Conversational Marketing Explored: Uncovering Benefits, Strategies, and Examples

The online world is a fast-paced one. There’s always something new to try as part of your digital marketing campaign. But conversational marketing is more than a passing trend or fad. It’s a way to leverage marketing channels to build strong customer relationships and make sales easier. 

Well-executed conversational marketing improves both the customer experience and conversion rates so it’s well worth trying out. Encouraging one-on-one communication with your team isn’t as challenging as it may seem at first. Here’s the most efficient and effective way to get started with conversational marketing.

What is conversational marketing?

Just like how the developments in the online world have made it easier for us to keep in contact with friends and family, communication channels can be used by businesses to improve customer interactions, leading to more sales and higher brand loyalty. All businesses need are the tools to have real-time conversations one-on-one with potential customers.

As it is a one-on-one real-time conversational experience, it can be personalized to help customers move along the sales process, whether they are new to the business or considering a repeat purchase. The messaging apps businesses can use vary from social media platforms like Facebook Messenger or LinkedIn, direct messaging through SMS or WhatsApp, or a messaging service connected to the business website such as a chatbot.

3 Benefits of Conversational Marketing

It might seem like a lot of effort to set up your sales teams to be able to speak to customers individually. But it’s a marketing approach that pays off big time. These are some of the main benefits.

1. Enhanced customer engagement.

Consumers are faced with loads of marketing campaigns on any given day. A marketing campaign that is based on fostering meaningful conversation is going to stand out. It’s more memorable. Sales reps can create a personalized experience that speaks to the individual pain points and goals of the customer so it will resonate with them.

It also creates a positive experience for potential customers as they have a convenient way to ask questions and utilize the knowledge base of the sales team who is just a message away. You want to reduce any possible frustration around business interactions such as customers needing help finding key information or having to wait on hold for ages to speak to a customer rep over the phone. That’s a surefire way to lose leads. 

2. Improved lead generation and conversion.

Your target audience finding out your business exists is only the first step. Leads can easily move onto another website and check out a competitor, completely forgetting about your business. Encouraging them to continue to engage with the business reduces the risk of leads getting lost before you’ve had a chance to convert them.

Wherever they are in the customer journey, whatever information they may be looking for, website visitors don’t have to troll through lengthy FAQs. They can get personalized answers relatively quickly. Once that initial connection has been made, sales reps can follow up with leads through various conversational marketing tools to keep them moving through the sales funnel and help them convert.

3. Streamlined customer support.

Real-time one-on-one support helps loyal customers as much as new customers. Whatever concern may come up, they know where to turn to. It creates a smooth user experience as customers are less likely to get frustrated, confused, or experience other friction if they can quickly and easily speak directly to the business.

Using conversational marketing platforms can make it easier for the business to manage customer support too. Customer reps can message multiple customers at once, collect information about each contact in a CRM and even identify qualified leads so they know who to prioritize.

So, how do you get started with leveraging the benefits of conversational marketing?

Chatbots and Conversational Marketing 

To get started, decide on the conversational marketing tools you’ll utilize. There are plenty of platforms to choose from and it is a good idea to have a few options available to your customers so they can go with their personal preferences.

Social media communication channels are very accessible to new leads in the sales cycle. Direct messaging like SMS and WhatsApp are convenient channels for customers on the go. You don’t want to miss out on webchat because it allows potential customers to reach out at the point of making a buying decision on the business website.

As well as providing instant support at such a critical point in the sales process, you can use it to collect customer data for storage and processing in your CRM and automate some elements through artificial intelligence. However, consumers can be put off by AI-powered chatbots, meaning it can become a point of friction in the customer journey.

Here at Podium, we have a webchat that enables you to connect your customers with real sales reps for the best customer experience. It’s a Webchat solution that maintains the convenience of messaging without losing out on the human element that is essential for fostering strong customer relationships through meaningful conversations.

Conversational Marketing vs. Inbound Marketing

Conversational marketing can be categorized as a type of inbound marketing because it attracts new customers to the business. However, conversational marketing is quite distinct from traditional inbound marketing strategies, focusing on one-on-one conversations instead of creating marketing campaigns for mass consumption. Here are the key differences between the two.

1. Personalization and Tailoring

With conversational marketing, you can create a much more personalized and tailored experience because the focus is on an individual. With inbound marketing, by nature, the campaign has to apply to a wider audience and there aren’t as many cues for personalization opportunities.

2. Timing and Proactivity

While inbound marketing waits for leads to make contact with the business after they’ve come across marketing campaigns, conversational marketing allows businesses to make the first move and be proactive about interacting with potential customers. Businesses can initiate conversations and respond in real-time. For example, having a web chat on your site invites website visitors to start a conversation with you.

3. Interactivity

Through conversational marketing, businesses can create a back-and-forth with their customers, strengthening the relationship. It’s easy to keep track of customer contact information with our omnichannel inbox and CRM. In the case of inbound marketing, you’re essentially encouraging passive content consumption.

Both marketing approaches have their place in the digital marketing sphere. It’s just that conversational marketing can speed up conversion due to the level of personalization, proactiveness, and interactivity.

How to Create a Conversational Marketing Strategy

When investing time, money, and effort into setting up a conversational marketing strategy, you want to make sure it’s going to get the business results. These are the steps to follow to get conversational marketing right sooner rather than later.

1. Outline your version of success.

State what you want from implementing a conversational marketing strategy. This will make it easier to commit to decisions when applying the marketing campaign. One of those decisions is the KPIs that indicate success so you can track progress during implementation for timely refinement as needed.

2. Understand your target audience.

What do your customers want from the conversational marketing campaign you implement? If you’re going to achieve your goals, you need to meet the needs of your target audience as well. Consider how the new campaign will make the customer experience easier according to your specific customer avatar. What matters most to them when it comes to having a conversation with your business?

3. Select the right channels.

With an understanding of your target audience and how the conversational marketing campaign will impact them, you can choose the conversational channels you’ll use. This can include specific social media platforms, text messaging, and webchat, depending on what your customer avatar would find most useful.

4. Define your conversational tone and style.

As there will be numerous sales reps responding to the conversations with customers, there is a risk of inconsistency which could taint integrity and trust. Set a unified brand tone and style that the whole workforce will use when engaging in conversational marketing. As well as taking into account the established branding of the business, consider the tone and style your customer base will resonate with. What would they expect from a business like yours?

3 Examples of Conversational Marketing

If you’re wondering what implementing a conversational marketing strategy would look like for your business, take a look at these real examples of businesses leveraging conversations right now.

Domino’s AnyWare

The more convenient a conversational marketing tool, the more likely it is that customers will use and benefit from it. Domino’s has doubled down on convenience by offering an ordering tool that customers can use on any device – laptop, phone, smartwatch, and even Apple Carplay. This makes it as easy as possible for customers to complete their orders, wherever they are and whatever their messaging preference.

Sephora Virtual Artist

Ecommerce businesses often have a lot of products for their customers to choose from. While giving customers options is great, it can leave customers in decision paralysis, not knowing what to buy. Sephora has solved that problem in its business by adding an online chat function that combines the power of AI and live reps. The AI element asks questions to establish the query before routing the customer to a suitable sales rep who can make personalized product recommendations.

HelloFresh’s Freddy Freshbot

Conversational marketing can also be used to retain customers which is particularly important for subscription-based businesses as in the case of HelloFresh. They have a chatbot called Freddy Freshbot that customers can ask about their next order, the delivery process, and even recipe ideas. It is integrated with Facebook Messenger as it is a familiar platform for its customers are comfortable using.

Drive More Leads and Revenue With Podium

If you’re going to leverage the power of conversational marketing to elevate the customer experience and boost business growth in tandem, you need the right tools. Talking to your customer base one-on-one is no mean feat!

Podium is the all-in-one platform to help you deliver smooth communication to your customers. If you’d like to direct message your customers through text messaging, we have you covered. If you haven’t yet added a webchat to your site, we have you covered. If you’d like to use the increased level of communication with your customer base to encourage people to leave reviews, we have you covered. 

As we cover so many elements of customer communication, we make it easy to stay organized even when dealing with a large number of conversations due to our omnichannel inbox and customer contact CRM. 

With the support of Podium, there’s no reason you can’t profit from the rise of conversational marketing.