Conversational data is active and passive data, collected through the use of digital user experiences, built around a back and forth, chat based format.

The benefits of gathering and using conversational data are clear: It essentially allows you to create that personalized, compliant experience consumers desire, regulations and browsers tell you to, and it’s still under-utilized enough to make your business’ marketing stand out.

Not all first party data is created equal

While businesses might have access to data like customer purchase history, paid search interactions and other website behaviours in their CRM-systems, these sources give limited insight into what your audience - customer or not - really thinks, prefers and wants in different contexts. 

A rich source of first party data is conversational data. Conversational-based interactions online between a brand and a consumer fundamentally work the same way they would person to person. They:

• trigger interest
• build desire
• even drive action

And overall increases attention, because the format feels inviting and trustworthy to the consumer. Let’s not forget; “attention” is the first letter in the old, trusted and - more than ever - relevant about the AIDA model.

Conversational formats help create a media landscape full of willing and compliant customer interactions. As a result, marketers can jump over hurdles like ad blockers, scrambled e-mail addresses, VPNs and incognito modes to effectively reach their target audience.

To extract conversational data, marketers need to use the right technology. One that fits into their existing marketing mix, and improves it by integrating a more effectful conversational format. Conversational data platforms will be the tool to reach, connect and understand target audiences moving forward.

Examples of conversational data

Here are some examples of first-party data businesses can extract from the conversational platform SMOC delivers to businesses: 

1. Survey and client feedback data:
   Conversations are a great way to ask and answer questions without it seeming boring or tedious. Who hasn’t been almost bored to death of going through 19 page questionnaires, filled with clinically phrased questions with 7 point scales ranging from “Do not agree” to “Totally agree”?
   
   Businesses using conversational formats can instead use more informal language, emojis, GIFs and graphics to learn from their audience. And while collecting these insights the conversation can personalize on the fly and help them navigate further along, based on their previous answer and what conversation paths are set for the conversation in question. This creates a deeper understanding of consumer preferences and behavior, while also keeping the users attention for longer. 
   
   
2. Interest and preference data:
   Marketers underuse social messaging to acquire customer data. Customers or clients are generally willing to offer info about their socioeconomic, demographic, or preferential interests on these channels, seen as it is where Customers are willing to spend a third of their time online. Online conversations are a great way to start collecting the data needed to continue targeting the audience effectively, without cookies.
   
   
3. Loyalty data:
   One to one online conversations, beyond anything, allow businesses to get more personal with and build a human relation to consumers, which is 1-to-1 conversations is appreciated by most audiences.
   
   However, the strongest relation is a loyal one. Businesses can use online conversations to both target loyal customers and ensure that their needs are covered, as much as building it with newer customers. Ultimately, well designed, effective online conversations can be used to gain a thorough comprehension of what drives loyalty, and thus ROI.
   
   
4. Other CRM data:
   Situation based online conversations to help businesses feed their CRM-systems with the interest and preference data they lack. To put it this way: What form would you care about and submit? A long static one on a static webpage, or one presented at the relevant time, asking for the relevant information, in a chat-based format?
   
   In addition to being a great supplement for an existing CRM system, a conversational data platform also works as a great replacement for a CRM-system altogether.
   
   
5. AI-powered prediction data:
   Having a lot of different data is great and all, but where the real power of it comes into play, is when you can use it for predictions. What do we mean by that?
   
   The more you know about your existing audience; like what they like, what types of messaging they engage with, what they pick as a reward for their attention, what they share with their friends, etc., the more insight you have to base your predictions on.
   
   Or rather, the more insight you have to feed into an AI-powered solution, that can not only take care of all of the predictions, but also suggest how you can effectively use those predictions in your business efforts. 

Having the correct technology to create online, intelligent conversations throughout your marketing funnels is vital. Want to learn more about how SMOC.AI can be this tool for your business? Get an introduction learn about SMOC.AI.