Traditional sales and customer service still have their place in the business world, but consumers are starting to look for other options. They’re interested in transparency, authenticity, and, more than ever, personal relationships with brands. That’s one reason why conversational customer engagement has taken off so quickly.
Defining Conversational Customer Engagement
There’s a good chance you may not know what conversational customer engagement is. It’s a new strategy that specifically responds to modern customers’ demand for brands that make personal connections with them.
In essence, conversational customer engagement involves encouraging customers to have one-on-one chats with customer service agents, customer care team members, sales team members, or expert consultants. It’s an excellent tool for increasing both customer loyalty and conversions.
Within these one-on-one chats, team members can provide their expert opinions, recommending relevant products or services to leads and customers within chats. Customers are far more likely to trust these personal recommendations than blanket advertisements.
Want a step-by-step look at building strong customer relationships through texting? Read our Beginner’s Guide to SMS Customer Engagement.
Get the guideConversational Customer Engagement vs. Conversational Marketing
Conversational marketing is another new strategy. So how does it differ from conversational customer engagement? It’s primarily a strategy for engaging with leads at the very top of the funnel, whereas conversational customer engagement is primarily an inbound strategy.
Conversational customer engagement usually targets customers who have already bought your brand’s products or leads who are near the bottom of the funnel and have strong intent. Conversational marketing targets new leads or lapsed customers.
For example, conversational customer engagement focuses on incoming customer queries, primarily with existing customers. The strategy includes answering incoming lead and customer questions about products and services. It also includes sending follow-ups regarding past queries and surveys about customer satisfaction.
Conversational marketing focuses on sending leads and customers content that invites conversations, like product tips or invitations to chat with a product or industry specialist. This content often sparks questions or even purchases. After that, conversational customer engagement takes over.
Using Conversational Customer Engagement in Your Messaging Strategy
Conversational customer engagement specifically refers to connecting with customers via messaging channels. Because messaging conversations happen in near real-time between two people, they are more like “conversations” than communications through a channel like email.
It’s easy to include conversational customer engagement in your messaging strategy. In fact, you may already be using it without knowing it. Consider sending your leads and customers business SMS content such as:
- Follow-ups to past queries (Pro tip: Send follow-ups through the channels that the original messages were sent, if possible. Channels like native SMS, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp allow you to send follow-up messages when a chat is completed.)
- Survey or feedback requests
- Online review information and requests
This kind of content invites recipients to engage with your customer service or sales teams. Hopefully, they’ll feel encouraged to start conversations, solidifying their relationship with your brand and increasing brand loyalty.
SMS Conversational Customer Engagement Templates
As we mentioned before, there’s a good chance you’re already sending conversational customer engagement content. Now that you know the term for it, you can hone your strategy, ensuring that each message you send is as engaging as possible. To help you get started, we’ve included some SMS templates for inspiration. Feel free to adjust and use any templates that you like!
Hi {{name}}! Annabelle from Quirky Glasses here. I enjoyed chatting with you about {{last chat topic}} last week. Have any more questions for me? Text STOP to stop receiving texts.
Hello {{customer name}}, this is PetStore Inc. We hope you have a good conversation with {{last agent name}}. Would you mind taking a few minutes to let us know how it went? We value your feedback! Text STOP to unsubscribe from our SMS list.
Hi {{customer name}}, looks like your ShoeMart order #{{order number} has been delivered! Love your new kicks? Leave us a review at {{link to review site}}. Text STOP to stop receiving texts.
Ready to boost your customer engagement strategy with business SMS? Read our Beginner’s Guide to SMS Customer Engagement.
