Conversation is the highest form of communication. When you need to feel understood, you talk. And when you want to build a relationship, you listen. Two-way discourse is absolutely necessary for building healthy relationships, both with people and with businesses.
But when you communicate with your customers through your marketing campaigns, are you listening to your customers or just talking at them?
Most of the marketing channels you probably use work in one direction. If you send emails or advertise, you are simply pushing your message at your target audience. Such channels do not allow your prospects and customers to communicate back to you. In a sense, you are doing all the talking. Truly effective marketing should involve listening, and conversational marketing is making that possible.
Conversational Marketing Drives Higher Conversions
Conversational marketing is an emerging marketing channel that uses personalized 1-on-1 automated conversations to learn about and remember customers’ interests.
Think of the last time you asked a sales clerk for help in a store. Did he or she ignore your question and instead tell you about their current sale? Hopefully not. A good sales clerk will listen to your questions and give you thoughtful assistance – and perhaps remember your preferences the next time you walk through the door. Not only does this type of customer service build brand loyalty, it helps drive sales because it is meeting your needs. Conversational marketing mimics such age-old customer interactions in the digital world and at scale.
A Multi-Channel Approach
Conversational marketing cannot, however, replace other marketing channels. No single channel can ever reach all of your audience. Rather, conversational marketing should supplement and reinforce your other digital marketing efforts.
The beauty of conversational marketing is that it fits well into a traditional multi-channel digital marketing campaign while also serving as a line of communication that is always open to customers.
The promise of conversational marketing is huge. We see conversations becoming a part of almost every marketing channel as customers come to expect brands to listen to them and remember their preferences. The future of marketing will involve much more listening than talking.
