SE

PT

EM

BE

R /

20

19

Vo

lum

e O

ne

/ Iss

ue

5

THE

ISSUE

10 / GETTING PERSONAL

Building on what works already

12 / WALKING THE WALK

3 ways to start the conversation

05 /THE ULTIMATE ICEBREAKERS

The latest in conversational tech

CONVERSATIONS THAT COUNT

02

Forming meaningful relationships with customers and prospects is paramount to building a successful business. From light chitchat at market stalls to strategic discussions at business meetings, the key way for any company to build rapport is via effective communication.

But making this work is not always as straight forward as it might seem - knowing what a customer or prospect wants to talk about and how they want to interact is imperative. It’s also a question of practicalities; who should be held responsible for developing

meaningful conversations that answer the needs of customers? And is it a 24/7 job? Responding to every enquiry and alleviating every concern seems impossible in today’s modern buying process, where customers want their answers yesterday and can join the sales funnel anywhere, at any time.

While this might appear to be an arduous puzzle to solve, businesses need to do their homework and prepare; we are moving into a ‘consideration’ era where conversation over a multitude of channels (think of, for instance, Messenger, WhatsApp and WeChat) and in a variety of

mediums (live chat and artificial intelligence, for starters) is surpassing the ‘mass exposure’ era of adverts1.

Also, with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) now in place, it is harder than ever to communicate with new prospects – so companies need to make sure that when they do interact with interested parties that they make the right impact. But fear not; today’s marketing landscape is always evolving, and with this change comes not only a myriad of challenges, but also solutions and opportunities.

1. https://conversationalmarketing.guide/

The best listeners often make the most engaging

conversationalists.

Brian Solis

THE knowledgeTHE CONVERSATION ISSUE

03

04

THE GIFTOF THE GAB Conversational marketing offers businesses a method of connecting with their customers and prospects in a way that answers their individual needs, therefore ensuring a better, more human, digital experience, driving engagement and increasing the likelihood of moving them through the sales funnel to a conversion.

According to software review site G2, conversational marketing platforms help provide a higher standard of customer service at scale, and simplify the overall buying process for potential customers around the world at any time.2

The medium has also been recognised as an independent marketing category in its own right and can be used to raise satisfaction and improve conversions for businesses.3 Sounds pretty great, but what is it exactly?

2. https://www.g2.com/categories/conversational-marketing 3. https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3873647

05

THE knowledgeTHE CONVERSATION ISSUE

THE ULTIMATE ICE-BREAKERS It has been referred to as a one-to-one approach4, human- centric, feedback-oriented and, well, conversational – but what conversational marketing ultimately comes down to is the direct communication between businesses and their customers or prospects, removing obstacles from the buying process, shortening the sales cycle and creating a more personal buying experience.

Businesses that have reaped the rewards from conversational marketing know that it is essential to firstly capture the attention of their

audiences - cutting through the noise of today’s saturated marketing landscape

- and then make the most of the insights from the conversations they have; capitalising on the opportunity of engaging with the right people.

This is done by integrating the valuable data gained into a CRM platform and taking people on a sales journey that will resonate with them and suit their needs, such as directing them to a relevant landing page where they can access valuable content.

Often conversational marketing can be the difference between a conversion

and no conversion – as many people that can’t find what they are looking for on a website abandon their search and move on to a new, more intuitive hunting ground.

Conversational marketing allows businesses to have one-to-one conversations with people in real time, address their needs, and capture, qualify, and connect with leads. This can be done in different ways, via a variety of channels.

The following pages give an overview of the current top mediums:

4. Chatbotsmagazine.com

One good conversation can shift the direction of

change forever.

Linda Lambert

06

THE knowledgeTHE CONVERSATION ISSUE

07 5. https://www.freshworks.com/live-chat-software/what-is-live-chat-software/

1. Live Chat

Live chat is modern software used by businesses to connect with website users in real-time.

Easy to install, it can appear on a website as a button and be used by business employees to start conversations with new website visitors and support existing customers. This medium is gaining popularity, due to its ability to provide people with quick, helpful and friendly answers.

Using live chat, people can reduce time by avoiding filling in online forms, drafting emails and waiting a week for a response or having to phone and being kept on hold for 20+ minutes before speaking to someone. According to freshchat, live chat reduces the overall first response time to under three minutes for most businesses across all industries.5 While InsideSales state if you engage with a lead within five minutes of them showing interest in your offer, you’re 100 times more likely to speak with them than if you wait 30 minutes, and the odds of qualifying that lead are 21 times higher.

Other user benefits include the ability to share rich media files and access previous chat history - which is stored by the software from previous conversations and can be useful for recalling information.

Live chat software is relatively affordable and can benefit businesses by allowing them to not only provide superior customer service and build brand engagement, but also to collect and convert leads. It can also allow for the development of informed and more effective campaigns, based on what people have to say.

2. Chatbots

Sometimes confused with live chat, chatbots are software programs powered by artificial intelligence that people can interact with over a chat interface. Chatbots can be used over a number of channels, including, for instance, Facebook messenger, Telegram and text message, and provide instant support - both during the day and outside of traditional working hours. Businesses can use chatbots to alleviate resource and budget constraints within their teams, providing customers and prospects with the information they need without having to employ someone to handle these conversations. Chatbots use pre-programmed responses using conditional logic that businesses can set up and control. They can provide calls to action (CTAs) and other content that users can click on, potentially increasing traffic to landing pages of the business’ choosing. They also use natural, human language, which is why people sometimes confuse chatbots with real people. Businesses are usually advised to show an icon of a robot for chatbots, so users are clear on what they are interacting with.

08 6. 2019 state of conversational marketing, Drift.com + surveymonkey.com/audience

Increasingly, customers now expect quick responses from live chat and chatbots6, indicating that there is indeed a market for this method of communication. Both mediums are not only used to provide customer support, they can be used to improve content strategies and nurture audiences. With the information collected from user interactions, businesses can personalise content and therefore make it more engaging. It is also important to remember that businesses don’t have to choose between live chat agents and chatbots – these two lines of communication often complement each other. According to an infographic from Adweek, consumers prefer chatbots for basic questions, but 86% want the easy option to transfer to a live agent if the issue becomes too complex for the chatbot to handle. This indicates a need for businesses to harness both mediums, to serve different customer needs and save employee resources for answering the trickier questions.

It’s simple enough for businesses to include the option for people to leave a chat bot conversation in favour of live chat – and might mean the difference between nurturing a lead or not. If you lose a prospect because they can’t communicate in the way they want, you might not get a second opportunity to get it right.

3. Voice applications

The way consumers interact with the world around them is changing. Voice assistants, like Alexa and Google Smart Assistant, have emerged as a growing trend in the marketing industry.

According to comScore, 50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020. Devices like Alexa and Siri are meant to make it easier for users to multitask and access content, which is why brands need to consider how to start adopting conversational marketing strategies using voice technology and optimise their websites to respond to users’ voice searches. Local search is a key part of how people are using voice technology to find information. So, creating content that’s tailored to local search is a good way of making sure B2B products and services gain maximum exposure.

There are also other less obvious mediums that some in the industry consider to be conversational marketing. Take Clickfunnels, for instance.

Clickfunnels is an online sales funnel builder with an email autoresponder called Actionetics that provides users with prebuilt options that can point users towards more personalised content and helps businesses effectively market and ultimately sell their products on a one-to-one basis online.

THE knowledgeTHE CONVERSATION ISSUE

09

A computer would deserve

to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing it was human.

Alan Turing

10

7. Ibid 8. Ibid 9. https://www.drift.com/conversational-marketing/

GETTING PERSONALBusinesses looking to interact and engage with their customers and prospects effectively need to understand how these groups want to be communicated with. Modern buyers are connected to brands via multiple touchpoints across several channels and can take their pick of the information available – so customer centricity (i.e. putting your customer at the heart of your sales and marketing strategy) is key. And there is no better way to find out how customers and prospects want to interact with brands than by hearing it from the horse’s mouth. A recent survey shows that email and telephone are not going anywhere soon7, as these communication channels are still favoured by people when communicating with businesses.

But today, these mediums have been accompanied by a range of new technologies which call for more inventive thinking.

Just because older forms of communication are still the most popular, this doesn’t mean new forms of communication channels, like chatbots, are being rebuked. In fact, quite the opposite. According to Aspect Software, 65% of consumers feel good about themselves and a company, when they can handle an issue without talking to a live person. This indicates that people enjoy being able to handle an issue or find out the answer to a question without needing another human’s intervention – it can be quite empowering.

Age demographics can also play a role in evolving communication preferences, with a survey showing that younger respondents are more likely to use newer channels more frequently8. For example, messaging is a format that people are now engaging with because it is simple to use, fast and feels like a conversation. According to a recent survey from Twilio, 90% of consumers want to use messaging to communicate with businesses (and the majority prefer it over email).9

The takeaway message here is, if you are only using telephone and email to talk to your customers and prospects you might be missing out on new, potentially more effective channels that appeal to people, can collect data and speed up the buying journey. Adding conversational marketing tools to the marketing mix could really pay off.

THE knowledgeTHE CONVERSATION ISSUE

11 10. 2019 state of conversational marketing, Drift.com + surveymonkey.com/audience

11. https://www.drift.com/case-studies/rapidminer/

BUSINESS BENEFITS TALK TO ME!The B2B buying process can be cold, longwinded and uninspiring for today’s B2B buyers. The modern B2B buyer wants to mirror the experience they get in the B2C world in their B2B role – it’s more personal and engaging.

Conversational marketing can play to buyers’ desires for personal and quick interactions at a time that is convenient for them.

Just because the B2B buying process is traditionally longer and more money is at stake, doesn’t mean a B2B buyer wants to fill in a lead capture form to get the answers they need. According to a survey, only 14% of people would opt to fill in a form rather than using a chatbot.10

Technologies like chatbots can do all sorts of helpful things, like assist buyers in booking meetings with relevant business contacts – saving time for both parties.

Conversational marketing can also provide quick and crucial context, such as why the buyer is contacting you and what they are looking for, or what their challenges are. A form, on the other hand, tends to only include contact information - so anyone replying to a contact request will go into that conversation unprepared.

In addition, it has been documented that conversation qualified leads (CQLs) often close faster than leads qualified in other ways. Businesses that adopt conversational marketing have also

experienced a growth in their sales pipeline. For example, RapidMiner, a leading data science platform, has influenced 25% of their pipeline with conversations, which has a value of over $1 million to its business.11

Conversational marketing can also be used to engage with senior, influential roles within the buying journey. According to Drift, data from over 50,000 businesses using Drift for conversational marketing found that people in key decision-making roles are often those choosing to connect with companies via real-time messaging. The research found 41% of those having conversations were executives, while 7.1% were CEOs.

12

WALKING THE WALKB2B businesses looking to revamp their marketing and sales efforts can quite easily adopt conversational marketing.

Here are some points to consider before including the medium in your marketing mix:

1. Evaluate your current communication tactics

Businesses should ask themselves key questions to evaluate their current processes and success: How do we currently communicate with customers and prospects? Do we wait for customers to come to us, or do we go to them?

How do we answer their needs?

Are we making the best use of the conversations that happen?

In most cases, there is always a way to improve a buying journey or way to qualify a lead via communication.

2. You don’t need to go for all or nothing

Rather than worrying about removing all existing forms of communication, why not simply add live chat and chatbot software to your channel(s) and give your customers more choice – not everyone likes to communicate in the same way, so offering multiple options is important.

3. Assess and learn from the data

Conversation marketing software provides metrics like how many leads have been captured and qualified with conversations, how many meetings have been booked and how much revenue and pipeline conversations are driving. According to Drift, businesses can even see the total amount of sales opportunities that have been influenced. It is important to continually review the data to improve processes.

THE knowledgeTHE CONVERSATION ISSUE

13

TALKING THE TALKTo keep up with modern b2b buyers’ expectations and avoid tallying up bounce rates, all businesses should review their current marketing strategies to see if they are offering tailored communication mediums, assistance, and content based on customer and prospects’ needs. This should be adapted to wherever in the buying journey their customer and prospects are.

Only then can they assess gaps and deploy tactics that will truly make a difference to their communications efforts, whether that be via an omnichannel experience or a more traditional point of contact improving customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

Conversational marketing is growing in popularity, not only because of its effectiveness in providing real-time customer service, but because it can help businesses grow.

Embracing new approaches, techniques and technologies within the marketing sphere will help businesses to communicate effectively, thereby maintaining their foothold in a competitive industry and tapping into opportunities that would otherwise be lost to braver or more progressive contenders.

©2019 B2B|IMG Published by Barrett Dixon Bell.

All enquiries: weareb2b@bdb.co.uk