Of course, this type of customer engagement requires a level of human interaction that smaller companies and start-ups may struggle to provide. In order to keep response times down and engagement up, there needs to be a voice at the end of the line, someone to answer queries and sales questions instantly. However, as counterintuitive as it may sound, that voice doesn’t necessarily need to be human, the rise of chatbots is helping to make conversational marketing a possibility for businesses of any size.
Chatbots act as an automatic lead qualifier, providing instant answers to the most common questions 24/7. If a customer has a question or query that the bot cannot answer, they are automatically connected with a sales rep. In many cases, the customer may not even be aware that they are speaking to a bot and as this type of technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, chatbots will be able to answer even more customer queries and guide individuals through the entire sales process.
Finally, the development of chatbots and the rise of Big Data are creating a perfect storm of customer engagement. Unlike a human sales rep, chatbots will be able to instantly retrieve huge amounts of data relating to individual customers, from the way in which they browse your site initially to previous behaviors relating to orders, returns and other more sophisticated queries. As chatbots develop, this type of data will become invaluable, allowing instant personalization of responses designed to refine marketing efforts and drive customer engagement.
The new technologies of today are designed to bring us closer, to bridge the gaps created by a truly global world. From mobile phones to social media, savvy marketing executives have always looked to the latest devices and platforms to provide an advantage over the competition. By combining these two core concepts, conversational marketing aims to fulfil the need for greater engagement by speaking directly to those customers that already show some interest in a company’s business or service. Put simply, a more human approach to marketing offering contextual and timely conversation with customers is the answer to information overload. Whether through humans or bots, conversational marketing offers businesses the opportunity to adopt this approach.