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Imagine you’re browsing an online store searching for a new pair of running shoes. As you explore the website, a chat window pops up, asking if you need any assistance. This isn’t just a generic chatbot; it’s a part of conversational marketing, a dynamic approach that prioritizes real-time, one-to-one connections with potential customers.
In 2007, Joseph Jaffe introduced the concept of conversational marketing. His goal was to show business folks how to talk with their audience using different platforms.
Conversational marketing is just like having a knowledgeable salesperson in a brick-and-mortar store who guides you through the product options, addresses your concerns, and helps you make an informed decision.
Conversational marketing uses smart tools like chatbots and live chat to quickly give info, answer questions, and suggest things based on what customers want, making interactions smooth and personalized. Plus, they make the conversation feel personal and natural, like talking to a real person.
In this blog post, we will explore more about conversational marketing, its advantages, and a curated list of top-tier conversational tools so that you can choose the best ones for your business. So, keep reading!
What is Conversational Marketing?
In simple terms, conversational marketing is when you talk to your customers to understand their needs during their journey. It’s a way of marketing that involves real-time conversations to engage visitors on your website, mobile apps, and other social media platforms and guide them through the buying process. Instead of just showing information, it’s more of having a chat with your customers, finding out what they need, and offering solutions.
Conversational marketing not only helps customers feel at ease during the buying process but also plays a role in forming customer relationships. When a relationship is established, a potential customer is more likely to keep moving forward on their journey as a customer.
5 Main Types of Conversational Marketing Platforms
Next, let’s explore the 5 main types of conversational marketing platforms that are reshaping how businesses connect and build relationships with their audience.
1. Live Chat
Live chat platforms have become crucial tools for businesses aiming to provide excellent customer service and build strong connections with their audience. With user-friendly interfaces and practical features, these platforms allow businesses to engage in real-time conversations using live chat software. Live chat tools not only help to offer excellent customer service but also enable the transmission of marketing and sales messages during live chat interactions.
Integrating live chat as a part of your website or online store is essential nowadays. You can customize its appearance to match your brand and configure messages accordingly. Despite its primary association with customer service, live chat also plays a significant role in marketing.
2. Chatbot
Chatbots, powered by artificial intelligence, mimic human conversation to swiftly and accurately respond to customer questions. They serve various purposes, such as addressing FAQs and guiding customers through the buying process. If you have an online store and want to offer real-time assistance to your customers 24/7 then chatbots are the best options to opt for.
AI chatbots have become integral to conversational marketing by enabling businesses to establish instant connections, provide personalized experiences, qualify leads, and automate various aspects of customer engagement. As technology continues to advance, chatbots will likely play an increasingly central role in shaping the future of marketing interactions.
3. Email
When we talk about conversational marketing, emails may not come to mind as much. That’s because they’re not entirely chatty; they are more of a formal marketing method. However, they still play a role in connecting with your audience and building a relationship with them.
4. Voice Assistants
Businesses can establish a distinct brand voice and personality through voice assistants. The tone, style, and language used in interactions contribute to building a consistent brand identity and fostering a connection with the audience.
Voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri provide immediate responses, enhancing the speed of customer interactions. This instant feedback contributes to a seamless and engaging experience, capturing the user’s attention at the moment of interest. As technology continues to advance, the role of voice assistants in shaping the future of marketing interactions is likely to grow.
4. Social Media
Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Viber, Instagram, and Twitter, play a crucial role in any strategy aimed at connecting with your audience. They offer a space for interaction, content sharing, and receiving feedback. Tools like Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct enable direct and personalized communication with your customers.
In 2024, these tools for conversational marketing are all set to advance further, introducing more upgraded features. So, your business needs to stay well-updated and make the most of these tools to enhance the overall customer experience. Next, we’ll explore more about their benefits.
Benefits of Using Conversational Marketing Tools
The idea of conversational marketing is to talk both ways, like friends, to build trust and make customers want to stick around. Here, we’ll talk about some of the best things about using conversational marketing tools.
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Real-time Assistance
Customers want instant assistance with their problems. When almost half of the customers, around 46%, can’t find basic info like where a company is or its working hours, or they can’t get quick answers, it makes them upset.
Conversational marketing helps by offering proactive customer support. It lets customers help themselves 24/7 on company websites and through chatbots that work on different platforms. These chatbots only connect customers to real agents when it’s necessary. While support agents can only help a few customers at once, chatbots can assist lots of frustrated users all at the same time.
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Personalized Engagement
Conversational marketing tools can be programmed to deliver personalized content and recommendations based on user preferences and behaviors. This approach not only enhances the level of customer engagement but also increases the effectiveness of marketing efforts by delivering more relevant and targeted information.
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Improved Customer Experience
These conversational marketing tools let you engage with the customers personally, and quickly help with their queries. For example, chatbots can instantly answer about 80% of common questions. This means your customer service team can spend more time on harder issues.
Also, you can make these tools like voice assistants match your brand’s way of talking. This makes sure that, no matter where customers reach you, they get the same special experience that fits your brand.
The end goal of personalized interactions is to create a tailored customer experience. This means that your users feel that the information, suggestions, and responses they receive are unique to them, fostering a sense of individual attention and relevance.
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Available Round the Clock
AI chatbots can operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ensuring continuous customer engagement. This around-the-clock availability is crucial for businesses catering to a global audience with different time zones or for those who want to provide support outside regular business hours.
Having the ability to interact with a business at any time enhances accessibility. Customers can access information, make inquiries, or engage in transactions during non-traditional business hours, accommodating varying schedules and preferences.
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Increased Sales
Conversational marketing tools contribute to increased sales by providing immediate engagement, personalized interactions, and efficient support throughout the customer journey. For example, live chat and chatbots, enable businesses to engage with website visitors instantly. This immediate interaction allows businesses to capture the attention of potential customers when their interest is high, increasing the likelihood of converting leads into sales.
These tools are also effective in gathering information about potential customers during interactions. This data includes preferences, purchase intent, and specific needs. By qualifying leads in real time, you can prioritize the leads that are more likely to convert, improving the efficiency of the sales process.
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Time and Resource Savings
Automation of routine tasks and interactions saves time and resources. Conversational marketing platforms like chatbots, automate routine and repetitive tasks. This includes handling frequently asked questions, gathering basic customer information, and guiding users through standard processes. By automating these tasks, businesses can free up human resources for more strategic and complex activities.
Top 10 Conversational Marketing Tools
Great conversational marketing platforms offer different tools to help your company talk with customers in real-time, keep track of the conversations, and make customer support better. Check out the best 10 tools with great conversational commerce features that we suggest you keep an eye on in 2024!
1. REVE Chat
REVE Chat is one of the best conversational marketing tools available in the market that helps you interact with your customers in real-time. You can use it on your website, mobile app, or popular platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, Instagram, and Telegram.
If you have an online business and wish to engage more easily with your customers or offer excellent customer service, opting for REVE Chat will be a smart choice. It’s like making an investment that can improve customer service, bring in more potential customers, and boost sales.
Core Features:
- Use REVE Chat’s conversational marketing bot that helps your customers 24/7, even when your team is not available.
- Let your customers start live chat sessions whenever they need immediate help from your support team. It’s a quick and easy way for them to get assistance.
- Your customers can start video calls with your support team right from the chat. It’s like talking face-to-face, but online!
- If you’re helping with technical stuff, online shopping, or showing a product, you can easily see and manage your customer’s screen during a chat. REVE Chat’s screen-sharing feature keeps things smooth and straightforward.
- Stay organized by using the ticketing system. You can track and manage customer queries and chat requests, all in one place.
- Get personalized data and detailed reports about your customers and agents. It helps you understand what’s working well and what can be improved.
- See a full overview of your website’s journey, conversations, and details about all the visitors and customers. It’s like a backstage pass to understand your audience better.
And guess what? You can try all these amazing features for free with REVE Chat’s 14-day trial. So, why wait? SIGN UP today!
2. Intercom
Intercom serves as a conversational marketing platform for communication and customer messaging, assisting businesses in establishing personalized and efficient connections with their customers. It provides a set of tools specifically created to enhance conversations, support, and engagement.
Core Features:
- Intercom enables companies to send targeted and personalized messages to their customers.
- Offers a live chat feature, allowing businesses to engage with customers in real-time.
- With its AI chatbot, businesses can automate certain tasks and messages.
- Offers a comprehensive view of customer interactions.
- Includes a knowledge base feature, empowering customers to find answers to common questions on their own.
3. Birdeye
Birdeye is a comprehensive customer experience platform designed to help you manage and enhance your brand’s online image, customer interactions, and overall customer experience. It helps companies keep track of their brand reputation by collecting and managing customer reviews from various platforms. It’s like a reputation superhero, ensuring businesses stay aware of what customers are saying.
Core Features:
- With Birdeye, businesses can gather valuable feedback directly from customers.
- Facilitates communication with customers across different channels.
- Allows businesses to create and send surveys to collect insights about customer experiences.
- Assists in managing their online listings across various platforms.
- Enables companies to engage with customers in real-time through webchat and messaging.
4. Zendesk
Zendesk empowers many businesses to deliver exceptional customer service, automate processes, and build lasting relationships with their customers. It’s a comprehensive solution designed to make customer interactions smooth and enjoyable.
Core Features:
- Zendesk’s ticketing system organizes customer inquiries and issues into tickets, making it easy for support teams to manage and prioritize tasks.
- provide customer support across various channels.
- You can create a knowledge base with articles and guides to help customers find answers to common questions independently.
- Offers live chat functionality.
- Offers automation and AI to automate repetitive tasks, route tickets to the right teams, and provide quick responses.
- Robust analytics and reporting features to track key performance metrics and make data-driven decisions.
5. Facebook Messenger
The Facebook Messenger chatbot is super handy for customer service. It helps you find great shopping options and excellent customer support. With this Messenger, you can even add a buy button, making it easy for customers to purchase without going to your website. It’s like a quick shop right in the chat!
Core Features:
- Facebook Messenger’s primary feature is sending and receiving text messages, stickers, emojis, and media files like photos and videos.
- Users can make voice and video calls.
- Supports group chats.
- You can send short voice messages.
- Users can share their real-time location with others.
- Allows money transactions within the app.
- Can be integrated with business pages, enabling companies to provide customer support, share updates, and even facilitate purchases through chatbots.
6. Instagram Messenger
Instagram Messenger is a valuable tool that allows businesses to connect, communicate, and engage with their customers in a personalized and convenient way on the Instagram platform. This conversational marketing platform ensures secure and private communication between brands and customers. It’s like having a trusted space where conversations stay confidential.
Core Features:
- Businesses can use Instagram Messenger for direct communication with customers.
- You can create pre-set responses to common queries.
- Instagram Messenger seamlessly integrates with business profiles.
- Businesses can share detailed product information, images, and even catalogs through Messenger.
- Service-oriented businesses can use Messenger for appointment scheduling.
- Instagram Messenger can be used to send order updates, shipping information, and tracking details directly to customers.
7. Respond.io
Respond.io is a complete conversational marketing software that simplifies how businesses, no matter their size, handle customer communication. It brings together messaging from various channels like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, website, and more into one convenient platform. It’s like having all your conversations in a single, easy-to-manage space!
Core Features:
- Respond.io brings together customer messages from various channels.
- Facilitates real-time conversations with customers.
- Provides automation features to streamline repetitive tasks
- Integrates with various third-party tools and applications
- Facilitates collaboration among team members, ensuring a coordinated effort in managing customer interactions.
8. HubSpot Marketing Hub
It is a comprehensive solution that empowers companies to elevate their marketing strategies, attract customers, and build lasting relationships. HubSpot offers multiple conversational marketing tools including live chat, social media management, SEO, ad tracking, and AI software.
Core Features:
- You can create and send targeted email campaigns.
- Companies can schedule and publish social media posts, track engagement, and analyze performance.
- It streamlines marketing tasks with automation, helping businesses nurture leads and personalize their customer journeys.
- Provides insights into marketing performance.
- Helps to create and manage content on websites.
- Helps companies to optimize their content for search engines, improving online. visibility.
9. Drift
In today’s digital age, tools like Drift are changing the way businesses communicate with customers. Known as Conversation Cloud, it uses smart AI to enhance customer interactions across different platforms such as chat, email, and video. From capturing leads to nurturing them through personalized conversations, Drift empowers brands to create a seamless and engaging experience for their online audience.
Core Features:
- Facilitates instant communication with website visitors
- Drift’s chatbots can intelligently respond to user queries, qualify leads, and guide prospects through the sales funnel with personalized interactions.
- Seamlessly integrates with various communication channels, including email and social media
- Ensures compatibility and functionality on mobile devices
- Offers insights into user behavior, engagement metrics, and the effectiveness of conversational marketing efforts.
10. MobileMonkey
MobileMonkey stands as a dynamic tool for businesses looking to enhance their conversational marketing efforts. It is a versatile chatbot and messaging platform designed to revolutionize how you can engage with your audience.
With a primary focus on Facebook Messenger, MobileMonkey empowers you to create interactive and personalized conversations, automate customer interactions, and drive meaningful engagement.
Core Features:
- Intuitive interface for designing chatbots without extensive coding knowledge.
- Primarily integrates with Facebook Messenger.
- Chat-based lead generation forms to capture and qualify leads.
- Automation of responses, follow-ups, and marketing sequences.
- AI to enhance chatbot interactions and responses.
How to Choose the Best Conversational Marketing Software?
Picking the correct chat tools can make a big difference for your business. These tools can assist you in talking to your customers, figuring out what they want, and boosting your sales. But, since there are lots of choices, how do you pick the best one for your business?
Here are a few important steps to help you decide.
Identify Your Needs: Understand what you want from the software. Are you looking to engage with customers, gather information, or boost sales? Knowing your specific needs will narrow down your options.
Evaluate Features: Look at the features each software offers. Consider things like chat capabilities, customization options, analytics, and integration with other tools. Choose a software that aligns with your business goals.
User-Friendly Interface: A user-friendly platform ensures that your team can quickly adapt and utilize the software effectively.
Scalability: Consider the scalability of the software. Ensure it can grow with your business and handle increased demands as your customer base expands. This prevents the need for frequent software changes.
Customer Support: Check the level of customer support provided by the software provider. Reliable customer support ensures that any issues or questions are addressed promptly, minimizing disruptions to your operations.
Integration Options: Choose a software that can seamlessly integrate with your existing tools and systems. This facilitates a smooth workflow and ensures that your conversational marketing efforts are aligned with your overall business strategy.
Budget Considerations: Evaluate the cost of the software and whether it fits within your budget. Consider any additional fees, such as licensing, setup, or ongoing maintenance costs.
Selecting the Best Conversational Marketing Tools for 2024
In the rapidly evolving online landscape of 2024, businesses must adapt by refining their marketing strategies. The significance of conversational marketing has surged, enabling businesses to engage with customers on a personal, interactive, and impactful level. The dynamics of business operations are transforming with the integration of conversational marketing bots, live chat, video chat, voice assistants, email marketing tools, and social networking tools.
So, to be successful, keep learning and adapting. Stay updated on conversational marketing trends, choose the right tools, and improve your strategies based on customer feedback and behavior.
