Hi there! Are you looking to capture more leads, boost sales productivity and create incredible customer experiences? If so, you’re going to love exploring the modern world of messaging, chat and voice platforms built specifically for sales and marketing teams like yours.
Think about your favorite messaging app. Now imagine bringing that level of personal engagement to your website, ads and customer interactions – that’s what we’re talking about here! Leading companies are getting up to 20x higher response rates by embracing conversational platforms over traditional forms and email.
In this comprehensive guide, I’ll be your friendly tour guide and explore the top 7 options, including:
- Key capabilities that set them apart
- Tailoring platforms to different business needs
- Pros, cons and pricing models
- Emerging trends on the horizon
So whether you‘re just getting started or looking to level-up existing efforts, you‘ll have all the info needed to find the right fit. Sound good? Fantastic – let‘s dive in!
The Explosive Growth of Conversational Platforms
Messaging has become the preferred way we communicate in our personal lives. So it‘s no surprise that conversational platforms are taking over business as well.
According to [Grand View Research], the global chatbot market is projected to grow at 24% per year to be worth $19.6 billion by 2028. Leading analysts predict over 50% of companies will rely on chatbots and messaging for sales and marketing by 2030.
What’s driving this explosive growth? There are a few key reasons:
1. Immediate, Personalized Engagement
Chat and messaging enable real-time communication and feedback, avoiding the “wait time” of forms and emails. Platforms leverage data to provide hyper-personalized, 1:1 messaging as well.
2. Meeting Customers Where They Are
People spend over 5+ hours per day texting, messaging and chatting. Conversational platforms integrate across your website, ads, social media, apps and common communication channels.
3. Scalability and Cost Savings
Chatbots and automation handle repetitive questions for 24/7 self-service, letting human agents focus on complex issues. This drives 2-3x agent efficiency on average.
The results speak for themselves too. Companies see typical benefits like:
- 20%+ increase in conversion rates
- 30% higher customer satisfaction
- 40% faster response times
- 50-70% lower customer support costs
It’s clear why conversational platforms are mission-critical for modern sales and service teams. Now let’s explore the top messaging tools specifically built with marketers and sellers in mind.
1. Freshchat – Ideal for SMB Marketing Teams
First up is Freshchat, a leading messaging platform from the customer engagement experts at Freshworks. Some fun facts about Freshworks:
- Founded in 2010 and based in San Mateo, CA
- Raised over $400M from marquee investors like Sequoia and CapitalG
- Used by over 50,000+ SMBs globally
Now onto Freshchat itself! This platform combines customizable chatbots with team messaging, email marketing, and automation specifically for sales and support roles.
Some killer features include:
- In-app campaigns to reduce churn, drive usage, and increase conversion
- Bots that automate lead gen questions, alerts, appointments and more
- Customer segmentation to tailor messaging across regions, plans and behavior
- An integrated, multilingual FAQ inside the chat window itself
We also can‘t forget the actionable analytics baked into everything. You and your team will get real-time visibility into conversations, conversions, satisfaction scores and revenue impact.
For Sarah, an ecommerce marketing manager at a mid-sized fashion brand, Freshchat helped her small team punch above their weight:
“We compete against much larger brands with big budgets. Freshchat levels the playing field. The smart chatbots handle 60% of customer queries so my team can focus on high-value opportunities instead. Last month we captured 480 leads outside business hours – that’s nearly $500K in incremental sales!”
If you‘re an SMB looking to maximize marketing resources, Freshchat is a perfect place to start. Next up is a platform built for more complex business needs…
2. HubSpot – Advanced Conversational Platform
I’m sure you’ve heard of HubSpot – they are pioneers in inbound marketing and sales software used by tens of thousands of companies.
Some background on HubSpot:
- Founded in 2006 out of MIT
- IPO’d in 2014, now trading at a $3.2 billion market cap
- Worldwide customer base across 100+ countries
Now onto their conversational tools – HubSpot actually offers two complementary platforms:
HubSpot Live Chat
This enables real-time support conversations to capture more leads and close business faster. Handy features include:
- Routing inquiries to correct teams
- Offline forms to capture info
- Visitor tracking to segment and retarget
HubSpot Chatbots
This is a sophisticated marketing focused chatbot builder. Some standout capabilities:
- Meetings – schedule via text or voice
- Live hand-offs – seamlessly transfer from bots to humans
- Conversational dialogs that feel natural
- CRM data access – personalized engagements
For Alex, a marketing director a large agency, HubSpot hits the sweet spot:
“We manage complex sales processes and databases for enormous brands. Having dedicated tools for chat, bots and messaging keeps our team aligned. Intelligent hand-offs and workflows help deliver incredible customer experiences too – last quarter we exceeded all KPIs for lead conversion, sales velocity and retention.”
With advanced features galore, HubSpot is a top choice for large teams and regulated enterprises.
Now let’s look at a platform taking a revolutionary approach to sales conversations…
3. Drift – Conversational Sales and Marketing
If you’re a SaaS business, chances are you’ve engaged with Drift! They popularized using messaging to transform boring corporate sales interactions into lively, helpful conversations that buyers actually love.
Some Drift history:
- Founded in 2015 by MIT grads after raising $15M
- Over 50,000+ companies use Drift today
- Raised $200M+ from leading VCs
Drift’s platform focuses specifically on sales, success and marketing teams. Killer features include:
Chat
Real-time messaging on your site, ads and apps to engage visitors and capture leads instantly.
Conversational Bots
- Automate lead generation with chatbots
- Use “playbooks” to qualify prospects
- Schedule meetings, demos, alerts & more
Email & SMS
Orchestrate 1:1 conversations across any channel
- Behavioral targeting
- Personalization with merge fields
- Event-trigger or time-based flows
Account Engagement
VIP capabilities to deliver white-glove service
For SaaS companies like Pandium, Drift supercharges revenue growth by making every interaction count:
“Drift helps us start impactful conversations that convert passive visitors into qualified pipeline. We increased SQLs by 35% m/m through personalization and chatbots. Our success team uses Drift insights to retain our top 500 customers too – increasing expansion revenue by over 40% last quarter alone!"
Ready to transform boring corporate sales? Drift makes it possible. Now let‘s explore a pioneer in the messaging space – Intercom.
4. Intercom – The OG Conversational Platform
When it comes to conversational interfaces, no one has pushed more boundaries than Intercom. They enable businesses to engage with customers across all channels and build long-term relationships through value-driven messaging.
Some background:
- Founded in 2011 by a team of designers and engineers
- Raised over $240M from renowned Silicon Valley investors
- Support over 30,000 global businesses
Unlike other platforms, Intercom crafted tailored applications for each discipline:
Inbox for Sales & Support
A customizable messaging platform including:
- Chat, email, bots – all in one place!
- Team collaboration with shared labels, assignments & rules
- Visitor tracking and lead scoring
- Segmentation to personalize outreach
Messages for Marketing
Orchestrate targeted campaigns across channels:
-
Push notifications
-
In-app messages
-
SMS, email, ads and more!
-
Powerful audience builder to get ultra-targeted
Articles for Self-Service
An integrated help center and knowledge base, enabling 24/7 support.
For rapidly scaling startups like Lattice, Intercom delivers the range they need:
“Intercom grew with us – powering everything from lead gen to onboarding and retention campaigns today. We love how Intercom’s products work together while letting us use only what we need. Last year we saved over $300K in sales overhead through bots while increasing retention 5% through timely in-app messaging. Couldn’t live without it!”
With incredible breadth and customization across sales, marketing and support, Intercom leads the industry. But casual browsers be warned – their platform requires savvy strategy and execution to unlock value.
Let’s shift gears to amessaging tool purpose-built forenhanced support conversations…
5. Zendesk Chat – Streamlined Live Chat and Messaging
If seamless customer support is the top priority for you, Zendesk Chat deserves strong consideration. Originally named Zopim, this platform focuses exclusively on facilitating great live chat, messaging and bots for service teams.
Quick background:
- Zopim launched in 2008, acquired by Zendesk in 2014
- Over 200,000 paid customer accounts
- Recently IPO’d, now trading around $10 billion market cap
Designed with support agents in mind, Zendesk Chat provides:
- Highly-customizable chat widgets
- In-chat forms to gather details
- Co-browsing for visual troubleshooting
- File sharing & screen sharing
- Agent productivity tracking
For high-touch support models, Zendesk delivers everything your team needs to deliver 5-star service.
Peloton leverages Zendesk’s platform for scale and flexibility as they grow:
“Starting out, we relied solely on Zendesk Chat to support our community – no email, forms or calls. As demand grew, we simply expanded to complementary tools like Guide and Talk. This focus and flexibility is crucial as we expand globally.”
For companies with complex support needs, Zendesk Chat integrates perfectly with the rest of Zendesk’s popular service management suite. But it plays just as nice with other tools if needed.
Now let’s explore an emerging all-in-one automation platform built for SMB efficiency…
6. User.com – All-In-One Conversational Marketing
If you‘re an SMB looking to maximize budget and resources, User.com aims to be the only B2C platform you‘ll ever need. They consolidate everything from chatbots to email, popups, forms and more into a single automation powerhouse.
Here‘s some helpful User.com basics:
- Founded in 2019, HQ‘d in San Francisco
- Totals over 3,500 customers so far
- Recently raised $5.6M in seed funding
Some highlights for marketing and sales teams:
Chat & Messaging
- Live chat to capture leads directly from your website
- Chatbots automate lead gen and common questions
- 2-way SMS conversations with contacts
Popups, Web Forms & Email
- Build unlimited popups, embeds and forms
- Email marketing and automation flows
- Drag-and-drop editing for both
Analytics & Data Management
- Custom dashboards for key business metrics
- Manage customer data and integrate with popular CRMs
This combination of breadth and simplicity makes User.com uniquely accessible for resource-strapped teams. As Malik, a founder of an upstart coffee chain shares:
“I don‘t have big budgets or big teams like the mega brands. With User.com, I can still punch way above my weight class. Their templates helped me quickly launch web chat, an automated welcome sequence, and exit-intent offers last month. Results already show a 23% increase in online conversions!”
If you need to consolidate budget while keeping up with bigger brands, definitely check out User.com‘s 14-day free trial.
Now for our last platform – one that takes real-time support interactions to the next level…
7. Crisp – Advanced Live Chat and Remote Assistance
Wrapping up our tour is Crisp – a messaging platform renowned for facilitating truly premium, white-glove support experiences. While they offer a full messaging suite with chat, email, bots and more, Crisp stands out for their differentiated real-time assistance capabilities.
The basics around Crisp:
- French company founded in 2016, now 110+ employees
- Raised $14M from leading EU investors
- Supports over 5500 businesses worldwide
The star of the show is Crisp‘s suite of tools for real-time remote support:
Remote Browser Assistance
- Visually engage to diagnose issues
- Guide customers in real-time
- Fill forms, navigate pages, and highlight elements
Screen Sharing
- See exactly what a customer sees
- Control device cursor movements
- Troubleshoot desktop apps with ease
These collaboration tools enable a level of support simply not possible over just chat or email alone.
As Kayla, an ecommerce store owner explains:
"When customers run into issues with orders, being able to see what they see and control things has been an absolute game changer. Refund requests are down 40% because now my team can easily fix little problems before they spiral. Customers are blown away when I can instantly help over chat without needing painful screen sharing apps."
For teams needing advanced real-time engagement, Crisp is a perfect fit. Their platform also scales to other messaging channels over time as well.
Key Factors When Selecting Your Platform
Now that you have the lay of the land for the top platforms, here are 5 tips for narrowing down your choice:
1. Define Your Primary Goals First
Get clear on the key objectives you want to drive through conversational channels – lead gen, customer support, retention campaigns, etc. These goals help align on ideal platforms.
2. Map Out Key Workflows
Diagram your target org structure, teams, systems and processes involved in executing conversational workflows. Finding gaps and bottlenecks will help refine platform criteria.
3. Size Up Your Stack
Take stock of your existing martech and sales tools like CRMs. Look for platforms offering native integrations and single sign-on to unify data and workflows.
4. Compare Plans and Pricing
Pricing varies widely – from $25 to $125+ per agent monthly. Factor in team size, use case complexity, toolset requirements and total cost of ownership.
5. Try Before You Buy
Nearly all platforms offer 14-day trials and free tiers to experience capabilities first-hand. Test 1-2 promising options with real teams, workflows and metrics.
Choosing the right platform requires upfront diligence – but pays dividends over time as your programs mature and scale.
Now that you know how today‘s top platforms stack up, let‘s briefly glimpse into the future…
The Cutting Edge: What‘s Next for Conversational Platforms
While the platforms we covered enable incredibly sophisticated messaging capabilities already, technology never stops advancing. Here are two exciting innovation frontiers to keep an eye on:
Democratized AI for Conversational Bots
Advances in computer vision, generative language models and reinforcement learning will soon make AI-driven messaging available to businesses of any size. Expect capabilities from sentiment detection to hyper-personalization to become plug-and-play for marketing teams. Exciting startups leading the way include DemandSage and Einstein.AI.
Multi-channel Convergence
Right now, many companies cobble together platforms across website, mobile, social media, ads and offline channels. Innovators recognize this fragmentation hurts customer experience and are actively building unified messaging ecosystems that operate seamlessly across every touchpoint. Players like Intercom and Freshworks are out front driving convergence.
While the possibilities seem endless, responsible innovation is just as crucial. As platforms grow more integrated into business operations, systemic issues like algorithmic bias, data transparency and stability concerns can amplify. We must balance exponential innovation with ethical application of these exponential technologies.
But by and large, conversational platforms mark a thrilling evolution in how sales, marketing and service teams engage audiences. I can’t wait to see the solutions you build and customers you connect using these tools!
Thanks for sticking with me on this industry tour – hopefully you feel empowered to find the right platform that moves your key programs to the next level. Drop me a line anytime with questions – would love to hear what your team ends up rolling out!
To your success,
[Your Name]