From clicks to conversations: How Hagens is driving retail success with conversational marketing

Conversational marketing traces back to the early days of the Internet when businesses started using chatbots and conversational interfaces to connect with customers in real-time.

However, it wasn’t until the rise of social media and messaging apps that conversational marketing started to take off.

We sat down with Leo del Castillo, the Chief Innovation Officer at Hagens, a leading Martech company in Brazil, to discuss the benefits of incorporating conversational marketing in retail.

Castillo shares insights on how chat apps are taking center stage in conversational experiences, some best practices for conversational marketing, and how retailers can build conversational journeys that drive business success and lasting loyalty.

Watch the full interview here:

Customers seek conversational experiences. They want to be able to have personalized interactions with a brand to help them choose the product they’re looking for rather than completing a transaction.

Conversational marketing combines human conversations, like live chat or messaging, with AI interactions such as chatbots and triggered messages. The goal is to provide customers with immediate and contextually relevant information.

When they can engage in a conversation with a brand through chatbots, messaging apps, or other communication channels, they feel heard, understood, and valued.

This type of interaction removes friction from the customer journey, builds customer trust and loyalty and improves overall satisfaction with the business.

Implementing conversational marketing use cases is not only beneficial for your customers but comes with massive business benefits for your brand.

Here are five key benefits of conversational marketing for retailers:

Conversational marketing allows retailers to have real-time conversations with their audience, leading to higher engagement levels.

By responding to queries promptly and providing personalized recommendations, brands can build a stronger connection with their customers.

Customers appreciate the convenience of being able to ask questions and get instant answers, which can lead to higher satisfaction levels.

By offering personalized recommendations and assistance, businesses can improve the overall customer experience.

Conversational marketing can help retailers move potential customers through the sales funnel more quickly.

By providing timely information and addressing concerns in real time, businesses can speed up the decision-making process and convert leads into customers faster.

Conversational marketing provides businesses with valuable insights into customer preferences and behaviors.

By analyzing the conversations that take place, brands can gain a better understanding of their target audience and tailor their marketing strategies accordingly.

Conversational marketing allows retailers to deliver personalized messages and recommendations to each individual customer.

By understanding customer preferences and behaviors, businesses can create more targeted and effective marketing campaigns.

Ultimately, the goal of conversational marketing is to drive sales and increase revenue. For Hagens, incorporating conversational marketing means streamlining the customer journey by assisting customers in product selection, answering questions, and providing relevant information across the entire sales funnel.

This has helped them understand their clients more, leading to higher conversion rates and increased sales.

Traditionally, customer communication with retailers was mainly done over voice call centers, email, or in-person interactions. These channels and solutions are not ideal for collecting data and reaching out to customers because of:

Chat apps have become the center of conversational experiences because of their ease of use, popularity, and widespread adoption. In our latest messaging trends report, we found that chat apps are the most commonly used channel for conversational use cases.

They are ideally suited as their native features compliment and enrich person-to-person communication.

With messaging channels like WhatsApp, Viber, or Messenger customers can easily contact a brand at the most convenient time for them, get an immediate response, and solve their issues with ease.

Chat apps can help retailers:

Chat apps are a great way for Hagens to personalize their communication with customers. They’re the next step in customer experience evolution, focusing on personalization and convenience.

In Brazil, 99% of the population uses WhatsApp, said Del Castillo. It’s all about making interactions more tailored, personalized and convenient for everyone involved.

Building a successful conversational marketing strategy takes time and attention to detail. Just like Rome wasn’t built in a day, your strategy won’t come together overnight. To truly stand out, focus on the little things and aim for long-term success.

For Hagens, customer centricity is a key aspect in building a successful conversational marketing strategy. They understand how important it is for businesses to prioritize the needs and preferences of their customers in order to effectively engage and build lasting relationships.

Conversational marketing does that and much more. By engaging with customers in real time, whether through chatbots, emails, and other conversational channels, retailers can gather valuable insights, create a more seamless shopping experience, and ultimately increase sales.

Here are some best practices for implementing conversational marketing in retail:

Before implementing conversational marketing, it’s important to understand your customer’s journey and where they are most likely to engage with your brand.

Identify key touchpoints along the customer journey where conversational marketing can be implemented to provide value and assistance.

Personalization is key in conversational marketing. Use customer data to tailor the conversation to their preferences, interests, and past interactions with your brand.

Personalized messages and recommendations can help increase customer engagement and loyalty.

Chatbots are an essential tool in conversational marketing, but it’s important to use them wisely. Make sure your chatbots are well-designed, well-trained, user-friendly, and provide helpful responses to customer inquiries.

Consider implementing a hybrid approach that integrates both rule-based chatbots and AI chatbots or conversational support for a more personalized experience.

Customers expect quick and relevant responses to their questions and concerns. Make sure your conversational AI solution is equipped to provide timely responses, whether it’s automated or through live chat support.

AI chatbots can help you analyze customer queries and provide accurate, personalized and helpful responses.

As you implement conversational marketing in retail, it’s important to gather feedback from customers and analyze the effectiveness of your strategies. Use customer feedback to make improvements and adjustments to your conversational marketing strategy to better meet customer needs and drive sales.

With a comprehensive view of every customer that includes both personal and transactional data, you can identify purchase cycles and use conversational tactics to engage with customers at key times when they are close to making a repeat purchase or renewing a contract.

Conversational marketing shouldn’t exist in a silo. Integrate your conversational solution with other channels, such as email marketing, social media, and in-store promotions, to create a cohesive and omnichannel experience for your customers. Make sure the messaging is consistent across all channels to provide a seamless shopping experience.

With the right tools and strategies in place, conversational marketing can help retailers stand out in a competitive market and build stronger relationships with their customers.

However, choosing a reliable conversational solution that integrates easily with your systems is only half the battle. The other half involves effectively implementing and managing it, which can be challenging without the right expertise on your team

And that’s when partnering with a communication technology provider becomes essential.

The future of digital interactions is conversational, channel-agnostic, and hyper-personalized. And just as customers expect frictionless end-to-end journeys on channels of their choice —retailers seek similar experiences in their efforts to deliver on that expectation.  

Partnering with the right communication technology provider is key in helping you embrace these trends to stay ahead of the curve and meet the growing needs of your tech-savvy customers.

Our partnership with Hagens enables retailers to plug in the tools and capabilities needed to build and deploy chatbots, personalize messaging, and analyze customer data in real time.

With the right mix of conversational channels, such as WhatsApp, Messenger, RCS, Viber, and more, retailers can deliver a seamless and personalized experience, drive higher engagement, and build a long-term conversational marketing strategy. 

We can help you reach customers at all touchpoints across their journey on any channel, all from a single intuitive interface, equipped with:

From simple use cases to the most complex conversational scenarios, all can be built over your customers’ favorite digital channels.

Combining our tech expertise and Hagens’ marketing experience, we can ensure a successful integration of conversational marketing into your communication stack. Just plug in and play.