Every enterprise on earth is seeking to create effective customer engagement. Engagement drives conversions, strengthens customer relationships, enhances brand awareness, and creates a host of other benefits.
In the customer engagement arms race, a new framework and set of methodologies has risen to prominence: conversational marketing. What is conversational marketing, in practice? Personalized, one-to-one, quick and easy, mobile-first chats. Read on to discover the thinking behind conversational marketing, and why it is proven to produce such effective customer engagement.
Conversational Marketing: An Emerging, Powerful Concept
Enterprises seeking to implement effective customer engagement strategies need to prioritize customers’ wants and needs. They need to meet customers where they are, on their terms, in ways that are convenient and desirable to them. This is especially true in a Covid and post-Covid era, when digital outreach strategies need to be sharper than ever.
What is conversational marketing? Conversational marketing is a framework that seeks to tailor the marketing approach to what the consumer wants. Conversational marketing embraces tools, solutions, and methods that allow enterprises to do some or all of the following:
Why is Conversational Marketing on the Rise?
Effective customer engagement produces proven business results. Customers who are fully engaged represent a 23% higher share in profitability, revenue and relationship growth. B2B companies that successfully engage their customers drive attrition down by 63%. The better you can engage customers, the better you will meet business goals.
The evidence is clear: Customers want the easy, conversational interface of platforms like SMS. Various studies reveal this strong want. Texts have a 99% open rate, and consumers read 95% of texts from brands in three minutes or less. 45% of text messages sent out to customers and prospects get a reply. On top of that, responses come in within 90 seconds.
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of customers expect brands to connect with them at a direct level. 82% demand an “immediate” response of 10 minutes or less. With a conversational approach, these needs can be met. A holistic conversational marketing strategy can keep customers’ attention anchored to brands and their offerings.
Through conversational interfaces like SMS and in-app chat, customers are made to feel that businesses are accessible and human. This has always been impactful; in the era of COVID-19 and lockdowns, it is even more important. A McKinsey report indicates that companies that showed empathy and concern for customers during the pandemic have been in the strongest position to strengthen customer relationships.
Conversational Marketing Unlocks Advanced Personalization
Truly effective customer engagement requires personalization. According to Salesforce, 76% of customers expect brands to know and understand their needs and expectations. 84% say they value brands that treat them like a person, instead of a ticket number. 66% will switch brands if companies don’t view them as individuals.
This knowledge and understanding can only come from a personalized approach to engagement, where enterprises develop rich customer personas and maintain a comprehensive record of all communications.
Conversational marketing both unlocks and thrives on personalization. “The key to successful conversational marketing is to personalize your approach,” says Nicole Bojic, chief marketing strategist at EXP Consulting Group. When a conversational approach combines personalization, “the customer feels heard, understood and listened to.”
This needs to be done right: While 59% of customers say that personalized engagement efforts based on previous interactions are crucial to winning their business, nearly half of consumer respondents say they only trust a brand that only requires personal information relevant to its product. In other words, enterprises have to avoid overreach. But with the right data, the most powerful forms of personalization can be put into play.
The ReplyBuy Advantage
How can businesses drive effective customer engagement through personalized conversations at scale? With the right software. ReplyBuy is tailor-made to offer businesses a cutting-edge, all-in-one conversational marketing hub. It provides the easiest way for a business to start a conversation and close the sale.
With ReplyBuy:
To see how businesses have been driving effective customer engagement via the conversational marketing methods facilitated by ReplyBuy, check out some of our customer stories: