
Expert RoundUp Vol. 1 – Conversational Marketing: Can it Boost Sales?
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WoodpeckerTeam
Stephen M. LowiszService
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StartupSo where should we put chatbots in our sales process?
We’ve found bots to be incredibly helpful for low-ticket items (...) however, at the high ticket level, like what we do at 21 LEAP, we’ve found the effectiveness to drop a bit. For general email capturing and lead magnet delivery, Facebook has been great. For scheduling appointments, website chatbots can be leveraged. However, these are fully automated and don’t require any manual response within 5 minutes
What makes chatbots so popular right now?
I see any sales/marketing innovation that successfully connects a true, hand- raising prospect with a salesperson faster as a net positive for both sides, a trend that is here to stay.
The issue is that no trend, tactics, or hack can replace fundamental client-centric marketing which is based on showing the right offer to the right audience in his right state at the right time.
What is the downside of using chatbots?
The vast majority of bots are built using decision-tree logic, where the bot’s canned response relies on spotting specific keywords in the user input (...) Problems arise when life refuses to fit into those boxes.
Chatbots will always get in the way of the actual action because some people just might want to talk to a human and there’s always some degree of delay with a chatbot and nothing will ever replace the human experience.
Some leads who are about to convert sometimes think that they are talking to a human being. So when a chatbot gets it wrong, leads might be put off and want immediate assistance by a human being.
We’ve tested inviting a human into the conersation at various stages of the chatbot conversation, and without a doubt, can confidently say that once the prospect has indicated they want to speak to a salesperson, the earlier a human is introduced the better.



What’s the verdict?
I got interested in conversational marketing because cold emailing is a form of starting a conversation. You need to get in front of your leads, initiate a conversation with them in order to build trust and rapport. As we all know, we can’t close a deal after sending just one email.
Conversational marketing, and messaging technology like chatbots, won’t increase sales on its own either. However, pair it with an amazing inbound marketing, professional outbound tactics, as well as a great service and it, will definitely work to your advantage.
Make sure you’re ready to get your sales reps involved before you try conversational marketing technology. As we’ve seen, it’s essential. As the experts have told us, it’s essential to introduce a human being for it to be an effective strategy.
All things considered, give it a shot if you think you have a team to support it
Thanks to all the experts for contributing. If you have tried conversational marketing, share your experience in the comments.