Everything You Need to Know about Conversational Ads for Ecommerce
Find out in this post how you should craft your brand’s Conversational ads strategy.
What if you could make your ads feel like conversations with your customers?
Imagine being able to talk to your customers like they were sitting right next to you. Imagine being able to respond to their questions, address their concerns, and give them what they need when they need it. Imagine getting rid of the impersonal nature of advertising—and actually connecting with your prospects.
Conversational advertising is a way to reach consumers in a more authentic and engaging way.
Conversational advertising is an approach that lets you talk directly with your audience through ads that feel like real conversations between two people. It allows you to engage in dialogue with your customers and build trust by showing them that you know what they need and care about their interests.
It’s not about interrupting people with a billboard but rather taking your brand’s voice and placing it into the conversation exactly where it belongs.
In this post, we’ll walk you through what conversational advertising is and why it’s so important.
We’ll also discuss how brands can use conversational ads to make their customers feel heard and valued, while also increasing brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.
What are Conversational ads?
With the exponential growth of chatbots, brands are looking for ways to reach their customers.
Conversational advertising is the new frontier for brands looking to impact their audiences. It’s no wonder that brands are turning to this channel, as consumers are spending more time on messaging apps than ever before.
Conversational ads run within messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, and We Chat (to name a few), and they allow users to interact directly with your brand.
By using conversational ads, you can:
- Help people buy what they want faster by making it easier for them to navigate a store or find the product they want.
- Provide personalised recommendations based on previous purchases or browsing behaviour.
- Allow customers to place orders directly from within Messenger (or any other messaging app) at scale without having to download an app or create accounts first!
Conversational advertising is an immersive experience where your customers can interact with your brand in a way that feels natural—making it easy for them to learn more about what you offer.
Using Conversational advertising, brands can reach customers on a more personal level by providing them with information and content in an engaging way.
It’s not pushy or sales-y, but instead creates a connection between your company and your customer and provides value to them in the form of useful information and entertainment.
Here’s how BMW creates an automotive conversational ad to hook in a user with features-
Some more examples of conversational advertising can be:
- A brand sending you a message about an upcoming sale that you might be interested in based on your browsing history.
- A brand sending you a message about a new product they think you’ll love because they know you like similar products.
- A brand recommending local restaurants they think would fit your tastes based on their knowledge of what kinds of food you enjoy eating at home.
- A brand answering one of your questions or concerns directly on social media (or even in person).
This is a great opportunity for brands to be seen as friendly and approachable, rather than invasive and overly promotional. It also gives brands the chance to connect with their customers in a more meaningful way than traditional advertising does.
If you’re entirely new to conversational commerce, we recommend reading this article: What is conversational commerce and how is it different from traditional selling?
Why should Ecommerce Brands use Conversational Ads?
In a time when people are more connected than ever, brands can no longer afford to be one-way communicators. Consumers are interested in brands that are authentic and accessible—they want to feel like they’re part of a community, not just a consumer.
Conversational experiences are more engaging and appealing than traditional web and app interfaces, which means that they’re more likely to generate leads and sales for your business. These experiences can take different shapes and be launched in different channels, going from chatbots and intelligent assistants to social media platforms and website pages.
The best part? Creating them as part of your online advertising campaigns not only provides a more engaging and appealing journey for your prospect, but also increases the return on your advertising investment.
As Conversational Ads evolve, brands can connect with their customers in real-time with hyper-personalized ads that speak directly to their needs and desires. At the same time, they can use this technology for good: by helping people find what they need when they need it most—and by providing information that helps them make better decisions.
For example, let’s say you’re a brand selling shoes. Instead of just having a regular ad where someone talks about how great your shoes are, you could have an ad where they actually talk to you while they’re wearing them—maybe even ask you questions about what kind of shoes you’re looking for, or if you have any specific problems with current pairs of shoes.
The more personal and helpful your conversation with the customer is, the more likely they will come back.
How can Brands get Started with Conversational Advertising?
If you’re a brand looking to get started with conversational advertising, the first thing you need to do is figure out who you’re targeting.
Then, you need to come up with a clear message and strategy.
Take advantage of the technology that’s available at your fingertips: chatbots, voice assistants, and other AI-enabled solutions. You can use them to engage in real-time conversations with customers and turn them into loyal followers.
The key is making sure that your messaging resonates with your audience by speaking their language, providing them with relevant information, and offering them something of value. That way, they’ll keep coming back for more!
Identify your Audience
Conversational advertising is all about connecting with your audience and building a relationship, so it’s important to know who they are. Your customer base might be different depending on the product or service you’re selling.
For example, if you’re selling an e-commerce platform that helps small business owners manage their inventory, you’ll want to find out what industry they work in and what their needs are.
If you’re selling an app that allows people to create video content with their pets, then you’ll want to know what kinds of pets people have and how they use them—and whether they’d consider using an app like yours.
Who do you want to talk with? What are they interested in? What do they care about? Answering these questions will help you determine what kind of content is most likely to resonate with them and also give you a better understanding of how they talk—and why they talk that way.
Define your Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a fictional character who represents your brand’s target audience. It’s important for brands to have specific buyer personas because it allows them to tailor their messaging accordingly, which makes it more effective and helps them reach their goals faster.
Once you’ve identified your audience, create a buyer persona based on their
- Demographic information (age range, gender),
- Psychographic information (values and interests), and
- Behavioural information (what they do online).
You can even use surveys or interviews to get more specific information about each person’s needs, wants, and desires for what your brand has to offer.
The more detailed this profile is, the better equipped you’ll be when creating content that resonates with these individuals!
Take a Look at the Current Landscape of Conversational Advertising
There are many different types of conversations happening on social media platforms today (some brands are using Instagram Stories, while others might be using Snapchat), so it’s important for brands to know what’s out there before they start developing their own content strategy.
Develop an effective strategy that fits into your overall marketing plan.
This can be as simple as creating a list of things you would like your brand to be known for and then developing a creative concept around one of those points. You can also look at current trends in the marketplace, like conversational commerce or chatbots, and see if there’s any way those could be incorporated into your strategy.
It’s important that the content you publish fits into your overall marketing plan, so make sure that it’s integrated with other kinds of content (like blog posts or emails), or else it might get lost in translation between channels.
9 Conversational Advertising Strategies to Improve your Ad’s Performance
When it comes to conversational advertising, there are a lot of strategies you can use to boost your results. Here are 9 conversational advertising strategies that can dramatically increase your results:
- Use customer-centred language
This means speaking to your audience in a way that feels like they’re talking to an old friend. It’s not about you; it’s about them. Use words like “you,” “your,” and “we” to make the connection between you and your audience.
- Get personal
Show how the product or service has made an impact on someone’s life and how it will make a difference in the lives of your customers too.
- Talk about a real person’s experience, not yours!
Instead of saying, “You’ll love this new product,” say, “Here’s what [real person] thought after using our product.”
- Always use a call-to-action (CTA)
Make sure it’s easy for people to respond—provide an email address or phone number that is visible in the ad itself so users can click on it easily and quickly respond to your message without having to go through additional steps before contacting you directly (which increases their likelihood of responding positively).
- Make your message relevant to the user’s needs and interests.
Finding out what your audience wants is critical to the success of your conversational advertising campaign. It’s important that you understand their needs and interests, but it’s equally important that they feel like they’re getting a tailored experience.
- Make it easy to respond
Provide an email address or phone number (and make sure it’s visible in the ad).
- Don’t be afraid to use humor!
Humor is a great way to connect with customers who would otherwise be on the fence about buying from you.
- Be consistent!
Consistently creating effective ads will help build trust with customers over time.
- Use social media as an opportunity for two-way communication
When you communicate with customers, don’t just use one-way sales pitches or advertising campaigns.
How is Automation Helping Brands Scale Conversational Advertising?
Brands are using automation to scale their conversational advertising strategies in a number of ways.
Automation is helping brands scale conversational advertising by allowing them to quickly and easily set up and manage thousands of conversations at once, across platforms, and in real-time.
Automating these conversations allows brands to scale their marketing efforts without hiring dozens of people to manually manage their digital channels. This means that they can do more with less, which is especially important when you consider that many brands are already struggling with tight budgets.
By automating their messaging, companies can respond better to customer inquiries, provide useful information about new products or services, and collect valuable data about their user’s needs and preferences—all while saving money on labour costs!
Another way automation helps brands scale their conversational advertising strategies is by automating the collection and analysis of data. Automated systems can collect data from a variety of sources, which means that brands can get a more holistic view of customer sentiment and behaviour than they would be able to if they were relying on manual methods alone.
Transform your Online Advertising Game
Conversational advertising is the future of marketing. It’s a way for brands to reach their customers in a more natural and personalised way, without being intrusive or coming off as overly salesy. But it requires a lot of work to make it work properly, especially if you’re managing multiple campaigns at once.
That’s where LimeChat comes in.
LimeChat is a full-service, conversational AI platform that allows brands to scale their conversational marketing efforts. We’re an all-in-one platform for conversational advertising that enables automated campaign management, so you can focus on what really matters: creating great content!
Our platform helps brands scale conversational advertising by handling everything from creating ads and managing campaigns to measuring results and optimising performance.
Our automated system can handle millions of conversations per day with ease, which allows us to help you scale rapidly as your business grows.
Looking to turn around your online advertising game with conversational ads? Book a free demo with LimeChat today!