{"id":24235,"date":"2020-07-28T09:59:11","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T08:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/?p=24235"},"modified":"2023-03-06T16:18:45","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T16:18:45","slug":"conversational-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/conversational-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"Your next wave of growth will come from conversational relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"

No one ever starts a business intending to provide a poor customer experience. But until recently, technological limitations meant that we, as business leaders, faced an impossible choice as our companies grew. Either stay personal with customers or get efficient.<\/p>\n

Staying personal meant offering expensive services that aren\u2019t scalable like 1:1 phone calls or 24\/7 real-time chat. Efficiency meant deflecting customer interactions through impersonal forms and \u201cdo not reply\u201d emails.<\/p>\n

Monumental shifts in customer expectations over the last few years mean we can no longer choose between personal experiences and efficiency. Customers now expect both. They want fast and personal experiences from all brands, big and small. From a 2018 Salesforce<\/a> survey, 80% percent of customers say that the experience a company provides is as important as its products or services; 57% have stopped buying from a company because a competitor provided a better experience.<\/p>\n

Companies who fail to meet these new, higher expectations will lose many of their best customers \u2013 something no business can afford to do.<\/p>\n

“Monumental shifts in customer expectations mean we can no longer choose between personal experiences and efficiency”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I joined Intercom three years ago because I saw how our business messenger gave companies a way out of this dilemma. The messenger helps companies create a conversational customer experience that stays personal and efficient even as their business grows. In turn customers are rewarding these businesses by buying more, staying loyal, and recommending their solutions to others.<\/p>\n

The move towards building customer relationships in this way is gaining such incredible momentum that we\u2019ve given it a new name here at Intercom. We\u2019re calling it \u201cconversational relationships.\u201d Conversational relationships are not just for companies who are early adopters. In a world where customers can readily switch brands, all companies need to invest in customer relationships and the best way to do that is to shift to conversational relationships. It\u2019s a must have, a matter of survival. If you don\u2019t, your competitors will and many already are. Let me explain why.<\/p>\n

Customers expect conversational experiences<\/h2>\n

The number one reason why companies need to adopt a conversational approach is simple: customers expect it<\/strong>. 80% of consumers are more likely to do business<\/a> with a company that offers a personal experience, something made much more possible with a messenger.<\/p>\n

Think about the last time you connected with a friend \u2013 it was most likely through a text or other messaging apps, especially during this time of social distancing. These apps make communication feel friendly, quick, easy, and even fun.<\/p>\n

\"Global<\/p>\n

As messaging apps become dominant in our everyday work and home lives, it makes sense that they\u2019re changing the way businesses and their customers interact. According to Nielsen research, people increasingly expect to interact with brands through messengers<\/a>. 53% of people say they are more likely to shop with a business they can contact through a chat app.<\/p>\n

Emails and forms won\u2019t do. Messengers are the obvious choice for businesses looking to deliver personal and conversational customer experiences.<\/p>\n

Business messengers are built for scale<\/h2>\n

Not only do businesses need to invest in conversational customer experiences, but they also need ways to make those experiences scalable. As they grow, staying personal with customers is critical, but it\u2019s unrealistic and too expensive for most companies to have as many employees as customers just to keep up.<\/p>\n

Business messengers make scale possible by enabling conversational experiences that don\u2019t require human-to-human interactions at all times. <\/strong>They use self-service, bots, and automation to instantly answer customers’ common questions and provide support when your team is busy or out of the office.<\/p>\n

Although you\u2019re not chatting with a human, these experiences still feel personal because they\u2019re fast and relevant. Oftentimes when customers reach out for information or help, they don\u2019t care if the answer comes from a human or from a virtual assistant like a bot. What\u2019s more important to them is that the answer resolves their question accurately and quickly, with as little effort on their part as possible.<\/p>\n