Leads do not fall by the wayside because of automation
Is sales abandoning leads? Are they failing to respond to emails? Are they giving up after four or five emails and a half-dozen phone calls, which is understandable? That’s not rare; salespeople’s time is best spent on prospects, clients, and customers that reply consistently.
Conversational AI can help you keep track of leads that aren’t responding.
Some leads are overlooked because they aren’t ready yet, but green leads can still turn around weeks or months later. Keeping the lead interested is the key to speeding up this process. Don’t let that green lead forget about you; he or she might still be shopping and researching. Without wasting valuable sales or marketing time, conversational AI can produce an eventual conversion by following up with a green lead on a frequent basis.
They won’t get tired or disheartened since a Conversational AI will complete the duty you assign until judgment day.
Each degree of follow-up is also distinct. The virtual assistant isn’t just sending the same message over and over in the hopes that the lead will convert. Instead, the virtual assistant might contact the lead a few times in the first week, then once a week, then once a month, using realistic language each time to deliver new or helpful information depending on the information you’ve gathered on them.
Conversational marketing can supplement SDRs or act as a stand-in if you don’t have any.
Sales development reps can be incredibly beneficial to a sales team, raising lead conversion rates by nurturing and persisting with leads on a regular basis.
However, SDRs can be costly, and they, like everyone else, can run out of capacity. When lead-chasing capacity is reached, the solution is usually to hire more SDRs. Instead, consider how conversational AI can automate most of the time-consuming, repetitive SDR follow-up activity, making it more scalable with little to no cost increase.
Conversational AI solutions, like SDRs, nurture leads through consistent natural-language conversation.
This doesn’t necessarily imply that conversational AI will replace SDRs (or that it should), but it does imply that virtual assistants can free up SDRs’ capacity, allowing them to qualify and pursue actual, solid leads. SDRs can use conversational AI as a tool rather than a competitor, and it can help them arrange meetings and calls with only the most promising leads.
Lead engagement is sped up using conversational marketing.
Lead conversion fails when leads are abandoned, ignored, or just too numerous to answer in a timely manner — none of these issues exist with conversational AI.
Natural-language AI can rapidly respond to chat forms and emails from potential customers, and will send nudges and bumps at a personalized rate to keep leads interested.
Conversational AI was used by ChannelSight, an eCommerce Solutions firm, to boost their marketing efforts.
The ChannelSight team claimed that by incorporating virtual assistants into their sales team, they were able to save 20% on lead qualification and nurturing. They also claimed that the virtual assistants assisted the team in actively engaging twice as many leads as usual.
The virtual assistants did this by reaching out to leads at every stage of the funnel with conversational AI to keep them informed, engaged, and thinking about ChannelSight.
Fewer initial leads remained uncontacted, fewer unresponsive leads were abandoned, and hesitant prospects were kept in the loop to aid future conversion.
Leads Cannot Be Ignored in Conversational Marketing
Although marketing may be providing sales a large number of leads, sales may not be following up on each one.
This is frequently just a matter of time and mental space – salespeople are human, and when leads pile up, sales triage occurs. Simple math suggests that can’t be done if the squad only has X number of hours in the day and 3x the leads. As a result, sales pursues the most qualified leads and tries their best to follow up as soon as possible.
Conversational AI platforms, along with automated emails, can be used by marketing to send emails to those less-than-qualified leads. These virtual assistants can ask questions to gain a sense of how useful these leads are – where are they located, what industry they work in, what are their needs, and what is their existing solution?
After a lead has been qualified by the virtual assistant or the standard machinery of your lead scoring or sales process, they are introduced to actual humans.
However, just as sales may be compelled to ignore cold, dead, or green prospects, sales may also be forced to let a lead languish in CRM purgatory if the lead ceases to respond.
Your Lead Conversion Process Can Be Boosted by Conversational Marketing: Here’s How to Do It
The journey from marketing-qualified lead to sales-qualified lead can be long, and there appear to be more exits than on-ramps along the way. However, in order to improve your lead conversion rate, this process may — and must — be sped up.
Consider how automation and AI never get weary, can’t have too much on their plate, and never grow frustrated in the face of failure, rather than employing beyond your plans and budget. When a lead talks to conversational AI, they often don’t know they’re not talking to a real person.
Slow follow-up on qualified leads causes lead conversion to stagnate, but conversational AI automation can always reply quickly, regardless of the amount of leads.
What Is Conversational AI and How Does It Work?
For the uninitiated, here’s a basic rundown: Conversational AI is a type of artificial intelligence that speaks and responds like a human using a combination of machine learning and natural language processing (NLP). Machine learning implies the AI isn’t bound to a static database of pre-programmed responses like chatbots; instead, it analyzes human speech and learns from previous interactions.
Depending on your plan, conversational AI can include chatbots, virtual assistants, automated email communication, or all three.
A conversational AI (like the SimpSocial platform) will reach out to a lead who fills out a form, signs up for a newsletter, or connects with you sufficiently to provide an email address. The AI may then assess the lead’s answer text and search a database for the best appropriate responses.
When there is a significant amount of unqualified leads, conversational AI takes over for marketing and sales. Conversational AI platforms can not only save time for the team, but they can also help decide whether leads are worthwhile and send them on to a salesman.
Bad Leads are weeded out through conversational marketing.
Lead conversion from marketing to sales (or sales to buy) might be a question of luck, charm, or tenacity, but qualified leads have a better chance of converting at a high rate. Superior leads also mean that less time is spent by salespeople on unqualified leads.
Leads can be responded to and sorted by relevance and potential using conversational AI. Conversational AI can answer queries about your company during the enquiry process (through chatbots on your website or through email). Conversational AI can not only answer a wide range of inquiries, but it can also ask questions and perform lead scoring depending on your lead scoring system.
When a priority lead has demonstrated that it is ready to move down the funnel, the virtual assistant will pass it on to real-life salespeople. It will also keep less-qualified leads engaged with the AI until the lead improves.
The Impact of SMS Services on the Retail Experience
Texting has long surpassed phone calls and email as the most effective means of communication, with more retailers using SMS services every year. In today’s society, people are practically linked to their mobile devices, and while many people are bothered by unsolicited phone calls, they don’t mind receiving the occasional text message.
The Most Recent Research
PSFK Labs’ The Power of Chat Debrief looked at how different brands are using digital communication platforms in a new report. The research focuses on SMS services in particular, and how brands are utilizing them to promote their services. Consumers may now purchase flights, gifts, and just about anything else that’s for sale via chat windows and the clicking of the “Send” button, which is one of the newest things businesses are working with.
Customers can use text-to-shop capabilities to make scheduled as well as impulse purchases directly from their phones.
Getting a Leg Up
SMS-based communication The usability of shopping is attracting the attention of both customers and businesses that cater to them. Magic, for example, is a service that fulfills any (well, maybe not any) request a customer has by sending a text. Users text the service for trips to the airport, Chinese food, or a hot beverage, and their orders are delivered within an hour. They aren’t even required to use an app.
This text-savvy concierge has since become a “middleman” for services like Instacart and Uber, delivering essential products and services without the inconvenience of using multiple applications at the same time.
Beyond the Imagination
Fooji, for example, is a similar service that allows New Yorkers to tweet an emoji representing the cuisine they want to the service. A single request puts the user’s data in the Fooji database, which the company can subsequently utilize to develop more personalized menu options and other useful features. Another service that allows inebriated subscribers to enjoy “out-of-the-box” purchase ideas is Drunk Shopping. When do these kinds of proposals appear? At 2 a.m. on Saturdays. To begin the shopping process, users text “heyyyyy” to the service.
Why Is It That Chat Is So Appealing?
The attractiveness of chat is connected to how familia3r users are with the notion, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey of American smartphone usage. This isn’t exactly surprising information, nor is the notion that younger individuals are better at using chat systems than their elders.
Payments that are more streamlined
Brands that employ SMS text message services are able to streamline the payment process while also delivering more personalized service and menu customization. It’s a win-win-win situation.
SMS Is a Crucial Ingredient in Providing Excellent Customer Service
Text messaging has evolved into much more than a simple means of communication. It is now a necessary component of a strong customer service program, as it allows both businesses and consumers with an effective way of communication that isn’t as intrusive as phone calls. Given that 91 percent of the world’s population owns a cellphone, SMS messages are expected to remain the preferred method of business-to-consumer communication for a long time.
Let’s take a look at why text messages are such a great customer support option:
Simplicity is key.
SMS texts are a simple yet effective way to communicate because all you have to do is type and send messages and answers. There is no need for an interface. Phone calls frequently entail waiting on hold or pushing numerous keys to reach a professional, whilst emails have concerns with unintentional deletions and spam folders.
Any Phone Will Do
Consumers don’t need smartphones to text with their favorite companies or services, as almost every cell phone on the planet, including the now-retro flip phones, has SMS capability.
There’s a lot of information, yet there’s not a lot of room
Text messages are a great way to get important information without taking up a lot of room on your phone. Unlike long-winded salespeople who keep you on the phone for 10 minutes longer than necessary, messages are short and to the point.
Reactions in a Hurry
SMS communications are probably better for businesses than emails because 90% of texts are read within three minutes of receipt. Text messages have a 98 percent open rate compared to 22 percent for emails, making SMS communications a superior option for reaching out to customers rapidly.
User Experience Improvements
Customers enjoy a far better user experience when they text, especially when personal information is provided. Personal information contained in text messages from financial institutions, for example, is regarded as “very valuable,” and the institution is seen as the customer’s “financial guardian.” These SMS warn clients about questionable activities, provide investment and interest rate advice, and so on. This type of personalized communication is an excellent method to increase brand loyalty.
When it comes to phone calls, SMS messages may also help brands streamline the user experience. Brands may simply send messages asking customers to review their last phone encounter. Businesses can use the information from short text surveys to improve communication and service in the future.
Opportunities squandered
Only approximately 7% of consumers already connect with businesses using text texts. Given that corporate text messages aren’t nearly as intrusive as phone calls, it’ll be interesting to see how many businesses use texting in the coming years.
You Can Repair Your Own Ethical Smartphone
Shenzhen was a little river village thirty years ago, located north of Hong Kong in China. Shenzhen is today a thriving manufacturing hub, with a population of over 13 million people.
The majority of the residents in this city work in manufacturing, and many of our favorite Made in China products are made here. This is where Foxconn, one of the businesses that manufactures iPhones and iPads, employs 430,000 individuals who earn an average of $300 a month.
For years, humanitarian concerns have surrounded Apple’s production procedures. Child labor, unethical wage discrepancies, and working circumstances that would never be tolerated in the United States have been reported.
Unfortunately, Apple has made little attempt to improve these workers’ pay and working conditions, which many consumers have noticed as Apple Inc.’s profit margins continue to climb.
Most people would prefer not live without mobile phones and other similar goods developed in Shenzhen. While swapping out a pair of Nikes for a brand with better manufacturing policies is a viable option, there are less similar alternatives for cellphones, particularly Apple’s.
Then there’s Fairphone.
The Morally Correct Option
Fairphone is a Dutch corporation with a user base of around 100,000 people, with the majority of them being in Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
Unlike Apple, Fairphone wants to “demystify the mechanics of the mobile phone” by allowing people to maintain their own phones with updates, hardware, and general maintenance.
Fairphone features a modular architecture that makes it simple to disassemble, change parts, and reassemble the phone. This would let a customer to buy a single phone and upgrade the internal components as needed. The user would save money, and there would be less trash on the world.
Fairphone is a socially responsible alternative to Apple’s internal mantras and closed-system restrictions, which make it difficult for customers to personalize or even maintain an out-of-date Apple device.
The question now is whether smartphone consumers will find the new Fairphone to be a viable alternative.
Specifications of the Fairphone
In 2017, when Fairphone says it will launch a marketing campaign in the United States, consumers in the United States will have a chance to answer that question for themselves.
Fairphone just released an open source operating system that is based on Android but does not include Google services. For consumers, this means developing your own email, map, and web browsing apps.
On the one hand, some Android users may appreciate having more control over their devices; nevertheless, most users are likely to view open source as a challenge they aren’t ready to take on.
The Fairphone 2 features Android 5.1 Lollipop with full customization, a 5-inch HD display, an 8-megapixel camera, 2GB of RAM, two micro-sim card slots, and a Qualcomm quad-core processor. For a little less than $600, you can get your hands on one.
The Alternative’s Cost
Whatever way you look at it, that’s still a pricey phone. On the plus side, if you upgrade the parts, you should be able to keep it in good working order for the next ten years.
But Fairphone’s true achievement may be in bringing attention to lesser-known truths about our consumerism, mobile technology, and what it’s doing to people in places like Shenzhen.
Consider a world in which you don’t have to replace your phone every two years. For a corporation like Apple, what does that world look like?
We may all find out next year, depending on how successfully the launch goes.
5 Myths About SMS Marketing That Are Keeping Businesses From Using It
Mobile marketing has grown and evolved throughout time, benefiting a wide range of organizations. However, some misunderstandings about mobile marketing still exist, hindering business owners from reaping the benefits of SMS marketing. Perhaps you’ve been debating whether or not to include text messaging in your marketing strategy, or you’re trying to encourage partners to do so. If that’s the case, here’s why you shouldn’t accept the urban legends.
It’s All-Pervasive
Many people dislike cold calls because they don’t want to be bothered with sales calls when they’re busy. Because business messages are often mixed together, businesses fear they are intruding on their consumers’ personal lives. Companies are not being intrusive if they send text messages at acceptable times and frequencies and are courteous and succinct. After all, when subscribers opted in, they chose an intimate form of communication, so they’re likely to favor the short engagement over emails.
The situation is really complicated.
For fear of confusing associates and users, businesses may be hesitant to add extra platforms to their marketing approach. Business SMS platforms, on the other hand, are simple to use, and API technology allows businesses to modify text messaging services to meet their specific demands. Companies will simply need to provide a keyword and short code to prospects in order to exchange their opt-in information. They will be automatically added to a subscriber list on the text platform, where text campaigns can be quickly planned and scheduled, once they opt-in.
A high price range
It’s easy to assume that SMS is mainly for big companies with big bank accounts. Many companies, on the other hand, charge cents per message or provide a low-cost monthly plan. Small businesses do not need to be concerned about blowing their budget because a cost-effective strategy is available for enterprises of every size and stage.
There is a Disparity in Age
Because millennials are frequently assumed to be the largest segment of mobile users, businesses who do not target millennials or want to broaden their target may be hesitant to use SMS marketing. However, focusing on a single age group is problematic because it precludes the chance of reaching a bigger audience. SMS is used by 92 percent of smartphone owners aged 50 and up, according to Pew Research Center. Older generations, as well as millennials, are heavy mobile users who are ready to get text messages from brands.
It’s just a fad.
Technology evolves at a breakneck pace, and fads come and go as rapidly as they arrive. With so many options for websites, QR codes, SMS, social media, MMS, and apps, it’s hard to know what’s still relevant and what’ll get the greatest conversions. Although several marketing strategies can be combined to create a successful strategy, SMS marketing is critical because over 98 percent of text messages are opened.
SMS remains relevant, cost-effective, easy-to-use, and universal. The easiest approach to interact with customers on a personal level is to use text message marketing.
Why Is A Text Message CTA Important To Your Broadcast Media Campaign’s Success?
American Idol and America’s Got Talent have been known to cause an eye twitch or a complete gulp of air. They’re nerve-wracking, exhilarating, and emotional because the candidates’ fate is decided in the moment by spectators’ SMS votes. You may not be hosting a talent show, but shows like these demonstrate how text messages may provide immediate effects. If you advertise your business on TV or radio, adding text message marketing to your campaign is a smart decision. Because of its immediacy, an SMS call-to-action (CTA) can successfully enhance your business. Here are a few reasons why you should use a text message CTA in your business.
Serves in a Convenient Manner Busy Lives
Around 90% of mobile phone users are said to carry their phones with them at all times. Many people work, run errands, eat, exercise, work out, and lounge with their phones in their hands, and some even sleep with them. Although some of this statistic stems from neuroticism, the reality is that in today’s fast-paced economy and cultural culture, rapid response is required. If you want your leads to become clients, you must continue to provide convenience to them as a business. Including a CTA in a broadcast advertisement allows viewers and listeners to interact with your brand while multitasking.
It inspires others to take action.
Strong and direct verbs like as “text,” “purchase,” “shop,” “download,” and “subscribe” should be used in CTA wording, along with additional words and phrases that imply exclusivity, such as “limited time,” “today only,” and “before it’s gone.” This style of language can pique people’s interest and elicit emotions, prompting them to act swiftly before they miss out. People are likely to be encouraged to take action because the SMS CTA on broadcast implies that the activity is as simple as pressing a few buttons.
Ad Success Can Be Monitored
You can use SMS campaigns to see how well a broadcast ad performs. You may compare which ads are most effective when you add your CTA to a broadcast media campaign, together with its specific keyword and short code. Create unique keywords for your CTA and test different advertisements in multiple channels or places for the greatest results. This keyword should not be difficult to remember or complex. You can be creative when choosing a keyword if your brand allows it. You may monitor how people respond to your ad based on its type, placement, language, audience, keyword, and other factors. You can modify your advertising and budget once you know what works for your broadcast commercials.
Before you write your text message CTA, make sure you know what your company’s overall advertising goals are. An SMS CTA can help you streamline the efficiency of your marketing approach once you’ve established your goals and target audience.
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all good places to share.