Tools such as online chat are revolutionizing customer service, allowing not only a multi-channel strategy but also a 360-degree view of the interactions that any company has with its users.
Turning these “conversations” with the customer into a real business opportunity is the goal at a time when users demand a personalized and immediate experience.
For it, Sendinblue offers an all-in-one sales and marketing digital platform designed to help businesses of all sizes manage customer relationships across all digital channels.
We analyzed with Antoine Lefeuvre, director of the Conversations Product at the company, what conversational marketing consists of, the recent integration into the WhatsApp Business platform or how Artificial Intelligence marks the future of these solutions.
-In order to achieve better customer service and increase sales, companies are betting on technologies such as messaging as a new channel. What does a messaging solution like Sendinblue chat provide?
We have seen a growing demand from companies, but especially from SMEs, to have a more complete set of tools centralized in one place to be able to build strong relationships with their customers throughout their entire life cycle.
At Sendinblue, two of the main goals of our conversational marketing features, and in particular live chat, are: first, to help our users turn conversations into opportunities through automation. The second is also to offer deep integration with the rest of the Sendinblue platform, especially our CRM.
Sendinblue’s chat can be managed in real time, and when the company answers a customer’s questions at the moment they show great intent, they are more likely to convert.
-What does your Conversations solution consist of?
Our Chat offering has three main components: The first is live chat, where users can talk to their web visitors in real time through a Chat widget installed on their site. Businesses can respond to their customers from anywhere, anytime with our mobile app, available for iOS and Android.
The second component is the chatbot, with which users can program different scenarios to answer frequently asked questions through the installed Chat widget. And finally, there’s our multi-channel inbox, where users can receive and reply to all campaign conversations from Live Chat, Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp in one place.
-In this sense, WhatsApp Business has been imposed among companies. What advantages does it present over other marketing or customer service channels? I don’t know if they have figures for penetration, conversion…
One of the main advantages of WhatsApp campaigns is the high engagement rate of these campaigns, since while emails can go unnoticed, an instant message is consulted almost immediately, even if the person is walking down the street. 80% of WhatsApp messages are read within the first five minutes and it had an unbeatable 98% open rate and 45-60% click rate. In fact, we have a ebook sobre WhatsApp Marketing dedicated to this important channel and how any business can result from it with Sendinblue.
In addition to the benefits mentioned above, with WhatsApp campaigns managed from Sendinblue, clients will be able to manage another marketing channel as important as this one from the same platform and clearly from the fact that these campaigns allow the inclusion of multimedia content such as audio, documents, videos. and links. They also have a more generous limit than SMS with 1,000 characters.
-And the integration with WhatsApp Business that has just been announced, what benefits will it offer?
In addition to the benefits mentioned above, with this integration, customers will be able to have campaigns, automated flows, conversations, and transactional messages via WhatsApp in one place, which represents a great benefit for companies and contributes to efficiency. of operations.
Also, with Sendinblue it is not only possible to centralize the campaigns but also all the interactions and contact data. Our CRM records the entire history of interactions with each contact, whether they are events related to campaigns (on all channels, including WhatsApp), chat conversations, actions related to e-commerce, among others.
We must add to this that Sendinblue is a world leader in marketing campaigns and we are highly recognized for our long history in the sector. All this experience and knowledge we have applied to our integration with WhatsApp Business.
-Chatbots and automation solutions are also gaining prominence, although the challenge continues to be the personalization of the interaction with the client. What is Sendinblue’s proposal in this regard?
You are correct, personalization is an important challenge and it is part of the general plan of providing a positive shopping experience to the customer. With the conversational marketing capabilities we offer at Sendinblue, we want to do just that, because the more impactful the experience, the easier it is to convert the customer.
At Sendinblue, we design automation with a clear objective: to turn conversations into opportunities. That’s what Sendinblue Conversations is all about.
With the creation of chatbot scenarios, our clients satisfy two needs: First, to be able to respond to their clients when there is no one in the company available to respond live. Although the bot only answers the most frequently asked questions, it is there to capture the contact and attract the visitor. This way missed opportunities are avoided.
The second need is to prequalify requests. The bot welcomes the visitor and, after a series of questions, can redirect the visitor to the right person or people. In this way, when humans take over, they already have all the necessary context to give a quick and relevant response, and therefore are better able to convert visitors into customers.
We can also see the opposite case, when, during a conversation, the company agent can realize that the visitor’s request is a frequently asked question, and instead of writing an answer from scratch, he can get it automatically in a few clicks.
This semi-automation, that is, a mix of human interaction and software, is ideal for many of our clients, as they retain control over the communication they have with their visitors. Furthermore, it avoids a long learning phase for the machine, which most SMEs cannot afford.
– Who is Sendinblue for? What type of business and with what needs?
Sendinblue is an all-in-one sales and marketing digital platform, meaning it’s designed to help businesses of all sizes manage customer relationships across all digital channels.
The platform has many advanced multi-channel marketing features that are very easy to use. This wide range of tools and functionalities is at an affordable price since our plans are designed to grow with the needs of our clients.
In addition, our platform is available in 6 languages, including Spanish, as is our customer service.
In the case of conversational marketing functionalities, these are ideal for SMB professionals or entrepreneurs, and mainly e-commerce, travel and service companies or any business that needs an efficient channel for their customer service inquiries. In these cases, live chat is a key channel as it is practical and advanced technical knowledge is not required to use these tools.
-What technologies are marking the development of marketing today? What added value does Sendinblue offer in this evolution?
The new phase into which Artificial Intelligence has recently entered obviously influences marketing, as it does in all other sectors. At Sendinblue, we are currently integrating these technologies with one goal in mind: that they really serve our users, including small businesses that do not have the time or knowledge to deepen their use of Artificial Intelligence. That is why we avoid mirages and verify with our users that technology really saves them time when creating or improving their services. We believe in a true collaboration between man and “machine” or software, where each one intervenes where it brings more added value, instead of just automation, which often wastes more time than it gains.
On top of this, today we see a real need for consumers to maximize the impact, utility, and convenience of all the tools they use.
The relationship between people and brands is changing rapidly. In previous years, it was limited to one-way communication: TV commercials, billboards, print advertising in mailboxes, etc. Today, consumers have higher standards in mind when it comes to brands. They expect them to make an effort, adapt their offer and send communications in minutes. Users today expect more than a service: they want a memorable experience.
At Sendinblue we are making it easier than ever for companies to invest in lasting relationships with their customers. Entrepreneurs are not looking for individual and disconnected tools, but complete and highly integrated solutions that allow them to manage relationships with their clients and boost the growth of their businesses, as is the case with Sendinblue.
–The ultimate goal seems to be omnichannel and hyper personalization…. How can Sendinblue help companies succeed in these two challenges?
Having an impeccable strategy and execution in the different channels is always going to be a winner and is what customers expect today from any brand. It is no longer enough to cover a single channel to communicate with a customer as today’s consumer uses different mediums and devices and sometimes simultaneously in the purchase process and touch points such as customer service inquiries. In addition to this, customers expect relevant information adapted to their profile.
Having a strong omnichannel marketing strategy will continue to be the norm, especially for businesses with a strong digital presence. An important trend that we have identified is that consumers today are looking for more proximity and connection with brands and the instantaneity of conversational marketing is a key element to achieve this with the end customer, and it can greatly help the customer feel that their purchase process is highly personalized through direct contact via chat with the company.
