FreshChat: A Campaign to Scale Customer Engagement for Your Business (2024)

• I will research the customer engagement industry and why it’s a good idea for businesses to invest in a seamless customer engagement tool

• I will research the best features offered by FreshChat

• I will build a marketing case to use FreshChat for your business and set objectives

• I will build a marketing strategy and a marketing plan with a set of activities with FreshChat

What’s the current state of customer engagement chatbots for founders running an online business?

Challenges Faced by Marketing Professionals:

1. Handling High Volume of Inquiries: Marketing professionals often struggle to manage a high volume of customer inquiries coming through various messaging channels. This can lead to delayed responses and frustrated customers.

2. Maintaining Consistency: Ensuring consistent and on-brand messaging across multiple messaging platforms can be challenging. Marketing professionals need to maintain a unified brand voice and tone.

3. Scaling Personalization: As businesses grow, personalizing responses to each customer becomes more complex. Achieving personalization at scale is a common challenge for marketing professionals.

What Businesses Can Achieve with an Effective Customer Engagement through Chat:

1. Improved Customer Satisfaction: Implementing an effective customer service strategy through messaging can significantly enhance customer satisfaction by providing quick, convenient, and personalized support.

2. Increased Customer Loyalty: Businesses can build strong customer loyalty by offering seamless messaging support, leading to repeat purchases and positive word-of-mouth referrals.

3. Cost-Efficient Support: Utilizing messaging for customer service can be cost-effective compared to traditional call centers, reducing operational costs while maintaining service quality.

Challenges Faced by Business Owners:

1. Resource Allocation: Smaller businesses often struggle to allocate sufficient resources for handling customer service through messaging effectively. This can result in limited staff availability for responding to inquiries promptly.

2. Integration Complexities: Integrating messaging platforms like FreshChat with existing systems and processes can be complex, especially for businesses without dedicated IT teams.

3. Measuring ROI: Business owners may find it challenging to measure the direct return on investment (ROI) of messaging-based customer service, making it difficult to justify the cost.

Three Examples of Businesses that Have Succeeded with Customer Service through Messaging:

1. Fintech company Klarna wows its 80M customers with instant responses and rapid resolutions with Freshchat:
• Klarna, is a Swedish fintech company that provides online financial services such as payments for online storefronts and direct payments along with post-purchase payments.
• Klarna decided to look for a flexible solution that can help them support millions of interactions with no dip in quality while helping them balance the load between agents, especially during peak seasons.
• Freshchat has transformed operations behind the scenes, helping Klarna keep those wow moments alive for every single customer.
• Before Freshchat, chat as a channel accounted for only 20% of service volumes with Phone support accounting for 63%. Now, 66% of Klarna’s customers turn to chat for support, bringing down phone support’s tally to 32%.

2. How bots and automation helped Travix navigate customer service during a global crisis with FreshChat:
• Travix is a company that manages several travel websites operating in various countries helping over 5 million passengers every year, filling more than 85 planes every day to over 2000 destinations worldwide.
• Travis adopted a digital-first approach for 80% of the customer inquiries during peak Covid requests. With Freshworks’ help in a strategic and supportive role, Travix implemented Travis as an automated bot to help customers with the 6 most common queries: Cancellation, Change, Luggage, Online check-in, Travel Document Request and Refund Status Check.
• With this new approach, Travix has ensured for itself a very strong position in a recovering industry: as a company that services customers quickly, accurately and on the first contact. The successful implementation of Travis has evolved to a very strong competitive advantage, which will hopefully help the company recover from the crisis.
• In 2019, Travix’s support took place 5% over social, 50% over calls, and 45% over email. With the implementation of automation and bots, a mere 25% of the service takes place over email and calls, and an impressive 50% is taken care of by bots and automation.

3. IBA Cosmetics achieves a 230% spike in online orders using Freshchat and Neo Platform:
• Iba Cosmetics is an India-based cosmetics company. It had a strong offline presence with a solid customer touch but in its online transition, the number of online queries began to soar, and it needed a smarter solution that could improve engagement efficiency without compromising the quality of interactions.
• By utilizing the product and platform capabilities in FreshChat, Iba Cosmetics has revamped its support operations. Right from answering customer questions to fulfilling orders, service agents can now support the entire customer journey through Freshchat
• The frictionless order placement process that Freshchat has enabled has resulted in higher sales for Iba Cosmetics. Integrations with messaging channels such as WhatsApp resulted in 25% increase in sales and a 230% increase in order quantities for the company. With Freshchat, all customer interactions are streamlined into a single dashboard, so agents can respond very quickly. Faster responses have seen the overall conversion rate on chat increase from 18-20% to 35-36%.
• Honest and personalized interactions have been at the heart of Iba’s customer service philosophy. With Freshchat, the company has been able to effortlessly recreate genuine face-to-face customer conversations in the digital medium.

What are some of the best features offered by FreshChat?

1. Messaging Channels: FreshChat allows businesses to engage with their customers on a variety of messaging channels, including Web, Mobile, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Apple Business Chat, and LINE.
• Problem Statement: Many businesses struggle to engage with customers effectively on the messaging channels they prefer. This can lead to missed opportunities and frustrated customers.

For Travix, chat is no longer ‘just another’ channel. The goal is to ensure that by the end of the year, 50% of customer inquiries take place through chat. That is a massive culture change for our company, which had leaned on manual processes and a ‘just give us a call’-approach to service for many years.” ~ Kimberly Strickland, CC Innovations Manager, Travix

2. Chatbots: FreshChat offers context-driven chatbots that provide instant and precise answers 24/7.
• Problem Statement: Handling a high volume of customer inquiries around the clock can be a daunting task. Chatbots are crucial for providing timely responses and keeping customers satisfied.

“The bot Travis serves as a very accessible first point of contact, directly available on the website, for customer queries. Customers are happy to see their question in the chatbot, as it gives them immediate confidence that their issue can and will be solved through self-service.” ~ Kimberly Strickland, CC Innovations Manager, Travix

3. Web Widget: FreshChat's Web Widget provides visitors and users with a modern messaging experience, making interactions seamless and user-friendly.
• Problem Statement: Many businesses struggle to offer a modern messaging experience on their websites, which can lead to higher bounce rates and missed opportunities for engagement.

“This has made our agents more efficient, and this has led to better first contact resolutions for our customers.” ~ Vadim, a Customer Service Engineer at Klarna

Building a Marketing Campaign for Using FreshChat to Grow a Business

• Customer Acquisition: Acquire 150 paying customers.

• Conversion Rate: Achieve a conversion rate of at least 4% from free users to paying customers.

• Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): Maintain a CPA within the budget range.

• Customer Satisfaction: Achieve a customer satisfaction rating of 85% or higher based on post-interaction surveys.

Identifying the Costs Involved:

• FreshChat Subscription: Utilize the FreshChat Pro plan priced at $19 per agent per month. Assuming a campaign duration of 3-6 months, the subscription cost will range from $57 to $114.

• Customer List Growth: To achieve a target of 150 paying customers with a 4% conversion rate, aim for a list of 3,750-7,500 free subscribers. An email marketing tool - growing your business with MailerLite for list growth will incur additional costs, estimated at $80-$160 over the campaign duration.

Additional Costs (optional):

• Advertising Budget: Allocate a budget of $250-$450 for targeted advertising on platforms like Facebook and Google Ads to drive traffic and acquire free subscribers.

• Content Creation: Invest in content creation and promotion for lead generation. Budget for content creation, graphic design, and promotional activities, totaling $150-$300.

Expected ROI:

• To break even for a maximum budget of $1024, we need to generate at least 54 paying customers at the FreshChat Pro plan price of $19 per month.
• Anything over 54 paying customers is a profit.
• Any customer retention beyond the campaign period is a profit.
• Any upsell opportunities or expansion of services to customers are additional profits.

• To break even for a budget of $537, we need to acquire at least 28 paying customers.
• Anything over 28 paying customers is a profit.
• Any customer retention beyond the campaign period is a profit.
• Any upsell opportunities or expansion of services to customers are additional profits.

FreshChat Marketing Campaign - Scaling Engagement

1. Segmented Messaging (Week 1-2):
• Activity: Segment your messaging based on user profiles and behavior. Create personalized chat scripts to engage different segments effectively.
• Example: If you run an online fashion store, tailor messages for first-time visitors offering a welcome discount, while engaging returning customers with product recommendations based on their previous purchases.

2. Multichannel Integration (Week 3-4):
• Activity: Integrate FreshChat into your website's key pages and social media profiles, enabling users to initiate chats easily.
• Example: Add a "Chat with Us" button on your Facebook page and product pages, connecting users directly to FreshChat for inquiries or support.

1. Chatbot Enhancements (Week 1-2):
• Activity: Improve your chatbot's capabilities to provide helpful responses to user queries, focusing on specific industry or product-related questions.
• Example: If you offer software solutions, enhance the chatbot to assist users with technical troubleshooting steps when they encounter issues.

2. Localized Content (Week 3-4):
• Activity: Offer chat support in multiple languages, ensuring that chat agents can communicate effectively with users in their preferred language.
• Example: If your e-commerce business serves a global audience, provide chat assistance in languages such as Spanish, French, and German to accommodate international customers.

1. Cross-Promotion (Week 1-2):
• Activity: Promote FreshChat within your marketing channels, including email newsletters and social media, highlighting its benefits for quick customer support.
• Example: Include a dedicated section in your monthly email newsletter encouraging subscribers to use FreshChat for instant assistance or inquiries about your products or services.

2. Content Strategy (Week 3-4):
• Activity: Develop chat scripts that assist users with specific needs, such as product information, troubleshooting, or helpful resources.
• Example: If you operate a travel website, create chat scripts that provide destination recommendations, travel tips, and links to blog articles or travel videos within the chat for users planning trips.

1. In-App Messaging (Week 1-2, if applicable):
• Activity: If you have a mobile app, implement in-app messaging through FreshChat, targeting users with context-aware messages and recommendations.
• Example: In a food delivery app, send in-app chat messages to users based on their location, offering restaurant suggestions and exclusive discounts.

2. User Feedback (Week 3-4):
• Activity: Collect user feedback through post-chat surveys to gauge satisfaction and gather insights for improvement.
• Example: After a chat session, ask users to rate their experience. If a user reports an issue, follow up with a personalized offer or solution, such as a discount code or additional assistance.

• Chat Engagement: Monitor the number of chat interactions and aim for a 10% increase in the first month.

• Conversion Rates: Track the conversion rate from chat to desired actions (e.g., product purchases) and work on increasing it from 5% to 7%.

• User Satisfaction: Measure user satisfaction through post-chat surveys, targeting a 90% satisfaction rate.

• Multichannel Integration: Analyze which integrated channels generate the most engagement and allocate resources accordingly.

• Localization Impact: Measure the impact of offering localized chat support. Aim for a 15% increase in engagement when multilingual chat is introduced.

• Segment Refinement: Review audience segments and adjust messaging for better engagement.

• Chatbot Optimization: Improve chatbot responses based on user feedback and common queries.

• Content Strategy Review: Refine chat scripts and shared content to better align with user needs.

• User Feedback Analysis: Address specific user concerns and improve chat support based on feedback.

1. Data Collection and Analysis (Week 1-4):
• Activity: Collect and analyze user data, chat transcripts, and engagement metrics to identify trends, pain points, and opportunities for improvement.
• Example: Analyze chat transcripts to discover frequently asked questions, allowing you to refine chatbot responses and offer quicker solutions.

2. User Journey Mapping (Week 5-8):
• Activity: Map out typical user journeys within FreshChat, identifying touchpoints where chat engagement can be enhanced.
• Example: For an e-commerce site, map the journey from product discovery to checkout, pinpointing moments where users may benefit from chat assistance or product recommendations.

1. Personalized Chat Suggestions (Week 1-2):
• Activity: Implement AI-driven personalized chat suggestions based on user behavior and historical interactions.
• Example: If a user frequently explores electronics on an e-commerce site, the chat system can proactively suggest relevant product categories or deals during their visit.

2. User Retention Campaigns (Week 3-4):
• Activity: Create automated retention campaigns targeting users who have engaged with FreshChat but haven't made a purchase or completed a desired action.
• Example: Send personalized chat follow-ups to users who've inquired about a product but haven't made a purchase, offering incentives or assistance to encourage conversions.

1. Integration with CRM (Week 1-2):
• Activity: Integrate FreshChat with your CRM system to seamlessly sync chat data with customer profiles for a holistic view.
• Example: When a chat user provides contact information, ensure it's stored in the CRM to track their journey and preferences for future interactions.

2. Scaling User Engagement (Week 3-4):
• Activity: Implement strategies to scale user engagement further, such as expanding chat support hours, adding chat widgets to additional website pages, or exploring new chat channels (e.g., WhatsApp or SMS).
• Example: Extend chat support to weekends and evenings to accommodate users in different time zones.

1. A/B Testing Campaigns (Week 1-2):
• Activity: Launch A/B tests for chat scripts, responses, and engagement triggers to identify high-converting chat strategies.
• Example: Test two different chat greetings to see which one results in more users initiating conversations.

2. Continuous Improvement (Week 3-4):
• Activity: Based on A/B test results and ongoing data analysis, make iterative improvements to FreshChat engagement tactics.
• Example: If A/B testing reveals that users respond better to chat messages that include emojis, incorporate them into your chat scripts.

• User Data Analysis: Regularly assess data insights and adjust strategies accordingly.

• Personalization Impact: Measure the click-through rates and conversion rates of personalized chat suggestions.

• Retention Campaign Success: Monitor the percentage of retained users and their subsequent engagement.

• CRM Integration Effectiveness: Evaluate how CRM integration enhances user understanding and engagement.

• Scaling Impact: Measure the increase in chat interactions and conversions resulting from scaling efforts.

• A/B Testing Results: Track the success of A/B tests in terms of engagement and conversions.

• Refine Data Collection: Ensure data collection methods are accurate and comprehensive.

• Review Personalization Algorithms: Adjust personalization algorithms to better match user preferences.

• Iterate on Retention Campaigns: Refine retention campaign messaging and incentives based on user feedback.