website. One of the key principles of conversational marketing is taking a customer-oriented approach. With live chat, you provide website visitors with the option to speak with you at their convenience. No more filling out forms and waiting.
1. Knowledge graphs and Chatbots — An analytical approach.
Live chat has been proven to improve customer satisfaction and the overall buying experience. Take a look at some of the stats:
- 92% of customers feel satisfied when they use the live chat feature when dealing with businesses, more than any other communication option. ()
- In 2018, the aggregate customer satisfaction rate of live chat experiences based on post-chat surveys was approximately 83.1%, an increase of 2.5% from 2017. ()
- 50% of consumers say that having a live person answer questions in the middle of a purchasing decision is one of the most important features a brand can offer ( G2 Learning )
Getting started with live chat does not require chatbots or AI. offers a free plan that only requires you to copy and paste a small snippet of code. Another option is to add Facebook Messenger to your website for free. Follow to learn how.
Source: https://www.drift.com/blog/conversational-email-templates/
Email is already a tried and true practice in marketing, but it can be hard to stand out in a crowded inbox. In a study conducted by Campaign Monitor, people send and receive on average roughly 126 emails per day.
So how do you avoid getting lost in the scuffle? Change your tone.
Think about the types of emails you always open. Are they from big brands trying to sell you something or are they from people you know personally?
Another easy way to get started with Conversational Marketing is to apply a personal, conversational tone to your marketing and sales emails.
Instead of talking at your email recipient, talk to them. Ask them questions, avoid image-heavy emails, and make it personal. For more pointers on how to transform your emails check out these 12 templates.
At the end of the day the goal of any marketing strategy is to produce revenue. But, the modern consumer does not like being sold to. How can you get around this obstacle?
In other words, how can you sell without being pushy?
Try social selling. Social selling is about leveraging your social network to find the right prospects, build trusted relationships, and ultimately, achieve your sales goals. This tactic lines up perfectly with the principles of conversational marketing.
Do you have a LinkedIn profile? Start connecting with individuals who may seem like a good fit for your product or services. The key here is to start a conversation, not sell. Learn about your connection, ask questions about their work, and build a relationship.
If you establish a strong, trusting relationship first, your prospect is more likely to buy from you.
You can accomplish the same thing on Facebook or Instagram. See a profile or post that resonates with you? Leave a meaningful comment and direct message them. Facebook groups are also a great place to connect with potential customers and stretch your social selling skills.
We’re not talking about texting your friends. We’re talking about text message marketing. Did you know that 85% of mobile device users prefer a text from businesses over phone calls or emails?
Many B2C brands have already adopted text message marketing. B2B brands are still catching up, leaving the door wide open for early adopters. Like social selling, text message marketing creates that personalized one-to-one interaction that you can achieve through other means of marketing. In fact, text message marketing yields open rates of 97% and click-through rates of 36%.
The best part is that if you have a phone, you can easily start texting your prospects. Keep in mind that while you should use a conversational tone (and emojis are encouraged) to remain professional. This includes proper spelling and grammar.
It’s no secret that video is the future of content marketing. According to a Hubspot report , usage and spend on video marketing are going to continue to increase in 2020. Platforms like TikTok, IGTV, and Facebook Live are hitting record numbers in popularity right now and that’s likely to continue. Video is the preferred medium for most internet users, with over watching a video online in the last month.
Video is great for content marketing, no doubt. Video marketers earn 66% more qualified leads per year. But, did you know that you can also use video for conversational marketing?
You can incorporate video into your emails, live chat, and even online messaging. Here are some ways that video can help you improve your conversations with potential customers:
- Video can help you show a product feature quickly and clearly
- Video can put a face to the name and make the conversation more personal
- Video can help you reengage potential customers that dropped out of chat (harder to say no in person, am I right?)
If you’re looking for some tools to help you incorporate video, check out Drift’s new video tool. For screencasting, try Screencastify. It comes with a Google Chrome plugin so you can capture an on-screen video easily.
How Are You Incorporating Conversational Marketing Into Your Marketing Strategy? Let Us Know In The Comments Below!
