You know how important it is to provide amazing customer service as a small business owner. But juggling phone calls, emails, and social media messages across multiple channels can get chaotic for you and your sales team.
What if you could have real-time conversations with website visitors and customers to guide them through your sales process and solve their pain points? That’s where conversational marketing comes in, in the form of chatbots, messaging apps, and live chat on your website and social media.
Conversational marketing improves the customer journey by enabling personal, instant connections across all your communication channels. Read on to learn more about the proven benefits of conversational marketing for your service business’ bottom line.
What is conversational marketing and how can it benefit service businesses?
Conversational marketing involves using messaging apps and tools to engage with potential and existing customers through real-time conversations. This means that service businesses can connect with website visitors and guide them through the sales process, improving the overall customer experience, driving more conversions, and ultimately bringing in more revenue.
Here are the main ways that conversational marketing benefits your service business.
Connect with website visitors
By adding live chat to your website, you can start conversations with visitors and address their questions or concerns immediately. This allows you to qualify leads, learn about their pain points, and determine if your products or services meet their needs before they leave your site.
Nurture leads and build customer relationships
Conversational marketing allows you to continue talking with a lead through messaging apps like Facebook Messenger. You can send messages to educate them about your offerings, address any lingering questions, and build rapport. This helps to nurture the lead and sets the foundation for a long-term customer relationship.
Streamline the sales process
With conversational marketing, your sales team can have real-time conversations with qualified leads through their preferred communication channels like phone, email or messaging. This allows them to guide the lead through the sales process efficiently while also providing a personalized experience.
Improve customer support
For existing customers, conversational marketing provides a convenient way for them to connect with your business for queries. Whether they message you on social media, use live chat on your website, or call your support line, you can address their needs quickly. This emphasis on fast, effective support helps to build loyalty and boost customer satisfaction.
Meeting customers where they are across multiple channels
These days, your customers are everywhere – on their phones, laptops, tablets and more. To provide amazing service, you need to meet them where they are. This is where conversational marketing comes in. With tools like live chat, messaging apps and chatbots on your website and social media profiles, you can have real-time conversations with customers on their channel of choice.
Conversational marketing through live chat
For many service businesses, live chat is a great place to start. Adding a live chat widget to your website is easy, and it allows website visitors to get their questions answered right away. Your sales team can then guide them further into the sales process. Live chat also gives you valuable insights into customer pain points and how to improve the customer journey.
Conversational marketing through messaging apps
Many of your customers already use messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, so utilizing it for customer service and sales allows you to build closer customer relationships on their favorite channel. Customers can message you from anywhere and get a quick, personalized response. Integrating messaging into your communication channels provides a seamless customer experience across platforms.
Conversational marketing through chatbots
Chatbots, or automated chat assistants, are a great option for efficiently handling FAQs and basic questions. Chatbots free up your sales and support teams to focus on more complex customer needs. They provide a quick resolution for customers and can even complete simple transactions or bookings. Chatbots are available 24/7, so customers get the answers they need anytime.
Using a combination of these conversational marketing tools, you can provide amazing, personalized service to customers on the channels they prefer.
Using live chat and messaging apps to connect with website visitors in real time
Conversational marketing tools like live chat and messaging apps are game changers for connecting with customers. They allow you to start real-time conversations and provide support right when someone lands on your site.
Engage website visitors immediately
Imagine someone visits your site and has a question about your products or services. If they can’t find an answer quickly, they may leave your site frustrated. But with a live chat tool, your sales team can instantly greet the visitor and start a conversation to address their questions. This real-time engagement can turn a casual browser into a lead, and possibly a new customer.
Continue the conversation on messaging apps
The conversations don’t have to end once the website visitor leaves your site. Many live chat tools integrate with popular messaging apps like Facebook Messenger. This means you can continue chatting with the lead and stay top of mind. Your sales team can also use messaging apps to follow up and move the lead further down the sales process.
Provide quick customer support
Customers today expect fast responses and resolution. Live chat and messaging apps give your support team an easy way to address questions, handle issues, and solve problems in real time to improve the customer experience for existing customers. Using these tools for customer service shows your customers you value them and are there to help whenever they need.
Optimizing the customer journey by engaging existing customers on social media
The customer journey—the path a customer takes from initial contact to becoming a loyal patron—is key to your success. Here are the best ways to use conversational marketing to engage with customers at multiple touchpoints along that journey, optimizing their experience and building relationships.
Start conversations on social media
Engage Your existing customers on the social media platforms they frequent, like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Post content that sparks discussion by highlighting your products’ benefits or asking open-ended questions. Respond to all comments, questions, and reviews, even critical ones, and address pain points and provide helpful solutions. These real time conversations build brand loyalty and turn casual customers into advocates.
Provide live support across channels
Use tools like live chat on your website, messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, and customer support phone lines to continue social media conversations across channels. Your sales and customer support teams should monitor all communication channels and be empowered to assist customers, no matter how they connect.
Improve the customer experience
The biggest benefit of conversational marketing is enhancing the overall customer experience. When customers can engage with your brand on social media and get prompt, helpful responses, they feel valued. Their journey becomes a positive, rewarding experience that they want to share with others.
How conversational marketing improves customer relationships and drives conversions
Conversational marketing allows you to provide proactive support, build rapport, gain insights, and drive conversions by communicating with your customers in a personal, helpful way. Here are the main ways that conversational marketing boosts customer relationships.
Real-time conversations
Conversational marketing allows you to engage with your customers and website visitors in real time. This means you can respond to their questions and address their pain points instantly, without making them wait for answers. Real-time responses build stronger customer relationships and higher satisfaction because you’re there when they need you.
Deep customer insights
By monitoring your customers’ behavior and engagements across channels, you gain valuable insights into their needs, interests, and concerns. You can then use this data to target the right audience with the right message at the optimal time. Targeting the right people with the right content is key to an effective conversational marketing strategy.
Personal guidance through the sales process
Rather than a static one-way sales process, facilitate an interactive customer journey. Your sales team can have real-time conversations via live chat to understand the customer’s needs, suggest suitable products or services, and help them make a purchase decision. Chatbots can guide customers through an automated sales process with questions and content tailored to their interests. This multi-channel, guided approach results in higher conversion rates and a better overall customer experience.
Conversational marketing can drive small service business success
By using conversational marketing tools, you can have real-time conversations with website visitors, existing customers, and leads. This improves the customer experience, bringing stronger customer relationships, higher conversion rates, and reduced customer churn. By using this strategy, you’ll improve the customer journey and drive business growth.
