The holiday seasons are the prime time for ecommerce sales. An omnichannel strategy that uses email and chat marketing may be what you need to give your sales a boost.
According to data shared by WordStream, 80% of holiday shoppers check the web before they make a purchase.
Better yet, a third say that online ads and promotions lead directly to them making holiday purchases.
The point is that the holidays represent one of the strongest sales periods for your ecommerce store.
That leaves a simple question:
Which strategy works best for getting your products in front of more shoppers?
Some may stick with the tried and tested email marketing techniques they’ve used for years. Others may adopt chat marketing in an effort to boost sales.
But what if you could use them together?
The Big Misconception
So many people see chat marketing as a way to replace email marketing. They cite the larger open and response rates to make the claim that email marketing isn’t effective anymore.
That’s not the case.
The big misconception here is that you can only use one or the other.
But the truth is that an omnichannel marketing campaign will get your store in front of more people. Plus, it will help you to guide potential customers through your sales funnel even faster.
The end result?
More sales made faster as a result of combining chat marketing and email.
You just need to know how to do it. Here are four examples that will help you to create a powerful strategy for the holiday seasons.
Example #1 – Collecting Accurate Data Via Chatbot For Use in an Email Campaign
The traditional email marketing campaign goes a little something like this.
You advertise a lead magnet to your target audience. People click on the ad and get prompted to enter their details in a form to get the magnet. Those details go into your CRM and you plug the lead into an automated email campaign.
That’s fine when all of the data’s accurate and up-to-date. But user errors can result in the lead never getting contacted.
Furthermore, many may decide against sending their details across once they see the form they need to fill in.
This is where chat marketing comes in.
With a chatbot, you’re able to gather customer details instantly at the point when they express interest. You can also program your bot to ask leads to confirm the data that they send across.
This means more accurate data and fewer leads getting cold feet. As a result, your email campaigns reach more people, which results in more sales.
Example #2 – Use Chat Marketing to Encourage Email Subscriptions
What happens when somebody comments on a Facebook post?
In most cases, very little happens. You may get new follower who get post updates, and may like your page at some point.
But this moment of engagement you gives you an ideal opportunity to start a conversation.
You can use a chatbot to make contact with the new follower from the moment that they comment.
That bot could then ask the follower if they wish to subscribe to your newsletter. It can even ask about the specific topics that the follower has an interest in.
From there, you can send targeted newsletters via email to move those followers through your funnel. And because you contacted them via chat first, they know that these emails will contain relevant information for them.
This means they’re more likely to open them, which gives you an opportunity to make offers based on their interests.
Example #3 – Lead Nurturing
Many potential customers need a little nurturing before they’ll make a purchase.
When you combine email and chat marketing, you’re able to approach this nurturing on two fronts.
With email, you can send more detailed information over an extended period to keep your audience engaged. For example, you could share valuable insights and content that helps the user remember and trust your brand. You can also use email to share important documents that help with a potential purchase.
With chat marketing, you can be more detailed and spontaneous to a customer’s enquiry. A chatbot can handle FAQ that the customer may have. Plus, you can program it to pick up on words on questions that could trigger a specific conversation flow to solve the customer’s enquiry instantly.
For example, let’s say your ecommerce store sells clothes and you have a customer who has questions about picking a size.
The chatbot could handle the basic questions related to the sizes you have in stock. It could then deliver a size chart as well as a coupon to incentivise a purchase. If the customer doesn’t purchase right away, no harm done. Your chatbot can tag the user in your email program and arrange to send out new season’s lines to re-engage them.
You’re providing information on two fronts, which moves the customer closer to making a purchase.
Example #4 – Creating More Personalised Campaigns
We touched on the importance of personalisation in our second example. Your chatbot can ask about specific topics of interest, which can feed into an email marketing campaign.
And according to data from Infosys, personalisation has a huge effect on buying decisions. In a survey, they found that 59% of people say that receiving personalised information influenced their choices.
BabyCentre UK highlights how this works in practice.
Their chatbot uses Facebook Messenger to quiz parents about their specific needs. It then delivers basic tips and tricks via Messenger while also triggering emails based on those needs.
From there, they can make specific offers based on those pre-identified needs.
Chat marketing allows you to build engagement with a lead long before they receive any emails. You can then use the data collected to ensure they receive targeted emails based on what they tell the bot.
Chat Marketing and Email in Tandem
The main message here is that you don’t have to think in terms of one or the other. While chat marketing is a new and exciting tool, email still has an important place in your marketing strategy for long-term engagement.
And when used together, you’re able to target leads with more relevant information on both channels. Ultimately, that leads to faster lead nurturing and more sales.
The critical piece of this multi-channel approach is keeping your CRM up to date on both channels to enable multiple touchpoints without mixed messages or spammy campaigns.
Beyond Points can help you leverage chat and email to create a powerful omnichannel marketing campaign.
To find out more, message us now to schedule a strategy session.
