Traditional marketing channels such as call centres, SMSs and emails are being put on mute by consumers, fatigued by the constant and incessant marketing spam they experience every day.
There is no logical reason for businesses to continue hammering the dead horse of traditional marketing channels that only result in the 30-40 per cent lead retention. Businesses are losing time, losing money and losing customers.
Despite this, marketers continue pouring more and more leads into top-of-funnel activity through traditional contact methods that cannot be innovated any further but still hope for better outcomes. The result is that consumers continue rejecting all their calls out of suspicion that it is marketing spam.
“However, while call centres still have a place in omnichannel marketing strategies, their role in this function must be adjusted to meeting the customer on their terms, instead of trying to force the customer to accommodate the marketer. Business strategies must be realigned to developments in technology that have changed customer behaviour, and while convenience is expected, it must always be on the customer’s terms and time. Businesses need to put the customer at the centre of the organisation and build an ecosystem around them,” says Jonathan Elcock, Co-founder and CEO at Rather.chat.
WhatsApp AI-powered smartbots have been at the frontline of the wave of innovation that has revolutionised sales into the digital century where businesses who have adopted them are now experiencing 60-70 per cent retention of leads they put into the top of the sales funnel, demonstrating how the platform has become the new digital marketing place solution, connecting buyers with sellers.
Elcock added that “customers are now spending much of their time on WhatsApp. It is the most preferred convenient means of communication due its 24/7 availability, and is therefore a no-brainer to think twice about engaging customers there.”
Besides demanding more convenience, the digital century customer is also demanding instant gratification. Customers are more likely to abandon their efforts if the call-to-action function on your businesses’s Facebook page links them to a call centre or email address. The thought of waiting on the line for ‘the next available agent’ or not knowing when they will get a response to their email is demoralising.
“Additionally, research shows that 87% of customers are unlikely to move from Facebook page to a website through the call-to-action function to browse for further answers. Businesses have a two minute window of opportunity to keep the customer engaged when moving them from one platform to the other,” says Elcock.
The opposite happens when potential customers are linked to a WhatsApp smartbot with the capabilities to provide answers to any of their questions almost immediately, just like one would have a conversation with ChatGPT, and where the customer has control of the pace of the sale process. Further research shows that the average customer wants to ask two to three questions before proceeding to a final purchase. It is in this stage that a new lead is sourced and can be linked to a call centre with a human touch for the final sale conversion, underpinning the argument that newer technologies can complement traditional methods.
“With the latest POPI regulations that place the increased responsibility on the marketer to get consent from the customer before sending them marketing content, and the development of a national opt-out registry that marketers would have to consult before contacting a customer, traditional methods are losing their effectiveness.”
Elcock concluded that “outdated marketing channels alone are draining resources and stunts growth. Embracing new innovations not only meets the modern customer’s expectations for speed and convenience but also redefines sales strategies for higher lead retention and smarter conversions.”
