If you think handwriting a card took a long time, think about the time it took to receive a response by plane, train … or pony. It may sound cool, but think about how long it took to translate details into morse code. Then the people who brought us email rolled out AIM or instant messenger. Around the same time, SMS texts hit mobile phones everywhere. You can now text your friend all of the essential party details and ???emojis. With each new iteration of technology, our accepted response time has changed — friends make plans faster, families stay closer, and businesses provide answers instantly. In the age of live chat, customers expect conversations to happen how, when, and where they want. What is conversational marketing? Conversational marketing is the ability to have 1:1 personal conversations across multiple channels – meeting customers how, when, and where they want. It is more than just live chat – it extends to phone calls, texts, Facebook Messenger, email, Slack, and more — basically any channel in which a customer wants to communicate with your brand.
How did your grandparents, parents, and younger siblings grow up gossiping about the latest party? I bet they’d all have different answers.
Don’t believe me? Let’s take a trip back in time.
First, we sent letters. If you think handwriting a card took a long time, think about the time it took to receive a response by plane, train … or pony.
The 1800s brought many new technologies, including the telegraph. It may sound cool, but think about how long it took to translate details into morse code. I’ll give you a hint: .. – / – — — -.- / .- / .-.. — -. –. / – .. — ..-.-.-
Years later, the fax machine allowed us to send messages and images over telephone lines. Unfortunately, the earliest machines cost tens of thousands of dollars, and you still had to create a hard copy of your message.
Then came “leave a message after the beep” … voicemail. We’ve all put off listening to that 3-minute long message. It’s easy to ignore or it can be the start of an endless game of phone “tag”.
After voicemail came “you’ve got mail.” While revolutionary, inboxes quickly became overwhelmed. Your thoughtful email lay forgotten under a pile of spam and promotional messages.
Then the people who brought us email rolled out AIM or instant messenger. As the name implies, this was the first instant messaging service. Except your friends weren’t always online. Sometimes their away message was set to Outkast lyrics. Shake it like a Polaroid picture, anyone?
Around the same…
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