(An edited version of this article will be published in the Los Altos Town Crier in December 2020)
The extended pandemic calls for businesses to invest in online tools that will enable them to engage with existing and prospective customers in more effective manners. Today, businesses not only need to have functional websites, they also need their websites to be ready in understanding their customers’ browsing behaviors, and responding to live inquiries instantly, without long delays that could turn prospects away.
That’s where marketing automation comes in – an enabling tool that engages with visitors who come to your website and have a way to identify their interest level. Then direct them to the right places to get answers and help, and move them along their buying journey.
Enhancing User Experience
With consumers having more conversations online via websites and social media channels, marketing automation tools on your website need to be multi-faceted beyond live chat. Depending on what stage of the buying cycle that your customers are in, some may feel more comfortable if they can choose how they want to engage with your brand. For example, someone who is still searching for solutions may want to watch a demo video instead of being pushed to chat to a representative right away. While others may be beyond their initial searches, and are ready to ask hard questions comparing a short list that they already have in mind.
There are many website marketing automation tools that do well in engaging with customers. Ones who can help businesses achieve greater results take into consideration of using technology that involves artificial intelligence and live human interaction to solve simple to complex issues.
Livehelp, Acquire, and ZyraTalk are a few SaaS marketing automation tools that I’ve researched and studied. Each varies in flavor based on their offerings and types of customers that they are serving. Among the three, I’ve had the best experience with ZyraTalk because they filtered my chat conversation and learned questions that I asked were beyond what a typical bot could do. They directed me to connect with a live human if needed. That’s how I was connected to their Chief Marketing Officer, Bradley Scruggs, for further exploration of their tool.
Going Beyond Live Chat
ZyraTalk is a game changer in the SaaS marketing automation space. Their platform automates webchat, Facebook Messenger conversations, and SMS conversations with 95% of them fully managed by AI-based technology. Once a conversation is completed, a customer service representative of the business using ZyraTalk can come in and take care of major issues.
“We help businesses engage with prospects the first time they set foot on a website, using our AI-powered webchat. After a business completes a job, messaging goes out to the customer to capture a review. It may seem that the relationship would end there, it doesn’t,” said Bradley. “We’ve taken a step further to keep customers continuously engaged with the business even after a job is done. Automated messaging goes out on behalf of the business allowing them to stay top of mind and strengthen trust with their customers over time, which could eventually lead to incremental sales.”
According to Bradley, ZyraTalks’ larger goal is to help companies be more efficient, by allowing them to offload their engagement with customers using an omnichannel AI-based platform. This helps a business’ employees so they can redirect their energy in additional revenue-generation roles.
Companies, however, are still responsible for all of their marketing efforts. “ZyraTalk’s webchat has proven to increase online lead conversions significantly.” said Bradley. “One notable customer story is that we’ve helped a $20 million home-service company increase their online revenue by $400K, from that of previous year. This is one of our many success stories.”
Recently, ZyraTalk has expanded their Growth Engine beyond chat to include additional product offerings with review automation and re-engaging with past customers, which have already proven to be a big game changer for their customers.
ZyraTalk powers thousands of local businesses nationwide. They are keen about helping local services companies in Silicon Valley get better business results. “We plan on ramping up our marketing efforts in early 2021, specifically in the Silicon Valley area, because customers in this area are naturally more excited about the technology,” said Bradley.
For more information about ZyraTalk, visit www.zyratalk.com
