November 2nd, 2022  

In this day and age, consumers are confronted with an enormous amount of online ads. Also, consumers’ demands and expectations can rapidly change. So businesses need to change with them. Furthermore, in today’s competitive markets, brands need to be distinctive from their competitors to attract and hold on to consumers. But how are you supposed to differentiate yourself from competitors while meeting the demands of consumers? The answer is conversational ads. In this blog we will dive into the possibilities and benefits of conversational advertising.

What is conversational advertising?

Conversational advertising provides consumers with an engaging and personalized experience through user interaction with or within an ad. On a daily basis, consumers are bombarded with static ads that are designed to appeal to thousands of consumers at once. However, in the current marketing landscape, consumers demand a personal experience. Conversational advertising is designed especially to meet this need. People can start to interact with the ads on their preferred messaging channel. Through automated conversations they can communicate easily with your business and make their ad experience personal. As a result, those thousands of prospects who were targeted each get their very own personal experience. This makes conversational advertising a two-way street instead of the old fashioned, one-way, method using static ads. Conversational ads can take many forms. For example, it can be used in display advertising, in the form of a HTML5 banner, and social media advertising on for instance Instagram and Facebook.

Conversational display advertising

Chances are that you have already implemented display advertising in your marketing strategy. Display marketing has been proven to be an effective way of meeting business goals such as increasing brand awareness. To become, and stay top-of-mind through display ads they really need to stand out. By implementing conversational elements into your display banners, you can make them interactive. Instead of clicking on your display ad, and going to a static landing page, the prospect can give the answers you are looking for within the HTML5 banner. 

A lot of people read the news online nowadays. Imagine you are reading the news from your favorite online news supplier. You are scrolling through the headlines when all of a sudden your eyes fall on an advertisement from your favorite shoe brand. Instead of losing interest and focussing on the news again you see the interactive components. The advertisement gives you the ability to choose which color you like the most and shows you what it would look like on a pair of shoes. All within the ad, without having to leave the news site you are on you now can have a fun and seamless shopping experience.

Not only the rich media solutions make the conversational experience beneficial. Also, businesses can ask for preferences from their potential customers in the HTML5 banners. Therefore, it is not only beneficial to stand out and raise brand awareness, but also to get to know your leads and deliver a high-end personalized experience through advertising. 

Conversational social advertising

Next to display advertising, there are more online advertising possibilities. Social media advertising has conquered a prominent role in the marketing landscape. Consumers are spending more and more time on social media every day. This makes it a great opportunity for businesses to promote themselves through social media. Also, there are many targeting possibilities, it is overall less expensive and advertisers have more control over their spends and reach.

Nevertheless, since regulations have been tightened, it has gotten harder to target the right audience with your message. In addition, the use of third party cookies will soon be history, which will make it even more difficult to target as specific as we used to. But not to worry, conversational social ads can tackle this challenge for you. The user-initiated conversations that arise from Direct Messenger ads make it possible for every business to collect first party data. With this data it becomes easier to target and reach the right audiences for your business.

To draw a picture of what a conversational social ad could look like you can turn to the following example. Here you see an Instagram ad with a button beneath it that says ‘Talk with our assistant’. By clicking on this button the customer will be led to their preferred messaging platform where they can provide input on what they would like their suit to look like and select additional desires. They can then be provided with the best options for them.

Drive conversational social ads and serve your customer on their preferred messenger channel

It is up to you to choose the platforms on which you want to present your ads, and also on which messenger channels you want your customers to be able to interact. With Direct Messenger, you can easily select your preferred platforms. Start the conversation via Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct Messenger or even WhatsApp. Keep in mind, the more messaging channels you include, the wider your range and target audience will be. By providing assistance on your customers’ preferred medium, the experience will become even more convenient for them, which will increase customer satisfaction.

The benefits of conversational advertising

When a potential customer interacts with your advertisement and starts the conversation on a social messaging channel, businesses create a highly engaging experience. Interactions via conversational social ads are user-initiated. This gives you the ability to directly collect your user’s first party data and store this accordingly. Therefore, companies can collect all the preferences and other valuable data from their potential customers. With this data you can target, or retarget, your audiences like never before. This way, prospects become leads and can be soon turned into your most loyal customers.

Deliver a fun and easy customer experience with conversational ads

Direct Messenger for ads will make the conversation fun and easy for every customer, due to the rich media solutions. Using elements like video, list messages and buttons gives the customer a new and easy way to interact. Moreover businesses can gather more specific data about their leads. This gives you the opportunity to build a more accurate profile for your customers. Because of this profile enrichment, you will be able to serve your customers needs better. Therefore, customers will be happier with your business and you will be happier with the outcome. 

The personalized use of conversational AI in conversational ads 

Just like with real life conversation, different answers lead to different outcomes, making it a truly customized experience. Now you might think: But these conversations are artificially constructed, what is personal about that? Well, that’s not exactly the way it works. By implementing rich media like buttons we make sure you have full control over your conversations. Beforehand we construct a bunch of relevant questions accompanied by a number of outcomes people can choose from. This way, you can provide your customers with the information they’re looking for within the boundaries you’ve set yourself.     

Since consumers increasingly demand a personal approach, using conversational advertising is like a shot in the bull’s eye! At Direct Messenger we help you with the perfect conversational flow and dynamic creatives for optimal results.

Discover the possibilities of Direct Messenger for conversational advertising

Well, that is conversational advertising in a nutshell. But now, what about Direct Messenger? We are here to help you with every step of the way regarding conversational advertising. We bring your dialog to life through harnessing the power of authentic conversations at scale, combining this with our state of the art ad solution. We help brands engage with, and activate their target audiences worldwide through the whole process of conversational advertising campaigns. We create, develop and execute conversational campaigns that drive results. Together we will create conversational ads you simply can not resist.

We also offer Conversational Marketing Cloud and Conversational Service Cloud.