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Notes, Tips, & Stories from a real crack team.

Who’s the hero of your customer’s story?

If you answered anything other than “they are”, hear me out, this is going to change the way you see marketing everywhere you go.

There’s been a lot of talk about UX lately and meeting customers where they’re at in their journey, but what does that really mean? We need to cut through all of the noise out there and speak to the customers in a way that produces results. It’s about telling a story, a hero’s journey story, the most common type of story ever told. It’s about telling a story with a happy ending, where the customer is transformed and As a business owner, you’ve got enough on your plate. You’ve spent a great deal of time crafting your mission statement and crystallizing your values and now you want to share it with the world and let the people see how you are the business to solve their problems.

The problem is, people don’t actually want you to be their hero. The fact is, we are all the heroes of our own story, and your customers are no exception. Often brands, especially new brands with something to prove, champion themselves and their products as being the best, but that’s missing a huge opportunity. By clearing up their message these brands can connect with their customers on a deeper level and increase their conversions. How do you begin? Back to the story of the hero. What’s one thing that every hero’s journey includes, something that the hero would not be able to succeed without?

The answer is a guide. Would Luke have become a Jedi without Yoda? When a brand looks at themselves as a guide to the customer, something changes. The customer now feels supported by the brand and they can look to them for help solving their problems. On a subconscious level, the customer is no longer competing with the brand to be the hero of the story. To be the Yoda to your customers, you want to show them that you understand what it’s like to experience the problems they’re having, and that you have what it takes to show them a way out.

Give them a plan to make it easy for them to sign-up or get on board. Tell them how this plan will help them avoid failure and end in success. This is how we write the happy ending everyone wants to hear. The hero (customer) is having a problem and encounters a guide (your brand) that shows them a way to solve their problems and come out on the other side of it transformed.

If you would like to have a conversation about how to make your brand a powerful guide to your customers, schedule a free brainstorm with us!

Why You Need Your Own Chatbot

It’s 2019. Your business should already have a chatbot, or at least be thinking about one.

Smart Home Technology

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that robots are among us and assist in ways we could have only imagined a decade ago. From Roomba to Alexa, your smart home gadgets are probably linked together in their own technological ecosystem, managing some of your most tedious tasks for you. It’s safe to say robots aren’t going anywhere and, in fact, the smart home industry is poised to hit $490 Billion by 2019.

Cohabitation with helpful robots in our physical space, seeing and experiencing them complete everyday tasks, is one thing. Can you say “Alexa, order me more dog food?” Yet, it’s quite another to consider them in the digital realm, where the impact bot software is having isn’t quite as obvious.

Chatbot 101

Did you know that two-thirds of worldwide consumers have interacted with chatbot technology for customer service support in the last year? Chatbots are helping brands across industries acquire and convert more leads than they’ve seen with other marketing efforts in years, especially with other marketing channels like email or print advertising.

Instant Gratification Customer Service

Let’s get real, nobody wants to fill out forms for a free download or a trial offer anymore. Instead, we crave quick, to the point interaction with immediate responses. Customers want an immediate response that delivers value AND conveys your brand promise with a smile, 24 hours a day. Sound impossible? Well it’s not. It’s actually easier than ever for your business to tailor your customer’s experience with an engaging and fun online concierge or... chatbot.

Email Fatigue

Have you heard of email fatigue? Maybe not, but I’m guessing you definitely know what it feels like. Do you ever check your email by scanning your inboxes for the gems buried in the tome of quasi-spam and questionable offers?

Blame that feeling on modern marketing. In this article from thinkgrowth.org, they discuss how marketers have “scorched the earth” when it comes to the email inbox. Marketers have spammed us all to the brink of deleting our email addresses altogether. If only it was that easy. If only we could start fresh with a new channel, uncompromised by the erosion of trust...enter chatbots.

The Future of Digital Marketing

By the year 2020, chatbots will govern 85% of all customer service interactions. The implications are huge for the majority of small businesses owners I know. Around that same time, 80% of businesses will require some form of chatbot automation to remain relevant within current digital marketing.

What You Need to Know

Some of the most tech savvy businesses I work with are just now learning about ways to interact with existing customers on this level. Surprising isn’t it? Now, what does this mean for your business? It means that you should be translating your most common customer interactions into natural language and designing conversion paths that make sense to your customer.

Businesses that do not lay the groundwork for this type of automation will be left behind as their competitors save loads on labor and tedious customer service activities. Set yourself up for success by starting now and getting the framework set for the very near future, where it will be common to use AI, voice commands, and automation to handle the bulk of your customer service workload.

Familiarity is Your Friend

Did you know 60% of US online adults already use online messaging, vice, or video chat services?

Another way chatbots outperform their companion channels do is open the door to a newfound level of trust with customers because they engage them in a familiar place where they are already communicating with their peers. This means the messages are noticed quicker, read faster, and convert at a much higher rate. Facebook already touts 1.4 billion active users who send over 2 billion messages a month. These numbers are going to continue to climb while emails aren’t showing any dramatic improvements.

By the Numbers

Consider this, email open rates are around 27% across industries, if you’re lucky and actual click through and conversion rates are much lower.

This means that if you spend $1,000 for 1,000 impressions in an email inbox, 270 people will open it (from the 27% of 1000 impressions) and your average cost per impression is $3.70 per person.

Yet if you spend $1,000 for the same 1,000 impressions on Facebook Messenger for example, your cost per person impression goes down to $1.11 per person. That’s because the open rates on apps like messenger are 80-90% across industries. When you compare the prospect of paying $3.70 per impression to $1.11 per impression, it’s a no brainer. Who wouldn’t want to cut their cost per impression by more than 2/3rd’s.

Want Your Own Chatbot?

The digital landscape is changing. If you want to be a part of the first wave to serve your customers in this way, before your competitors catch on, contact one of our and start saving time and connecting with your customers in the best new digital way possible.

If you or your competitors are already using one, we’d love to hear about it! Drop us a note: support@wayaheadventures.com

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