Introduction
Competition is fierce. Consumers are more demanding than ever. Leads need to be carefully nurtured, before they convert into a lead. And you, the modern business owner, need every tool at your disposal to gain the edge that will allow you not only to survive, but to thrive.
One of these tools is conversational intelligence. Although not a new field, conversational intelligence has seen renewed interest from a business perspective, thanks to the rise of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence. With a range of conversation analysis software available, it’s important to understand what conversational intelligence is and how you can put it into use for your business. Let’s jump into it.
What is Conversational Intelligence
Conversational intelligence relies mostly on Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing technology to extract vital data from written or spoken conversations. Gone are the days when people would deduce information from surface-level assessments, based on Psychology 101 they took at college 10 years ago.
No, conversational intelligence has taken great strides thanks to technological advances. And it’s those advances that have made this kind of technology widely available and used in many different fields. Education, health, security and of course business. With conversational intelligence, you, the business owner, have access to data never possible before. With this data you can analyze tremendous quantities of speech and text conversations and discover insights that will drive your business forward.
Why is Conversational Intelligence Important
Business growth is the ultimate reason why conversational intelligence should matter to you. As we said above, by using it correctly, you can unlock insights, data and discover issues that you couldn’t otherwise. Sometimes, even subtle changes in someone’s tone of voice could signal whether a lead is gonna lead to a sale or not. By employing conversational intelligence, you will be able to adapt your strategy, correct mistakes and establish whole new processes to help you gain a competitive edge.
It’s exactly this adaptability that makes conversational intelligence so important. It’s a tool that although mighty useful and easily accessible, not many businesses take advantage of. They miss out on a wealth of data that could completely redefine the way they operate. We will discuss more specifically about it further below.
Through Which Channels Can You Leverage Conversational Intelligence
You can apply conversational intelligence to various channels of communication to improve business performance.
Calls
Spoken conversations do not rely only on words, but go so much deeper than that. Conversation intelligence software can listen in on phone calls and analyze them from different perspectives. Tone of voice, volume, sentiment. Things that sometimes are very subtle and most people fail to notice.
Email & Live Chats
There is hidden intent even behind emails and live chat. Conversational intelligence can help uncover it and provide you with the guidance necessary to respond in an empathetic way.
Social Networks & Online Resources
Conversational intelligence can act as an ear to the ground when it comes to social media, reviews, blogs and forums. It can spot trends, scour interactions for issues and what your audience thinks about your brand. There is a wealth of data hidden in these channels and you shouldn’t miss it.
Types of Data Analyzed by Conversational Intelligence
We have mentioned more or less in previous sections of the article, but we should go a bit more in depth on the types of data that conversation intelligence software analyzes and how it works.
Tone & Emotion
Conversation intelligence detects the emotional tone of conversations and tells you clearly whether a customer, lead or buyer is frustrated, happy or has reservations.
Keywords & Phrases
Multiple conversations about similar topics can create patterns. Conversational intelligence can spot those patterns by analyzing recurring keywords and phrases. This way you can identify common issues, frequently asked questions and other things that keep coming up.
Demographic Information
Data from conversations can reveal key demographic information about your audience such as age, gender, location, profession and much more.
How Can Conversational Intelligence Help your Business
Customer Service
With conversational intelligence, customer service teams can significantly improve the way they handle incoming calls. The right software can direct customers to the appropriate customer service agents and provide the latter with prompts and answers to common questions. This way, it can reduce the time it takes to resolve an issue and increase customer satisfaction.
Customer Research
Conversation intelligence software can act as research tools as well. By drawing on data from your customers they can paint a picture of themes and sentiments that they have about your product or services. Data like this can then empower you or leaders within your business to take action to alter or improve your product or operations.
Customer Loyalty & Retention
Successful resolution of queries and issues, accompanied by empathy and understanding increases not only customer satisfaction, but loyalty and retention as well. Customers prefer to work with businesses that make them feel heard. And the businesses that succeed on that aspect, are the ones that always gain an edge over their competitors.
Sales
It goes without saying that conversational intelligence can provide a great boost to sales. By gaining access to data and insights that otherwise were not available, you can start approaching leads and customers from different angles. You will have the ability to deeply understand your customers and talk to the heart of their problems. And this is what matters the most, in the end.
Sales Leaders
The best way to understand how your sales team is performing is the end results. Successful deals and new leads generated. But those two metrics don’t tell you exactly what is working and what needs to be fixed. Conversational intelligence can help sales leaders evaluate their team members on a deeper level and analyze interactions from multiple points of view. They can thus see if scripts need to be rewritten or if team members need more training.
Marketing
Modern marketing is all about data. Conversational intelligence will provide you with a whole new bundle of information that you didn’t have access to before. People do not consume entirely rationally. Many times, they allow their feelings and emotions to guide them. They also do not always interact with brands solely on logic. There are things like loyalty, nostalgia and other factors that are difficult to quantify and make use of.
You will be able to enhance your content strategy by spotting common pain points and concerns. Creating personalized content is a sure way to attract and grow your audience.
In business, it’s vital to always be ahead of the competition. Conversational intelligence can help you by providing data and insights regarding rising trends, sentiments revolving around you and competitors and who are mentioned the most and why.
Lastly, conversation intelligence has the ability to evaluate incoming leads. You can figure out their quality in a more nuanced way and optimize marketing strategies accordingly.
With conversational intelligence, you will be able to penetrate the veil of human nature and convert it into a powerful marketing tool.
How to Choose the Ideal Conversational Intelligence Platform
Now that you understand the importance of conversational intelligence, you probably feel ready to take the leap. But before you rush on to subscribe to the first platform that pops-up on your Google search, there are some key elements you need to consider.
- Can the conversation intelligence software of your choice analyze customer emotion, intent and effort?
- Can it provide you with opportunities or spot bottlenecks and problems?
- How deep does its analyzing features go? Are they surface level or can they see behind the curtains of human emotion?
- Can it provide you specifics about your industry?
- Is it easy to use? Does it include automations and integrations with other marketing tools and CRM?
- Can it evaluate your agents and suggest actions based on their performance?
These are some basic factors to take into account. There are more of course, like customer service and support provided by the company and budget. In the end, what’s more important is whether the software fits your specific needs.
Conversational Intelligence & Nimbata
Conversation intelligence software and call tracking are different things. Conversational intelligence is a combination of technologies that analyze and deduce intent, sentiment and purpose from a written or spoken conversation. Call tracking on the other hand is a solution that allows businesses to monitor, record and analyze incoming phone calls.
This doesn’t mean of course that these two tools can’t synergize. Call tracking software like Nimbata have started to incorporate conversational intelligence empowering marketers to refine their strategies for generating phone calls, deepen their understanding of customer needs, and outpace competitors by identifying pain points proactively.
Top ways to leverage this powerful duo
Enhanced Customer Insights:
- Call Tracking: Provides detailed data on who is calling, when, and from where, helping to identify peak call times and geographic hotspots.
- Conversational Intelligence: Analyzes the content of the calls to understand customer needs, preferences, and pain points.
Improved Lead Generation and Qualification:
- Call Tracking: Tracks which marketing channels (e.g., ads, social media, organic search) are driving phone calls, allowing marketers to focus on high-performing channels.
- Conversational Intelligence: Helps qualify leads by analyzing conversation quality, sentiment, and keywords to determine the caller’s intent and stage in the buying journey.
Optimized Marketing Campaigns:
- Call Tracking: Provides data on call outcomes linked to specific campaigns, enabling marketers to assess and optimize campaign performance.
- Conversational Intelligence: Offers insights into which messages resonate with customers and which do not, allowing for real-time campaign adjustments.
Personalized Customer Experience:
- Call Tracking: Identifies repeat callers and integrates with CRM systems to provide agents with caller history, improving personalization.
- Conversational Intelligence: Analyzes customer interactions to tailor marketing messages and offers based on individual preferences and past conversations.
Enhanced Customer Support:
- Call Tracking: Helps allocate resources effectively by identifying peak call times and high-demand areas.
- Conversational Intelligence: Analyzes call transcripts to identify common issues and trends, enabling proactive customer support and improving overall satisfaction.
Must-have conversational intelligence features
| Feature | Essential for: | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Call Recording and Transcription | Capturing the content of every call for further analysis. | Enables detailed analysis of conversations to understand customer needs and feedback. |
| AI Call Summaries | Providing quick access to actionable insights from phone conversations | Saves time and effort by capturing key insights, action items, and notable points from each call. |
| Keyword and Phrase Spotting | Spot certain keywords and phrases in conversations that provide insights on call quality and lead scoring | Helps in understanding customer intent, sentiment, and common queries or complaints. |
| Sentiment Analysis | Gauging the emotional tone of conversations | Helps to identify satisfied or dissatisfied customers, allowing for tailored follow-up actions |
| Integration with CRM and Marketing Platforms | Seamlessly linking call data with existing customer databases and marketing tools. | Provides a unified view of customer interactions and helps in personalizing marketing efforts |
| Call Scoring and Lead Qualification | Automatically scoring calls based on predefined criteria | Helps prioritize high-quality leads and focus marketing efforts where they are most likely to convert |
| Call Attribution | Linking calls back to specific marketing campaigns or channels | Allows marketers to measure the ROI of different marketing efforts and optimize budget allocation |
| Real-Time Analytics and Reporting | Providing up-to-the-minute insights and comprehensive reports on call performance | Enables quick decision-making and continuous improvement of marketing strategies |
| Automated Call Routing | Directing calls to the appropriate departments or agents based on predefined rules | Ensures efficient handling of calls and improves customer experience. |
Pairing conversational intelligence with call tracking is the perfect way to construct a five-star customer service experience and sales teams that bring win after win.
Try Nimbata for free for 14 Days and see call tracking + conversational intelligence in action for yourself!
Conclusion
The way we do business is constantly evolving. Tools and technologies arise and methods shift and change. Conversational intelligence can be a disrupting force for your business. It will cast a light upon data and insights that so far remained in the shadows. With this newfound wealth of information, you will be able to:
- Improve customer service
- Enhance sales efficiency
- Evaluate team members
- Improve marketing activities
People are afraid of changing their ways and taking leaps forward. Don’t be one of them.
