What is conversational marketing and how does it work?

Many entrepreneurs do not enable their website visitors to immediately request a conversation and to get an instant answer to the question they might have.

In fact, marketing in its traditional way suggests you to wait patiently until a request to get in touch is received.

News flash! Your visitors do not have the time (and the patience) to fill in a compulsory form only to hear that “they will be contacted within 48 hours”.

Our purchasing habits have changed. We increasingly value direct and personal conversations. We do not only see that in the enormous popularity of the different chat tools, such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, but also in the way we want to do business.

We open fewer emails. We do not react to cold acquisition anymore. We fill in fewer and fewer online forms. We give up if we have to make too much effort to find information. We are not interested in impersonal messages.

No, instead of that we want to be treated like a person. We want to be able to converse and to feel like we are understood. We want to be able to ask questions there and then and receive an answer immediately. And all this at a moment that suits us.

Is that not the case? Then we give up and move to the next open door - in other words, the competition - hoping that they do approach us personally.

The answer? Conversational Marketing!

What is Conversational Marketing?

Conversational Marketing is starting a dialogue in real time through hyper personalized messages and intelligent chatbots. You provide your website visitors and customers with the correct answers and appropriate offers to help them as quickly as possible.

The visitor no longer has to wait for a confirmation email, a download link, or a call from your sales department, before receiving an answer. Everything is done through the conversation you start with your visitor at your website.

Conversational Marketing gives your visitor the answers they are looking for in real time and 24/7.

Is this not actually very generic? No, it is not. One of the goals of Conversational Marketing is personalizing website experience. By mapping out where your visitor is on your website, by looking at who they are, how they came to your website, what their motivation is, and where they are in the Buyer Journey, you can start a conversation which is unique to their personal situation. That way, it will always feel like a real dialogue.

So, is it a replacement of your current sales funnels? It is not that either. Conversational Marketing is no stand-alone funnel. In fact, Conversational Marketing does not work if you do not have an existing (functioning!) sales funnel. The largest difference with your current situation is that Conversational Marketing will make sure that the steps within the funnel only need to take minutes instead of days. It is the oil your funnel needs to work effectively!

Three advantages of Conversational Marketing

1. With Conversational Marketing you can personally address your customer at any time. That way, your website will become a place where the visitor feels understood and at home. A place where the customer can count on a good conversation and the correct advice for them. This will result in a huge boost in customer satisfaction.
2. With Conversational Marketing you will significantly increase your conversion rate, because you assist the visitor as they want to be assisted. Because of that, they value a relationship with you more than with your competitor. Additionally, you are much better able to help your leads, through the answers they give you. You immediately know what they need. As you are able to answer immediately during the conversation, the chances they are open to your approach and will convert are much larger than when instructed to wait for an email or a call.
3. Because Conversational Marketing is automated for a large part by the use of chatbots, you are able to speak to many more visitors at the same time. Many more than what your sales team can handle in one day! It also shortens the sales cycle significantly, because the visitors have been qualified by the chatbots extensively and your sales team will understand the problem much better. That makes closing a deal a lot easier.

Implement Conversational Marketing to your website in three steps

The most effective way to implement Conversational Marketing to your own website is by following the Conversational Framework of Drift. Drift is the company behind the term ‘Conversational Marketing’ and therefore knows like no other how you can make sure that your visitors are going through your sales funnel(s) in the most personalized way.

The Conversational Framework consists of three steps:

1. Engage: nowadays, your potential customer wants an answer to their question immediately and at a moment that suits them best. If that is right now, then that is not in a few hours or in a few days. It is down to you to serve at their beck and call!
   The goal of the Engage step is therefore to immediately respond to the intention of your visitor as soon as they landed on your website, and to start the right conversation. For example, have they reached your pricing page or your contact page, then their intention to buy is higher than when they are reading an informative blog post. The conversation you would start with this lead is therefore also different.
2. Understand: Nine out of ten times, your target audience will be aware of the traditional online marketing tricks, and they know that for many companies they are no more than a visitor qualified based on their email address.
   
   Because of that, they are looking for a more human approach, which makes them feel like you are making an effort to really understand them and offer them a website experience that matches their wishes.
   
   So, ask the right questions to show that you understand where they are coming from, what their pain is, what they might already know about a possible solution and what they need at that moment in time.
   
   Make them feel and experience that they are in a real conversation. Stay away from the generic, but always search for the specific!
3. Recommend: Once you understand who your website visitor is and what they need at that moment in time, it is important that you assist them in the right way.
   
   Are they still in the awareness phase and looking for information? Suggest reading a specific blog about the subject they are struggling with.
   
   Do they know what their problem is and are they looking for a solution? Then you have a nice whitepaper available which tells them everything about the correct solution.
   
   Have they reached your pricing page or your contact page? Then there is a large chance that they are in the final phase of the Buyer Journey. In that case, you start the conversation by introducing them to your sales department in a natural way.

Start the conversation!

It does not have to be complicated to incorporate Conversational Marketing into your online marketing strategy. It starts with a simple assignment – initiate the conversation, listen well and give the right answers! You already do this daily, when dealing with your partner, friends, colleagues, shop assistants, and doctors. Why not do that online as well?

Conversational Marketing works best if you are already using strategic online marketing to realize business growth. It strengthens online marketing.

Do you want to know how we can make sure that your online marketing strategy is ready for Conversational Marketing? Download the ScaleUp Playbook – our proven ScaleUp method for accelerated professional growth!