Note from a SnapEngage newbie
Like most software companies, we tend to get caught up in the technology of our product and the fundamental reasons for doing what we do begin to fade into the background. We recently brought on a new team member who brings a fresh perspective to live chat, reminding us that the power behind conversion and customer satisfaction is not in the technology, it’s in the conversation.
TL;DR: Actually talking to your customers is important. Businesses can and should make this happen in real-time. Practice best practices with pros to ensure the best results.
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The fine folks over at Hubspot put together this swell infographic on the history of web design. Remember things like splash pages and skeumorphic design? Yeah, so do I. This is a great and rather hilarious example of the fluidity of interaction online. What is in today will be comedy tomorrow.
It takes practice to refine how you want to engage with your customers digitally.
The constantly evolving organism we’ve come to embrace as the way we communicate often takes a nimble explorer to navigate. Most business owners are too busy running their business to research what they should be doing online, which can lead to unfortunate missed opportunities. As content marketing continues to flourish, businesses may realize that their customers want real and valuable information if they’re going to interact with their brand. But this doesn’t always come naturally to those who are new to speaking online.
Much like content marketing, the ideas of tone, audience consideration, and brand message can be exceptionally foreign.
Couple the idea of valuable information with the speed and short attention span of the modern internetter and you’ll get a recipe for a lost conversion. All business owners are ultimately trying to drive engagement, which lends itself to improving the bottom line, hopefully. The trick is how to get there, right?
The vast alphabet soup of click through rate, ROI, analytics, long form or short form, keywords, on and on and on is enough to intimidate even though most seasoned salesperson. With a little ammunition, a novice online conversationalist can confidently convert site visitors to actual customers in no time. No need to get wrapped up in daunting internet jargon when being yourself is the best method of earning new business.
What about just… talking to the customer? At the end of the day isn’t this who is making that coveted buying decision?
I recently joined the team at SnapEngage who is focused on facilitating positive interaction during the crucial last mile between site visitor and signup. Before dollars can come into the coffers or good customer service can be offered in real-time, the customer and business need to connect. Imagine speaking to the customers landing on your site in real-time. Answering questions and facilitating a sale or putting out a customer service fire the moment it started, rather than being flamed publicly by an angry consumer?
You don’t have to be on a social network to give your customers real-time service. It’s happening, and businesses should be taking advantage of the capability. We’re going to be dropping knowledge and talking best practices at the Chat Up Conference in Gorgeous Boulder, Colorado. Come say hello!
