If you’ve visited a website within the past few months, especially to fulfill a customer service request, the chances are, you’ve engaged in conversational marketing without even knowing it.
You know those chat boxes that pop-up and ask if you need help finding information or following up on an order? That’s conversational marketing, and it’s not just consumer marketers who are using this functionality.
B2B marketers, even those at small-to-mid-sized companies, can also employ conversational marketing to help move prospects further along in the buyer’s journey and transform the customer experience.
What is conversational marketing?
Getting the right message to the right person at the right time is the holy grail of marketing.
With conversational marketing, you don’t have to guess what the right message is, all you have to do is ask. Delivering the right message to your website visitors via a one-to-one interaction has never been more accessible.
Conversational marketing takes personalization to a higher level with the added benefit of doing so at scale.
While Drift coined the phrase, marketing automation platforms, including Marketo and HubSpot, now offer chat functionality as well.
Are we talking about bots?
Let’s get this out of the way … yes, conversational marketing starts with chatbots but ideally ends with making a real connection.
Busy B2B buyers want their questions answered ASAP, and making them wait while your business development team responds to a form that visitor filled out a few hours ago is not ideal.
Interacting with people visiting your website is a quick and easy way to move them further along the buyers’ journey without spamming them.
You’ll never have a better chance to hook a potential customer, client, or partner than when they’re actively seeking information about your company.
Once the chatbot addresses the visitor’s immediate need and information request, a follow up from a real person is the natural next step, and the recipient is much more likely to take that call.
Transform the customer experience
One of the primary use cases for conversational marketing is to better serve current clients and customers.
The conversational marketing model is ideal for delighting current customers, especially those who may have an immediate issue they’re trying to resolve. Nothing makes someone happier than helping them find the solution to their problem or track down an FAQ with instructions they can follow.
The one-to-one nature of the relationship also creates an optimal environment to upsell other products and services.
Meet your buyers where they are
While conversational marketing might not be on your radar, as you evaluate marketing automation platforms and plan your website strategy, it might be the key to delivering the right content to the right audience at the right time.
Want to get the conversation started? Contact us today!
