Definition: What is chat marketing?
Chat marketing is an approach to reaching, acquiring, and retaining customers using messaging software such as live chat, chatbots, and other messaging channels. Simply put, chat marketing is used for brand communication with customers in real time. This can be done via a chat on the company website or messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and other mobile apps. Chat marketing allows companies to deliver personalized messages to customers about product launches, product updates, recommendations, discount offers, and the like.
Chat marketing channels
Chat marketing can take place on a variety of different channels. The most well-known types of chat marketing are presented below.
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1. Chatbot marketing
Chatbots have quickly become established in messenger marketing. A chatbot is a dialogue system that allows exchange with a technical system. Through communication, the automated AI chatbot gets to know customers better and can display personalized messages. Chatbots are considered one of the best digital marketing and customer service tools today and make it possible to automate processes, filter user inquiries and minimize response times. Chatbot marketing also uses digital assistants to automate interactions with prospects and customers and generate sales. Chatbots can be implemented on websites, apps, and messengers.
2. Live chat marketing
With the help of Live chats companies can get in touch with website visitors in real time and at the same time increase their time spent on the website. They grab the attention of your website visitors and prompt them to take action. As soon as a visitor is on the website, a live chat window immediately opens to start the conversation. This allows interested parties to be informed about product offers, events and subscriptions, among other things, and to market updates or new features. A live chat can also offer the user help and provide quick support. In addition, a live chat can identify upsell opportunities and help to increase customer loyalty and increase sales.
3. Messenger marketing
Messengers are among the most used apps today. So it's no wonder that messenger marketing is at the forefront of the trend and is currently one of the most effective advertising options. Messenger marketing offers customers the opportunity to exchange messages with companies in real time and should take place on a personal level. In recent years, a clear Increase in messaging be noticed between customers and companies.
In short, messenger apps are the most modern form of communication and offer an exciting and interactive customer approach compared to traditional email addresses. In addition to images, videos, GIFs and audio messages, they allow all sorts of media formats. Messenger users also have the entire conversation history available — email doesn't offer that luxury. Messengers also offer the option of integrating bots into their messenger function. An example of automated chat marketing in Facebook Messenger is Dräger, for example. The medical and security technology company uses Facebook Messenger in B2B communication and automated the conversations conducted there using an integrated AI chatbot.
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Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger is, with over one billion monthly active users, the most popular mobile messenger app after WhatsApp. In Facebook Messenger, companies become conversation participants and actively exchange ideas with (potential) customers. For example, companies can use Facebook Messenger to acquire customers, send sponsored messages, answer inquiries, send product recommendations, feedback requests, etc.
Instagram Direct
A company can also get in touch with users directly on Instagram. With the introduction of the Instagram Messenger API in 2021, companies were able to communicate with their users in a professional way that is very similar to Facebook Messenger. Companies can promote their products or services and make their brand better known.
It is a powerful marketing channel that is now used by millions of companies around the world. Direct messages on Instagram can be used at any stage of the customer journey to draw attention to a company with personalized messages, strengthen customer relationships and increase sales.
WhatsApp has more users than any other network and is therefore doubtfully part of most popular messaging platform worldwide. Since September 2021, WhatsApp has allowed companies to send advertising messages. With over 100 billion messages exchanged every year and two billion active users worldwide — including 60 million In Germany alone — WhatsApp is an excellent platform for marketing products and messages. With WhatsApp Business, companies can send newsletters and promotional messages to an unlimited number of users in the form of discount vouchers, coupons, product launches, and more. WhatsApp offers advanced features such as a business catalog or broadcast messaging to connect with customers and increase the visibility of product offerings. In addition, can WhatsApp marketing help build strong relationships with customers and increase sales. As with all common messenger apps, a chatbot can also be integrated into WhatsApp.
Example of WhatsApp marketing from Nivea for Mother's Day
NIVEA Switzerland developed a WhatsApp bot for Mother's Day. With the help of the bot, users were able to retrieve special content such as pictures, videos or sayings and forward it to friends and their mothers.
Wish WhatsApp shopping chatbot at Christmastime
Wish has developed a WhatsApp chatbot to offer Wish customers inspiration for Christmas gifts in a fun way. Customers tell the chatbot who they're looking for gifts for. The bot responded with suitable ideas via WhatsApp and a direct link to the online shop.
4. SMS messages
While instant messaging is a relatively new communication channel, SMS has been used to communicate with friends and family for years. As the number of instant messaging users is increasing rapidly, it is pushing SMS messages into the background.
For companies, however, SMS messages remain particularly appreciated because they are a personal and direct way to get in touch with users. The opening rate of 98% speaks for itself — users continue to enjoy reading it. Companies can use them for many use cases, such as order confirmations, status updates, customer reviews and surveys, etc.
5. Apple Business Chat
Apple's iMessenger enables companies to reach Apple users via text and rich media. In contrast to Facebook Messenger, Apple does not require users to have a social media account. Customers can easily search for a company on iOS using Safari, Spotlight, Maps, or Siri, and open messages and chat with companies from any of these services. To offer customers even better brand experiences via iMessage, Apple has also integrated tools into its business chat.
iMessage provides customers with interactive messages that should improve the chat experience. With the help of list and time selection, customers can select products directly via iMessage, access updates, make appointments, place orders, and simply and securely pay directly via the Apple Pay function.
Benefits of chat marketing
Chat marketing is not just a trend — direct communication with customers via chats has many advantages for companies:
- Real-time lead capture and qualification: Customers can contact companies directly via chats and ask for information about products and services. Long waiting times result in a high bounce rate, whereas quick responses from the company can speed up the sales cycle. The use of a chatbot is a helpful tool for Lead generation. Bots can automate conversations with the help of AI and are able to solve problems and concerns without human intervention. Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots have the ability to understand, process and then react to human language. So has he AI chatbot the function of automatically querying required data, such as name, telephone number or email address, and, if desired, forwarding this to the sales team.
- Immediate resolution of doubts and complaints: Dissatisfied customers only get all the more frustrated when they're stuck in long phone support lines or send emails that they often wait a long time to respond to. By being able to contact companies directly at any time, whether via live chat, messenger or chatbot, customer problems can be solved quickly and easily.
- Authentic and personalized conversations: Messages via the chat inbox can be personalized and tailored to the customer. Customers today expect an individual and personal approach and advice. Customers can use chats to receive individualized product recommendations that are of interest to them. Companies can also use chat processes with customers to further improve future messages.
- Convenience for customers: With the integration of a chat function in customer service, customers can communicate directly with the company at will. The entire conversation takes place on a familiar channel, which they use every day anyway. If you are present where your customers are, there are numerous opportunities for customer loyalty.
- High level of commitment: Consumers today are confronted with advertising messages from all sides. For example, it is a major challenge for companies to convince their own target group. Whereas personalized WhatsApp marketing messages have a click-through rate of between 20 and 30 percent, emails with a click rate of just 2% perform poorly.
Chat marketing tips
We have the following tips for you to successfully implement a chat marketing strategy:
1. Create a suitable chat widget
The chat widget represents the window to the company and allows visitors to the website to start a conversation with the company. Companies can use chat widgets to deliver proactive messages and thus reach (potential) customers. For a successful customer approach, the chat widget should match the look and feel of the company's branding. In addition, appropriate language should be used to attract the customer's attention.
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2. Sending proactive, triggering messages and using a teaser
Chat triggers are crucial for prospects to become paying customers. Proactive messages about offers attract the attention of (potential) customers and support them on their way to a purchase. Relevant news also promotes the development of long-term relationships. One way to draw users' attention to the chat, for example, is to use a teaser, which can contain a message as well as specific CTAs.
3. Use seamless omnichannel features
Regardless of which channel a customer uses to contact the company, the full chat history should be able to be viewed automatically. Use a uniform platform that makes it possible to communicate via all channels you offer — be it WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or via the website. Viewing all messages in one window gives you a good overview and allows you to edit multiple conversations at the same time.
4. Integration of existing software tools
With the right software integrations, chat marketing can be made even more powerful, processes automated and the user experience optimized. This allows various third-party providers to be integrated, including bots, e-commerce, CRM and marketing software, automation and payment apps, and more. Managing integrations from just a single platform improves workflow, saves time, and increases employee productivity.
moinAI's AI chatbot can also be integrated into your existing technology landscape in order to optimize your user experience, automate processes and better serve new and existing customer contacts. moinAI supports various Live chat- and CRM systems as well as many other tools.
5. Identify relevant channels
If you want to successfully implement chat marketing, you must first identify which channels the brand's target group is active on. Depending on the target group and age group, email is still popular — for most companies, it's worthwhile to rely on different channels and pursue an omnichannel strategy. Addressing and communication must also be adapted to the respective channels — some consumers and target groups prefer smartphones, whereas others prefer to communicate via desktop.
6. Keep response times short
Consumer expectations are high and, particularly in the event of a problem, the response time should be kept as short as possible. Especially during the purchase decision or the ordering process, it is important to provide the appropriate support quickly so that a customer does not drop out. Make sure you always respond to the customer in a timely manner and that customer service agents can access the conversation history or a summary of the chat in case a customer leaves the conversation halfway through.
conclusion
Chat marketing is a quick way to build relationships with customers and guide them through the marketing and sales process. The marketing strategy goes beyond simple conversations in messaging apps and looks at the entire customer life cycle. Chat marketing determines where and how meaningful interactions can be created to guide customers from acquisition to retention. Customers love chats because they're instantly available and match their communication habits. Messenger marketing will be an integral part of the near future. With more than 60 million active users in Germany alone, spread across all generations — the reach of marketing experts is particularly convincing. The development of a suitable strategy and definition of a target group are important before implementation is started. Quality content and choosing the right messenger are paramount. Only those who act in a customer-oriented manner will be successful.
Would you like to know how to optimize both marketing and customer service with the chatbot chat marketing channel? Watch the Chocoversum x moinAI webinar and find out how to achieve promising results by integrating a chatbot.
