Consumers of every age are more active online than ever. To maintain the loyalty of their customers, businesses must provide engaging customer journeys that exploit the possibilities of the digital space. The road to the strongest customer engagement begins with a better class of cross-network conversations.
The year we have been through brought about many changes to the routine of daily life, including customer routines. And not surprisingly, some of the new consumer behaviors are here to stay. Many consumers engaged with brands through channels that were either little-used or inaccessible before.
Even the most traditional consumers were forced to go from in-store experiences to online shopping. It is now very common for all customer demographics to chat with a brand on WhatsApp for support, return products directly from your home.
Who would have imagined that?
These changes set new levels of consumer expectation – significantly raising the bar for online retailers.
The common priority of these companies is to build stronger relationships with their audience. This is essential in a digital world which is crowded, and where companies are not physically or geographically constrained. The background noise is loud, and distractions are aplenty. Every time a customer goes on-line, it becomes a potential shopping visit. Getting a clear and enduring message across is possible through more engaging conversations.
The fundamental building block for better conversations is to allow customers to interact through their preferred channel. That channel can quickly change throughout the day. Servicing this objective requires a seamless transition across different platforms.
But what does this all mean?
Now imagine a customer that made a purchase on your e-commerce website from his PC and needs to return one of the products. Wouldn’t it be great if your customer could contact you on WhatsApp before switching to a live call to choose the replacement at any time?
Well, this is what customers want. And thanks to the latest generation of chatbots you give them what they want, and it won’t break the bank.
Different consumer groups have widely adopted WhatsApp, Messenger, and other social media platforms. These popular channels are today’s starting point for brands to build streamlined conversations throughout the customer journey.
#1 Awareness
The customer journey can be split into stages. We’ll take each stage at a time and start at the top by discussing the Awareness stage.
The goal of this initial stage is to approach consumers through engaging conversations. It couldn’t be more clear. We have seen that adopting this strategy proves much better performing than simply providing a static landing page. How come?
Let’s have a look at the case of one of our clients – in the retail sports industry.
Our client engaged with site visitors and consumers through tailored bot conversations, based on their sports interests and previous purchases. The bot shares tips on how to optimally use the products they bought and offers advice about the sports discipline they are active in.
The result was an eye-opening 25% increase in purchase conversions, as compared to previous email campaigns.
By looking at how our clients have built chatbots to increase consumer engagement, we can say with confidence that creativity is key. It’s very important to come up with something meaningful for your audience. Something that’s tailored to their interests. A simple example might be a questionnaire, which allows users to express their needs and requirements and share their opinion.
Now turning to the Consideration stage of our customer journey:
#2 Consideration
If you want individual consumers to consider buying your product, you need to recommend the one that fulfills their specific needs. In the digital era it is possible to tailor your message to the preference of a single web visitor. Together with personalised communication, you need a clear call to action to ensure a direct conversion.
Let’s have a look at the case of one of our clients in the grocery business.
To bridge offline and online shopping experiences, our client set up a fully-automated AI bot on Facebook Messenger. This virtual assistant helps in-store shoppers to find the right wine for a specific meal or special occasion. This channel also provides improved visibility to seasonal discounts and featured promotions. A win-win situation if you ask us.
The result? Tasty dinners & happy customers!
Would you like to know more about the benefits of implementing chatbots for your industry?
Stay tuned for more blogs about the rest of the AI bot customer journey!