Conversational marketing is one of the latest big trends when it comes to digital marketing. The term, which is relatively broad, has been thrown about by selfie-vlogging chatbot companies for a while now. There has been a considerable amount of attention given to it, but unfortunately, there is a lot of misuse going on as well.
Chatbot products are incredibly helpful in several different ways, such as customer service. One of the best examples is Facebook; they have chatbots in their customer support system implemented pretty well. If you’re ever faced with issues in advertising, directly reaching out to Facebook is much easier thanks to the chatbots.
Chatbots
Essentially, chatbots let the user conduct conversational marketing through implementing code on your landing page or website, which lets a chat interface appear. More often than not, free chatbots do not allow for flashy artificial intelligence capabilities, which the pricier versions usually have. It is essentially a means for chatting with people manually unless you shell out funds for a paid version.
Here are some conversational chatbot marketing mistakes to avoid:
Getting Marketing and Sales Confused
An incredibly common mistake in chatbot implementation into a marketing and sales strategy is getting the two mixed up. While their overall goals definitely make them related, sales and marketing are actually far more effective as supplements to each other. If there are marketing materials like email campaigns, landing pages, content, and even paid collateral, having a chatbot that directly contacts a person in the sales team will look rational.
From an organizational standpoint, attempting to properly scale and track anything will be difficult if two separate yet similar elements are put together.
Sales chatbots are best implemented into marketing strategies by putting them on acknowledgment and thank you pages. When information submitted by a user comes from a marketing standpoint, they are redirected to the thank you page, then they get what it is they wanted in the first place. This seems like a golden opportunity to start a conversation, and it is, with some caution.
Make the conversation optional after the conversion, instead of having it be paramount to it. It’s important to make sure that the needs of the prospect are met before they are coaxed towards the funnel’s next stage. Not surprisingly, after getting what they wanted in the first place, customers will be more likely to be open to conversation.
Having Chatbots on Pages People Should Read
Have a landing page on content that users must read? Make sure there’s no chatbot on that page because then it will be distracting. A lot of businesses tend to have a chatbot on the homepage of their website, which is only effective sometimes. In Winnipeg, your web design is probably done strategically, allowing your homepage to educate the user and guide them properly. This could be forfeited by an unnecessary chatbot.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that chatbots are incredibly helpful, but they need to be used correctly. Artificial intelligence will surely continue to advance technologically, and in turn, chatbots will improve over time. This makes investing in conversational marketing a great step for your business.
In need of a trustworthy digital marketing agency in Winnipeg? Contact Hello Digital Marketing today! We create digital solutions, including integrating chatbots in your site, for all types of businesses.