By now, most marketers recognize that conversational messaging is a good idea: Customers love it, and brands can use it to grow without as much manual labor.
But don’t get complacent. Your text marketing and SMS campaigns can’t just be about jumping on the bandwagon; they actually have to say something relevant.
It’s up to you what kind of messaging foundation best fits your brand voice. Still, there’s nothing wrong with learning from great examples.
Contextualizing the Rise of Conversational Marketing
According to Entrepreneur, conversational marketing’s success is no surprise. For instance, 90% of Instagram users follow one or more businesses, and 175 million customers message businesses on WhatsApp each day.
Why do customers prefer brands that use messaging or bots? There are a few factors worth considering:
● Dealing with a bot can be easier for repetitive tasks that don’t require human interaction, such as looking up a product user manual or asking warranty questions. It’s also quicker than searching through a website.
● Conversational commerce personalizes shopping by fulfilling the role of the traditional in-person shopping assistant. Customers love not having to pay a premium for the pampered experience.
● Bots are always ready to respond. Even if a customer fails to resolve their issue during a 3 a.m. chat session, they’ll feel better about your brand for knowing they made progress. Platform-based solutions also scale instantly in the event of high demand.
Businesses also stand to gain. Omnichannel messaging systems that feature conversational tools can help companies gather advanced insights into customer behaviors and preferences.
They can also slash overheads. Global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company found that most enterprises waste about 30% of their time on low-value activities that they could automate instead.
Creating a Goal-Oriented Messaging Strategy
You now know why you should invest in better conversational marketing: You’ll make customers happier and become more efficient. But that still leaves the mystery of what the specific goal should be.
The answer here differs for everyone. Take a long look at where you’re currently falling short.
ROI Shouldn’t Be Your Only Objective
While it’s critical to keep cost-benefit in mind, you can’t just deploy a system in the hopes of drumming up new business.
If you aren’t simultaneously using your integrations to improve current customer experiences, no amount of fresh revenue will save your reputation.
Treat Everything Like a Product
Some aspects of conversational messaging integrations aren’t consumer-facing — think of chatbots for support agents or artificial intelligence tools that connect warehouse managers with inventory back ends.
Even if they’re far from the spotlight, you should still use a product-development strategy to deploy and monitor these systems in a maximally efficient way. Set realistic goals based on measurable statistics and refine them constantly.
Strive for Accessibility
Never build something that adds unnecessary complexity to the customer experience — even if it’s a cool feature. You’ll boost loyalty more by optimizing what you’re already working with. Seek omnichannel messaging integrations that add value to current elements of your digital presence.
Accessibility and convenience are case-by-case journeys. Some companies concentrate on improving security with Auth0 SMS integrations. Others focus on reducing customer service response times with automated replies. Whatever changes you make, they should feel seamless and require minimal mental effort from users.
Hone Your Conversational Messaging Mission
Customer loyalty and trust don’t come overnight (even with advanced tools like AI-powered chatbots on your side). You need to embark on a purpose-driven mission defined by precise, data-backed goalposts.
With an omnichannel provider like Mitto, you can get closer to the ideal. Learn what makes omnichannel messaging tick for your audience — and your brand. Explore the integrations that fit the best by getting in touch today.