October 9, 2020
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3 min read

What is conversational marketing?

Michał Krzak
Michał Krzak
Copywriter
Closer

Why most of the websites act as a store without a salesperson behind the counter? Or why there is no one on the other side?

For thousands of years, businesses were made as a result of a conversation. Using discussion in your marketing, you can add 15% more leads to the top of your sales funnel.

No wait economy

People used to have everything they want right here, right now. If you make them wait for your response, they will go to another vendor. Great SEO is still essential. But imagine what will happen if a potential client reaches your page, loves the product, service, or whatever you sell, ask you some questions, but doesn’t receive the answers fast? If you are not selling something truly unique, you can quickly lose clients’ attention and, ultimately, the chance for a deal.

InsideSales.com published a review in Harvard Business Review, which shows that when you respond to a question after 5 minutes from sending it, the likelihood of dropping the lead increases ten times. No matter how ridiculous it seems, it is a fact. You may leave your desk to make a coffee in a kitchen, and five minutes later, you need to fight to get your client back.

But there is the other side of the coin. According to the SupperOffice report, 32 percent of companies don’t respond to emails at all. What is more, the time needed to handle a customer service request is huge. It takes 17 hours and 28 minutes. Social media responses are not any better. You can change it easily, and become very competitive while other companies are not doing a thing.

Start conversation with your client

Conversational marketing is nothing new. It is the good old way of talking to the people hanging around your place, which in the XXI century means “website.” Especially if they have questions, a fast response is a must. But if your organization doesn’t have dedicated advisers to be at the client’s disposal all the time, you should think about another solution, like chatbots.

Chatbots for tête à tête

Let’s imagine that your client asks you a question while you are busy with other stuff. With a chatbot, you gain time to join the conversation when the personal touch is needed. Thanks to Artificial Intelligence algorithms, chatbots could be more efficient and answer even more sophisticated clients’ questions. It may be crucial, while more than 50% of customers anticipate that businesses are open 24/7 . And chatbots are not extra paid for a weekend or night job.

Get rid of contact forms

The reason behind getting rid of contact forms is simple. People don’t use it. Websites that use contact forms don’t like to show their contact data such as phone numbers or email addresses. What you are trying to do is something opposite – make the connection with you as fast and easy as possible.

Prepare typical answers

Apps like Closer, the reach media conversational sales platform, have those smart options to prepare solutions for usual or frequently asked questions. Such as “what is the price of it” or “could we arrange a meeting”? With suggested answers, you or your adviser could quickly respond to the client’s needs, without extra typing or searching through the catalogs or offers.

Ask questions

Chatbots and AI/ML functions are great. Sometimes you will need to turn the autopilot off and take the controls, at least at some point. Remember to ask questions. Not only the basics like an email address, this can be requested by the chatbot, but try to be genuinely a sales assistant who is interested in the client’s opinion or remarks. Thanks to that, your brand is more likely to be remembered.


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