Over the past several years, customers have come to respect, appreciate, and anticipate conversational messaging. Businesses employ conversational messaging by providing channels of discussion between themselves and their customers and prospects. Customers appreciate the ability to reach out to companies via text, social media, and more. This way, the marketing, sales, customer service, and follow-up processes feel more natural — like a conversation.
Rise of Conversational Messaging
Conversational messaging arose both organically and intentionally. With a social media presence, businesses began answering customer service requests via public social media posts as well as private messaging. Later, text marketing entered the field, providing not only the ability for a business to send outgoing messages about sales and other business opportunities but also a path to receiving messages from customers in a way that works best for them.
About 70% of millennials prefer text messages to phone conversations: If a business wants a reliable way to reach and receive notifications from these customers, text is crucial. Generation Z trends indicate the same.
Additionally, by using omnichannel messaging software like Mitto, your SMS campaigns, and conversational marketing efforts can be monitored and quantified for success.
Overcoming Communication Barriers
Using conversational messaging also allows your business to overcome common customer service barriers. Time zones, language barriers, and accessibility can be conquered with away messages, translation services, a global workforce — and by simply meeting customers and prospects where they are: on their phones. They don’t have to log in to a computer or inconvenience themselves by reaching out most of the time. They can simply text and receive a direct response or an automated response setting an expectation for a reply.
Getting a swift answer makes customers less likely to complain on social media or a review site because they know the customer service experience is forthcoming. With omnichannel marketing software like Mitto, you can also reduce customer frustration by pulling up notes and prior conversations (text or otherwise) with the customer.
Personalization and Contextual Engagement
Conversational messaging also provides an opportunity for your business to check in on the customer, start the conversation, and address them by name. All these actions are likely to engage the client and make them more likely to respond.
Imagine you run a business selling pet food. You know a few things about a customer who has purchased it a few times thanks to your form’s sign-up process:
— Your customer has two large dogs.
— They order a bag of dog food once every two weeks.
— The customer isn’t set up for auto-shipping, but they order consistently.
You can set up your conversational marketing strategy and omnichannel messaging software to reach out to this example customer for a few reasons:
— Offer an auto-ship possibility and discover barriers to commitment.
— Ask whether the dogs are doing well on the food and remind the customer that you’re here to answer questions.
If you know the names of the dogs, even better. You can start the message by adding their names and wishing them well or even addressing your communications to both the customer (pet parent) and their animal(s).
Building Trust and Relationships With Conversational Messaging
Continued, ongoing conversations build trust and relationships with customers. By inviting them to respond, you’ll find that some clients respond right away, while others may reach out when they recall specific needs or have a question or concern.
With conversational messaging integrated into your omnichannel messaging strategy, customers can reach out when they want and on the channel of their choice. This puts them in control of the conversation, while you can use omnichannel messaging software like Mitto to track each interaction, avoid redundancy, and even provide nudges for when it’s time to reach out to a customer.
Seamless Omnichannel Experiences
If you’re ready to make customer conversations seamless across multiple channels, you’re on your way to reducing redundant conversations along with customer frustration. You can identify phone numbers and emails associated with existing accounts when customers reach out, saving time for both yourself and your customers. It can also save on labor costs since the software can assist your customer service agents by automatically pulling up prior conversations and information about interactions from the past.
This type of omnichannel marketing is possible, and it does engage and help the customer.