Chatbots are taking the digital marketing world by storm, many believe that by the year 2020 most of customer transactions will occur in human to bot fashion.
This leads some people to believe that channels like good old email marketing or once super effective SMS marketing are on the verge of extinction.
Little do they know, however, that the same was predicted for marketing email when social media was on the rise, yet email is still alive and kicking. With $38 to $1 ROI — email marketing is expected to stay with us a little bit longer.
Sure, we can rant about each marketing channel being better than the other but isn’t it’s better to bring out the best qualities of both and use them to your benefit?
Here is email marketing shines.
- Cost-effectiveness. Reach thousands of people at little or no cost as some email marketing platforms offer generous free plans.
- Customer preference. According to the study, 7 out of 10 people in North America prefer brands to reach them via email.
- Measurable efforts. Access loads of metrics like open/clickthrough rates, bounces, conversions, revenue per subscriber, etc.
- Personalization and relevance. Successful marketing emails require segmentation by gender, age, country language, etc. Personalization in emails improves customer experience which in the same way contributes to customer loyalty.
- Multiplatform availability. People can access and read their emails from phones tablets or even Samsung smart fridges.
Here is what chatbots excel at:
- 24/7 availability. Chatbots offer round the clock customer support giving relevant answers right there on your site or social media page.
- Building a brand image. Give your chatbot a personality by setting up a tone of communication with the customer this will lead to better user experience.
- Personalized approach. Interactive chatbot scripts and specific questions help collect information about the customer’s needs as a result of offering relevant products or services.
- Lead generation. Onboarding process with a chatbot is just more fun than through the usual subscription form.
- Cutting costs. The whole team of customer support is expensive. Let chatbots resolve simple issues and leave complex tasks to the customer care manager.
Combining these two channels will result in a more cohesive marketing strategy.
Generating new leads is essential to any business. This is where chatbots step in as they provide a more human-like experience. Once your customer opts-in, the new contact data can later be used in email marketing and SMS marketing respectively.
Again, information scraped from customer-chatbot conversation can be used to personalize your email newsletter, segment your mailing list and as a result, deliver relevant content.
A Chatbot can also remind your clients about unopened emails and increase open rates.
In return, you can promote your chatbot through emails encouraging your clients to try a new channel of communication and find answers to their query faster.
