Let’s talk about the conversational funnel. Like all things in business, marketing is changing all the time, and businesses need to keep their fingers on the pulse if they’re going to stay on the cutting edge. Most recently, this has meant social media profiles and an entirely more personalized approach on the whole.
But, as customers come to expect this benefit, simply setting up a profile and calling it a day is no longer enough. Instead, a new focus, known as ‘conversational marketing’ has arisen due to the fact that –
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- 86% of online shoppers prefer proactive customer support
- 82% of customers see getting an immediate response as important
- Companies already using conversational marketing have seen a 10% increase in revenue
Luckily, unlike many marketing shifts, conversational marketing doesn’t mean scrapping your existing focuses altogether, but rather involves building on the online presence you already have, and implementing it within what’s known as a ‘conversational funnel,’ which looks a little like this.
1 – Engagement Within the Conversational Funnel
The engagement has long been the first step towards marketing success but, in this instance, businesses specifically need to work on engaging viable leads through proactive chats, rather than customer-reliant forms.
As normal, this involves understanding your clientele and positioning marketing where they’re most likely to see it, either in-house or with the help of marketing agencies that know all about SEO and PPC as necessary. Once you’ve captured that initial interest, the conversational funnel is all about creating engagement at the moment through the use of chatbots, rather than long-winded forms/emails. This ensures that potential leads stay hooked for longer, providing a level of ease that makes it far more likely they’ll travel deeper into your well-laid funnel.
2 – Understand
Next, it’s time to understand what those engaged customers actually want, preferably in the shortest time frame possible. This speed is crucial considering that, according to Harvard Business Review, companies need to reach out within five minutes or decrease the chances of conversion by an astonishing 400%.
Far from just engaging, you thus also need to program your chatbot to ask leading questions that reveal what customers are interested in, whether they’re likely to buy, and how you can facilitate that conversion at the moment.
3 – Recommend
Once you’ve laid the legwork, it’s time to recommend a viable course of action that leads are likely to take before they have time to question their decisions.
In most instances, this should be the moment in the conversation where a well-chosen sales rep steps into the chat, preferably armed with either tailored product suggestions or an already-booked meeting that makes that customer far less likely to turn away without making a purchase. That’s really what this has all been about, and you can bet that it’s way more likely with this funneled, conversation-led approach.
As you can see, the conversational funnel looks a whole lot like all your other marketing efforts right now. The only difference, really, is the speed, and success, that you’ll surely enjoy as a result of putting it at your marketing forefront.
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[avatar user=”mike” size=”thumbnail” align=”” link=”file”]Mike Gaudreau is the owner of The Wealthy Boomers, a site devoted to helping seniors make money online. Mike resides in Montreal Canada.[/avatar]
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