I Switched from Email to Conversations, and 3 Reasons Why You Should too!

I was late to email marketing.

But when I figured it out I was bullish and successful.

Compared to all other forms of marketing, email delivers direct and undeniable results which can clearly be tracked and optimized.

But now we hear about conversations and messaging and if you’ve been in the game for a while it sounds like the next shiny object.

No one can keep up with all the gadgets and widgets so why is conversational marketing and chatbots any different?

Well, let me share my story of how and why I put all my eggs in the Chatbot basket, and why you should too!

1. Businesses that quickly follow consumer behavior often win

Sometimes a business will try to lead mass adoption of a technology. But when this happens it’s often a gamble if it will pan out.

For example, VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) are up and coming technologies however mass adoption by consumers hasn’t happened yet.

There is no “Oasis” when people escape to daily so for a business to invest into VR right now is quite premature.

But conversational marketing in business is following an established pattern of consumer communication.

It’s been nearly four years since the global world decided that messaging peers was the preferred way to communicate.

Now if a business transitions to focus on chatbots conversational marketing, it’s a no brainer that many consumers and prospects will welcome it.

2. Conversations save everybody time. And time is the most important asset

When I first switched from email marketing to Messenger marketing, I the boast was about 50–80% open rates.

Next when I switched from traditional landing pages and ClickFunnels optin pages, I bragged about the engagement I generated with Drift Chatbots.

But now after two and half year, six different platforms, and learning models of conversational marketing…

The biggest benefit is the speed.

And not just the speed of automation.

Conversations bring end users speed when they engage with a company’s Chatbot and get real time solutions, resources and meetings with jumping into email or waiting for nurture emails.

Companies spend less time following up on form fills and unqualified contacts because a properly built bot will filter out the junk.

So I not longer boast about conversion or click-thru rates which the average person will view with skepticism and cynicism.

I know you’ve been burnt before so let’s just look at the time savings.

In addition to focusing on less hyperbolic data, the time focus normally narrows out the wrong type of customer.

People who are needy jump on the bandwagon of crazy open rates, while people who are busy jump on the time saving benefits.

This difference is clientele is night and day too!

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3. One little prediction: Email and Messaging will merge

My last point to why I switched to conversations from email, is that these channels seem to be blending.

I believe in the near future, all platforms of communication will merge or become omni-channel.

In that email and sms and messaging or bots will all work together.

When my favorite email service provider told me they were opening beta access to a chatbot feature I knew it was only a matter of time.

They already had SMS.

They already had email and a type of Messenging.

Even my favorite conversational marketing platform Drift comes with email marketing, sales email, live chat and bots…

It’s only a matter of time for all these channels to work as one.

But when this happens what will be the default context of messaging?

I believe the short and personal message format will be the core skill when this happens.

When you have real time direct access to people, you’ll need to keep everything short and sweet.

And when you can automate these short interactions to hundreds of people at once… the most powerful skill will be having experience in conversational marketing.

Not long, formal email writing.

Conclusion

It’s always a smart idea to communicate with users on their terms and in their marketing channels.

When only 1 or 2 of 10 people read your emails and likewise, when you ignore 80% of your daily emails.

You realize having another communication channels is a very wise thing to do.

Create a Great Day!

Arvell Craig

Arvell Craig is Founder and CEO of Chatbot Funnels — a conversational marketing consultancy that helps businesses turn traffic into conversations and conversations into pre-qualified leads.

Learn more at http://chatbotfunnels.me