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Conversational Marketing: The Five Conversations You

Need To Have with Your Customers

What do you do when “good enough” is not enough?

As a customer, you know the feeling. You’re a number, not a relationship anymore. You’re primarily a line item in a database. An average hold time.

… Haven’t we lost the most important part of marketing?

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Creating exceptional relationships with our

customers.

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The building blocks of those relationships are conversations.

The quality of every relationship is largely determined by adding the

strength or weakness of every individual conversation together.

The people who have consistently listened intently to you, offered

advice when appropriate, and had your best interests in mind have

probably become your closest friends and advisors.

Relationships that you really cherish and appreciate.

Those who are primarily focused on themselves or are looking out

for their own good have probably found a lesser and lesser role in

your life.

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The same can be said about relationships with customers.

Relationships with customers are summaries of conversations. Categorizing each step of a relationship lifecycle determines the effectiveness of each conversation, and improves the value of customer relationships.

As the value of every customer relationship increases, the value of our entire customer base grows.

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Acquire

Appreciate

Retain

Convert

Reactivate

How can you strengthen relationships with your customers to ensure you’re more than good enough and that you are treating them in a way that adds value to their life?

The most influential and relationship-building customer conversations can be broken down into five categories:

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Are you confident in the quality of the

relationships you’ve developed with

your customers?

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Each of the five conversation types should impact one of your financial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as well as strengthen individual customer relationships. Use the following descriptions of each conversation to evaluate your current conversational marketing impact.

Acquire

Appreciate

Retain

Convert

Reactivate

Acquire

When you find you need new customers to meet your stated goals, develop conversations that resonate with those who are most likely to respond to your message.

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What would a decrease of 10-25 percent in cost per acquisition mean to your organization? Would this allow reinvestment to fuel faster

growth? Could the savings fund additional programs to better serve your existing customers? Could it drop right to the bottom line, increasing

profitability?

Execute the initial call to identify the appropriate decision-maker and generate interest. Then, email information to the

decision-maker, and follow up 2-3 days later to convert the customer to a free trial.

When done well…

The cost per acquisition will be reduced.

Appreciate

Everyone likes to be informed and appreciated. This conversation will promote feelings of goodwill between the customer and company.

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Did you know that repeat customers spend 67 percent more and are more profitable? What is the impact of generating an incremental transaction per

customer? How can we turn customers into advocates and brand ambassadors?

Short messages--thank you, happy birthday or anniversary--and status updates keep

customers engaged and thinking about you.

When done well…

The Lifetime Value of each customer will increase.

Retain

A customer base is an essential part of success. Well-designed customer retention programs will significantly reduce customer churn as well as identify critical service issues that may be creating customer dissatisfaction. Strong customer service will reduce the number of customers that reach the point of considering cancelling their service.

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Did you know that increasing your customer retention rate by 5 percent can increase profits 25 to 95 percent? How can a 10

percent reduction in churn stabilize financial performance and set the stage for growth?

Retention conversations can be based around offering an extended trial period, a

more basic version of the product, or simply solving the customer’s problem.

When done well…

Churn will be reduced.

Convert

This conversation introduces new product offerings to customers in an effective, data-driven way and extends the strength of the relationship through helpfulness and attention.

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If we could increase conversion by 15 percent, what is the impact to overall growth?

In some instances, a customer’s initial product choice may no longer be the ideal fit for their

needs. In these instances, providing recommendations to upgrade/downgrade

ultimately leads to a more satisfied customer base. Through the process of handling customer

service and customer retention calls, identify opportunities to adjust a customer’s product

choice to more appropriately meet their needs.

When done well…

The Average Revenue per Customer will increase.

Re-activate

The number one reason a customer does not come back is because they are not asked. For those who would but don't, you can complement your customer retention approach by offering multiple opportunities.

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How much would your monthly revenue increase if you get just 5 percent of your previous customers back?

In these instances, targeted sales campaigns focused on the customer’s initial reason for

cancelling can provide an influx of new customers at a lower than average cost per

acquisition.

When done well…

The Monthly Recurring Revenue will increase.

How do I evaluate my current conversational marketing mix? A quick audit of each conversation type will tell you where you need to apply more focus and potentially identify which areas are producing the lowest returns.

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Sign Up for your FREE Contact Center Consultation here!

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Who is Incept? Incept is a conversational marketing firm that delivers the most effective customer acquisition and retention campaigns to maximize value per transaction by combining passionate people with sophisticated analytics and a shared risk business model that improves results.

Sam Falletta is the President & CEO of Incept, where he has developed successful customer acquisition and retention strategies for some of the largest brands in the world including Microsoft, Ford, Honda, and the American Red Cross. Incept has grown at an average rate of 25% per year for the last 7 years and been recognized as one of the Top Workplaces in NE Ohio by Workplace Dynamics. He is a national speaker on topics related to leadership, marketing and corporate culture.

Michael Somody is the Vice President of Customer Success of Incept. Mike understands that no two clients are facing the exact same challenges and opportunities, which means that no two strategies can be the same. He works with each of our customers to deliver impactful, cost effective solutions that turn their customer relationships into profitable growth.