There’s no doubt about it, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) makes a direct impact on your revenue. Studies show that companies using ABM generate 200% more revenue for their marketing efforts compared to those that don’t. B2B marketers around the world have bought into the ABM vision; 87% of B2B marketers believe that ABM delivers a higher ROI than other marketing activities.
Although ABM has been around for several years, it still feels like a relatively new concept, and marketers are still striving to perfect their ABM strategies. In this post we’ll explain why Conversational Marketing is a critical engagement and conversion channel for your target accounts, and break down how to build an effective Conversational Marketing program that helps you progress deals with your target accounts.
You get a target account to your website. Now what?
As a marketer, you spend time and money crafting effective marketing campaigns designed to open, mature, or close deals. You start by identifying your list of target accounts, and then you run customized marketing campaigns that will hopefully lead to clicks and website traffic.
When your marketing campaigns perform and a target account arrives on your site, what is the ideal website experience for these VIPs? Is it a “Contact Us” form? No way.
Conversational Marketing enables real-time sales conversations
According to a study done by DemandGen Report, 95% of buyers choose a solution provider that provides them with ample content to help navigate through each stage of the buying process. Conversational Marketing is key to providing a helpful, human, personalized sales experience that results in closed deals.
How does it work? Conversational Marketing opens the door for live sales conversations with your target accounts the moment they land on your site. Commonly known for its live chat and chatbot functionality, Conversational Marketing is built for sales teams and designed to progress deals forward. Conversational Marketing is most effective when used in tandem with your Salesforce-powered ABM strategy and used as a platform to meet with your target accounts.
7 steps to effectively using Conversational Marketing to engage target accounts
So you’re ready to fold Conversational Marketing into your ABM strategy. Where do you begin? Here are the 7 components of an effective Conversational Marketing program for your target accounts.
- Connect to Salesforce Marketing Automation and CRM: Salesforce Marketing Automation and CRM are the foundation for your ABM strategy. You’re likely using Pardot’s Marketing Automation platform to deliver highly personalized experiences and content, and using Sales Cloud to get a clear picture of your target accounts and track deals through the funnel. Once you connect your Conversational Marketing platform to Salesforce, you will automatically know when a target account arrives on your site, and see all marketing engagements and CRM data tied to that account.
- Immediately surface visitors’ ABM data: Automatically pull all relevant ABM data into your Conversational Marketing platform. For instance, you may show things like ABM tier or list out any open opportunities. If you’re using an ABM platform like 6sense, you can also surface that information, showing things like segment, buying stage, or profile fit. By making these data points available to your sales team, they have relevant account information at their fingertips.
- Sound the alarm when target accounts arrive: Run, don’t walk, when your target accounts arrive on your site. Most website visitors stick around for 15 seconds so you don’t want to miss a chance to engage. Configure omni-channel alerts that sound the alarm when target accounts arrive. Popular alerts are voice alerts, Slack alerts, or email alerts that drive immediate action from your sales team.
- Intelligently route conversations: When you can, always greet target accounts with human-led sales conversations over automated chatbots to deliver a white-glove sales experience. Because you’ve connected with Salesforce, you can route conversations to the Salesforce Account Owner or their team of supporting sales reps, if the Account Owner is on the go. Intelligent, Salesforce-powered routing gives sales reps access to the accounts that they care about and guarantees a seamless customer experience.
- Offer hyper-personalized greetings to boost engagement: Show your target accounts that you know them and that you’re excited they’re here. Reference their company name, past conversations, relevant content, or any open opportunities upfront to deliver a personalized, impactful sales experience. A survey done by CEB found that individual stakeholders who perceived vendor content to be tailored to their specific needs were 40% more willing to buy from that vendor than stakeholders who didn’t.
- Optimize conversations for conversion: Go beyond basic live chat for your target accounts to ensure that they receive a premium sales experience. When appropriate, upgrade from a live chat to a voice-call for a high-fidelity sales conversation. Every good sales person knows that it’s all about locking in next steps; invite your prospect to book the next conversation by offering the meeting booker, right inside the messenger. If your sales reps are offline, serve up personalized chatbots to welcome VIPs and book meetings for your reps around the clock.
- Push all conversation data into Salesforce: Automatically log all conversations or meetings booked via conversations in Salesforce so that your reps have a holistic view of every touchpoint with this account. Then build Salesforce reports and dashboards to show how Conversational Marketing is fueling ABM pipeline and revenue.
Qualified is Conversational Marketing for Salesforce Pardot
Salesforce is the foundation of every successful ABM program and Conversational Marketing is a critical strategy to help sales teams engage and convert their most important accounts. Qualified’s Conversational Marketing platform is purpose-built for Salesforce, so you can deliver a Conversational Marketing program that is in lockstep with your CRM and Marketing Automation efforts.
Companies like ThoughtSpot are using Salesforce, Pardot, and Qualified to roll out the ABM red carpet, and you can too. Ready to get started? Visit qualified.com to learn more or talk live with a member of our team.