Conversational marketing is based on two major facts: on the one hand, customers share their purchasing experience with their community, and on the other, consumers need to be convinced and reassured by their peers. The prodigious expansion of social networks over the last decade and the advent of the smartphone have led to greater interaction between consumers and an increase in the digital content produced by brands. To better understand their customers’ needs, companies are investing even more in conversational marketing. However, the profound changes that conversational marketing has undergone in terms of both uses and tools have given rise to new challenges that companies need to take on board.

Customer content at the centre of attention

At the heart of conversational marketing, consumer opinions are the object of a particular appetite on the part of companies, which want more and more of them. They even create events to collect customer feedback, which they then transform into digital content. The aim is for brands to adopt an “earned media” approach, taking advantage of free exposure on digital tools. Companies then have to manage, compile and moderate this content.

The advent of the multi-connected consumer

While a few years ago showrooming (buying on the internet after having been in a shop) gave rise to fears for physical shops, it turned out that digital technology was actually more conducive to the act of buying. Unless the price difference is significant, customers will not leave the shop to buy via another channel. The content produced by conversational marketing has become essential information for consumers. Providing the best possible access to all the digital tools capable of delivering content becomes a key challenge for businesses, both in terms of customer conversion and customer loyalty.

The omnipresence of consumer opinions

Whereas consumer reviews used to be confined to the very end of product sheets, today they are displayed on home pages, newsletters, etc. and even in shops. With the rise of conversational marketing, they are becoming real selling points, like recommendations, put forward by companies. Customer feedback is essential because it reassures customers and lends credibility to the brand’s message.

The discussion between brands and customers

These days, the changes in conversational marketing have introduced exchanges and not just unilateral opinions. Brands respond to customers on the various digital channels. They solicit and challenge them as part of an ongoing dialogue that allows them to listen and respond in real time to their customers’ concerns. Some companies even offer customers the chance to earn points for their comments. Faced with this emergence of customer communities, brands that create fake consumer reviews from scratch will immediately find themselves discredited.

Even if the risk of bad buzz does exist, companies owe it to themselves to invest in conversational marketing in order to strengthen their customer relations. Nevertheless, brand communication operations are constantly changing, and the integration of consumer opinions and digital content must adapt to the new challenges.

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