December 2018 Summaries

In sales, building rapport with leads in real-time is crucial, and live chat presents a unique challenge. Storytelling can help establish trust by communicating value in ways that people respond to, particularly for B2B buyers who value emotional connections. To tell effective stories in live chat, it's essential to adopt a conversational tone, take a genuine interest in the prospect's business, and share real customer case studies that personalize their success. By doing so, salespeople can transform back-and-forth exchanges into meaningful relationships, engage prospects in an authentic way, and prove the value of their product by sharing stories of customers who have achieved success with it.

Intercom, a product and company, experienced extraordinary growth in 2018, with hundreds of new features, hundreds of new hires, and the opening of a new office in Sydney. Inside Intercom, the publication, also grew, adding new editors, redesigning its platform, and investing in social and video content. The company's journey from startup to scale-up was shared through various articles, including perspectives on growth, design, product management, marketing, support, sales, engineering, and more. Intercom published three books and a podcast, producing 49 episodes, and built several microsites to shed light on its learnings. Looking ahead, the company is committed to giving customers what they need and making them successful, with plans for new resources in 2019.

For online businesses, a personalized, quick and low friction experience is key to customer satisfaction. Live chat channels are highly preferred by customers for getting answers to their questions. Enabling live chat can be just as much a vehicle for sales as it is for customer service, with stats showing that website visitors who chat are 82% more likely to convert to customers. Many consumer businesses are turning to Intercom to help build personal relationships with their customers and drive sustainable growth. Companies like Elegant Themes, Fireclay Tile, and LetsGetChecked are using live chat in innovative ways to offer personalized customer experiences, drive sales, and reduce support costs. By proactively engaging potential customers through Visitor Auto Messages, these businesses can capitalize on their customer's intent to learn more, exactly at the right moment. Intercom provides a platform for businesses to attribute which marketing campaigns and sales reps are driving conversions through live chat, allowing them to make data-driven decisions and scale their sales teams effectively. With Intercom, companies like Elegant Themes are converting 25% of leads to paid subscriptions that come through live chat, while Fireclay Tile is driving 20% of interested buyers through live chat, and LetsGetChecked is reducing support costs and increasing customer satisfaction through its self-service knowledge base.

In-app marketing is a crucial aspect of engaging and retaining users within an app. It involves using real-time and personalized messages to help users get the most out of the app, whether it's onboarding new users, introducing new features, or collecting user feedback. A well-planned in-app marketing strategy can increase user acquisition, guide users toward positive outcomes, capture user feedback, collect positive reviews, and drive sales. Effective techniques include using notifications, tooltips, splash pages, in-app messages, and modals to communicate with users and encourage desired behaviors. To set up an in-app marketing campaign, one must first define a strategy based on understanding user behavior, choose the right tools such as analytics platforms and message-building technologies, and test and iterate on the strategy to optimize results. By implementing these strategies, businesses can create a more engaging and valuable experience for their users, leading to increased retention and growth.

Karen Peacock, COO of Intercom, shares her journey from Intuit to growing Intercom from 350 to 600 people, discussing what attracted her to the company, key takeaways for CEOs on how to retain product market fit and avoid common scaling mistakes, as well as applying lean startup principles to the hiring process.

We've made our Intercom Messenger accessible by implementing keyboard navigation, setting proper focus states, designing intentional focus traps, supporting screen readers, and optimizing color contrast. Our engineering work was guided by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Level AA, which provide a shared set of technical standards for making web content accessible to people with disabilities. We've also published guidelines on how to customize the Messenger to be accessible and implemented automated tooling to prevent regressions in the code. By making our web Messenger accessible, we aim to make internet business personal and possible for everyone.

At Intercom, they have released five new features to help build a differentiated customer experience. These features include Custom Bots that can automatically prompt free or trial users to upgrade to a paid plan, a new Inbox priority feature that allows teams to mark conversations as priority with one click, and improved reporting in the Inbox that provides clearer insights into team efficiency and lead generation. Additionally, they have introduced customizable Help Center header text to match brand identities, an accessible Messenger that complies with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA, and integrations with third-party apps such as Azuqua, SorryTM Status Page, and Wootric. These features aim to provide a more personalized and consistent customer experience across the entire lifecycle of customers.

To maximize sales during the holiday season, ecommerce and consumer-focused brands can leverage chatbots and targeted messaging. By personalizing messages to paid ad campaigns, customers can drive more people to take action on their site, increasing average purchase size by 13%. Customizing a chatbot to engage visitors and provide product recommendations can also increase conversion rates for organic visitors. Targeted messaging in email campaigns can lead to higher conversions, while timely discounts sent to customers who abandon their shopping carts can reduce cart abandonment rates. Additionally, capturing newsletter subscribers within the Messenger platform allows brands to nurture leads over time and convert them into customers. By implementing these tips, brands can increase sales and drive revenue during the holiday season.