Conversational Messaging: What It Is & Why Customers are Demanding It

The way businesses interact with their target audience is key to boosting lead generation and increasing sales growth. We’re now in a digital age where people can access marketing emails and company websites from anywhere. Conversational messaging allows consumers to communicate with companies any place, any time.

Social media provides opportunities for businesses to interact with their audience through messaging apps. Each month, more than 20 billion messages are exchanged between companies and customers via Facebook Messenger. People are using conversational messaging apps to receive information, seek customer support, and purchase goods and services.

Customers have come to expect conversational messaging as part of a positive user experience. Businesses who want to set themselves apart from the competition should gain a solid understanding of this practice to meet customer demand.

What is Conversational Messaging?

Conversational messaging is a one-on-one conversation between a business and a customer that occurs on any messaging platform. Unlike live chat, where customers await an agent’s response and discussion history isn’t saved, conversational messaging is more like texting a buddy.

It provides instant, personal communication with a business associate that picks up wherever their previous conversation left off. There’s less rigidity, and the messages are typically brief, personal, and genuine. Conversational messaging provides consumers with a constant connection to a company, enabling them to receive information quickly and reliably.

Conversational messaging is most effective when implemented across multiple channels. These conversations need to be able to occur on whatever platform customers prefer, whether it’s Twitter, WhatsApp, or another messaging service. These services combine the conversational element of texting with the rich capabilities of websites and apps, so messages can include graphic elements that allow people to complete transactions without leaving the platform.

By keeping the line of communication open at all times, conversational messaging helps businesses provide a positive customer experience. This can help build brand identity and customer loyalty, and lead to an increase in revenue.

Why is Conversational Messaging in Demand?

Consumers want to avoid long wait times and get immediate answers to their questions, but also want to communicate with a real person. Conversational messaging not only meets these needs, it caters to the customer’s availability through platforms with which people are already familiar. Conversational messaging is a highly effective tool and is demanded by customers for several reasons.

1. Convenience

Live chat features are typically only available during business hours. However, with the advent of smartphones and other mobile devices, people are conducting business when it suits their availability. Through conversational messaging, someone can initiate a message while they’re waiting in the doctor’s office in the morning and continue the same conversation after dinner that evening.

Conversational messaging revolves around the customer’s needs. It’s a convenient way to interact and empowers the consumer to set the pace of the conversation.

2. Provides a Personal Experience

In addition to reaching customers on their terms, conversational messaging apps can be tied to analytics software that gains and stores information about your audience. From purchase history to customer details, conversational apps allow you to deliver customized messaging that’s highly personalized for each customer. This not only helps with demand generation, it allows you to provide a satisfying customer experience that earns trust and helps to build customer relationships.

3. Efficiency

Because conversational apps can support rich elements like buttons and calendars, they limit the amount of options available to the customer. This helps to reduce the amount of time it takes for a user to take action, getting them to their desired goal 40% faster. That means people can accomplish more in less time, freeing them to focus on other tasks and goals.

Best Practices for Conversational Messaging

When customers are inundated with display ads and excessive email campaigns, they can develop ad fatigue. This means they’ll begin to ignore your communications, leading to fewer conversions and a decrease in ROI. Because conversational marketing is uniquely personal, it’s important to emphasize quality over quantity. Follow these best practices to create interactive conversations that yield positive results.

1. Engage from the Start

Since conversational messaging provides a rich platform, you can employ a variety of media formats to create an engaging user experience. Include elements like GIFS and emojis to add visual interest to text. Carousels provide an interactive way for customers to navigate products. Videos help to demonstrate information that’s otherwise difficult to visualize. These tactics will help provide an immersive user experience that helps develop your brand identity and earn customer loyalty.

2. Customize Messages

These messages are opportunities to build a solid relationship that can increase sales and broaden your audience reach. To further customize your communications, use the information you’ve gathered about customers to develop messages that speak to their specific situation. Suggest products that would meet their needs based on past and present conversations. Address them by name and reference information you gathered from previous discussions to make them feel important and valued.

3. Manage Expectations

Each step of the messaging process is an opportunity to gather information while providing an engaging experience. You can build trust by managing expectations through transparency. If your messages are automated, let your audience know.

People don’t necessarily mind interacting with a chatbot, as long as they know they aren’t dealing with a live person. This is especially true if automated responses feel more natural with humor or casual language. By managing customer expectations, you can provide a positive experience that yields results.

Conversational Messaging is Easy with the Right Support

Developing effective conversational messaging that meets customer demand is essential to providing a positive customer experience. Televerde is a global sales and marketing services company that can help you create an effective messaging strategy. We provide the support you need to generate leads and boost your pipeline.