Chat marketing or conversational marketing is the fastest way to move buyers through marketing and sales funnels through the power of real-time chat chat conversations. It builds relationships and creates authentic experiences with customers and buyers.
It's the best way to start real-time conversations with buyers and customers.
Instead of forcing the visitor to go through lead capture forms and wait days for a response, conversation marketing uses targeted messages and smart chatbots to interact with people when they are on your site.
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Facilitating visitors' involvement for your company will help you convert more right leads faster. Conversational marketing has become the reference strategy to boost customer engagement, improve customer experience and increase revenue.
The name itself already says a lot about the term – but if you are wondering how this marketing model works and why it is so important in 2021 and where it fits in the world of your business, keep reading!
How conversational marketing works
It is based on interactions 1 x 1 (one to one) in real time on multiple channels. It allows you to promote customer relationships and improve his online experience by communicating and personalizing interactions.
Live chat, chatbots and messaging apps are used to enable these personalized conversations.
Chatbots in particular have made conversational marketing more accessible. The two solutions are regularly grouped as the same thing, but chatbots are just a part of conversation marketing: as the goalkeeper of a football team, you wouldn't say they make the entire team.
Any form of bidirectional communication, such as phone and email, can be part of a conversational marketing strategy. Although today, messages are the most popular way to get in touch and reach customers.
People love chatting and want instant answers, which is part of why messaging apps like WhatsApp are so popular.
The key in conversation marketing is to evaluate and understand what your customers' preferred channels are and adjust their voice tone accordingly – chatbot dialogue and live chat is usually quite informal and mimics casual conversation.
6 Reasons Why Chat Marketing Is Important for Small Businesses
Small businesses thrive because they offer customers a personal touch. You may think installing a chatbot on your site is the opposite of personal touch and not what you want your brand to represent.
Actually, the opposite is true. These tools can help you apply the same individualized approach you take when interacting with customers across your business. Here are six reasons why this is important for small businesses.
1. Welcome to your potential customers
If you have physical facilities, you'll probably greet people when they come in. From a friendly sales team to a professional reception, what really matters is that when someone comes in through the door, you or your team say hello.
Compare the traditional office or store with the online experience. After entering your website, the potential customer or client is exploring alone. A chatbot can greet them when they come in and guide them to what they're looking for.
Of course, some people prefer to navigate independently, but that can also be an option. After the initial greeting, you can silence the technology and create a button if someone needs more assistance.
2. Non-interruptive
The difference with conversation marketing is not that computers replace human interaction. It's just that everyone's having the right conversation, with the right person, at the right time.
3. Time saving
Small businesses are often burdened with people performing multiple functions. Chat marketing allows everyone in the team to maximize their time and this is particularly important in a small company where everyone's time is valuable.
4. Strengthen your brand
The advantage of this approach is that it also means that your company is always getting smarter. Everything you learn about customers in conversations through automated programs and individual interaction can be realised in the business. This means not only that your sales channels are more effective and your team more efficient, but also that your company is getting smarter and smarter.
The difference between traditional marketing and conversation marketing is the same as the difference between knowledge and intelligence. It takes more than data to run a successful business. You need a strong brand, aligned with the client's interests. To create this, you need to know what your customers care about and where their focus is. There's no better way to do this than to talk to them.
5. Continuous market research
The conversations are equivalent to real-time data collection, which means that instead of waiting until your company is refusing to search the market, you have the latest information to detect trends quickly and easily. This offers greater agility in the business.
The great advantage that small businesses have is that they can revolve around the interests of the customer. Large companies may take a while to reach the market, but conversation marketing can put small businesses at the forefront of trends and new opportunities.
Chat marketing can also reveal new market segments. Deep conversation with customers – something you have more time for, since you have tools to qualify your leads – can help you discover new uses for your products and services. You can promote yourself according to how customers see you and highlight what they value most.
6. Provides a competitive advantage
For a small company that seeks to grow and stay one step ahead of the competition, conversation marketing is an invaluable tool. You and your team will close sales faster and more effectively, you will have the knowledge to develop a business aligned with customer needs and you will even discover market opportunities that you had not previously considered.
How to choose the best chatbot tool?
When it comes to choosing the best chatbot tool for your business, there is a large and apparently increasing number of tools and options available. Navigate in this scenario to choose the right tool for the development of your chatbot takes some time, effort and... tests!
Fortunately most platforms offer a trial period before they start using it permanently.
Make a team for collective inspiration and division of labor, if possible. But often the owner of the business himself ends up testing to see the viability and results.
Setting the purpose and scope of chatbot is also important. It may seem obvious, but it is crucial to determine exactly what you want your chatbot to do and what the limits are. This will help a lot when it comes to creating the automations.
Some requirements to take the first steps
It is always better to start by asking yourself: what are the “required” features of the tool to use this chatbot or features that are differential?
We created a small list of tips to help you choose:
- Easy chatbot integration with websites platforms like WordPress, Magento (electronic trade), specifically on a page;
- The ability to handle the normal text input and buttons with predefined answers to guide the conversation;
- the ability to extract information and data for lead nutrition;
- Good reporting capabilities;
- the ability to consistently deploy on multiple devices and browsers;
- Voice capability is not explicitly a requirement.
Tools most used in the market
There are several, for all type and business model (B2C and B2B). I've highlighted the most recommended ones these days. Require subscription payment for use and a test drive period:
- Sendpulse– Chatbot for Whatsapp: Engage your audience with WhatsApp — free messages to subscribers within 24 hours of receiving your subscriber's last contact. Automate conversations with your customers from the first point of contact to the closing of the sale. Use Sendpulse's visual chatbot builder to create chatbot to Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and Telegram.
- Zenvia: conversational platform with many features. Offers Instagram API, Chat, WhatsApp, SMS, Voice.
- Leadster: Dashboard and analysis, chat with lead generation for later nutrition. It integrates with inbound marketing tools like RD Station Marketing.
- Zendesk: one of the most famous and complete. In addition to chatbot, it has customer support features.
- ZapForm: integrated chat with WhatsApp to serve customers, employees or anyone else in a structured and automated way.
- Jivochat: has a free version basic and another professional, but with much more functionality.
Conclusion
Conversational marketing is changing the way companies talk to their customers, making interactions easier and faster than ever. Your clients are talking. Why not participate?
The most important things to focus on are choosing a tool that meets your business model, conversation and how strategy fits into a general strategy of entry marketing.
Remember that channels should be simple for businesses and consumers to use, conversations should follow a clear process and serve a purpose, and your input marketing strategy should inform your conversation marketing strategy.
