Dharmesh Shah explains how to delight customers: meet them where they want help, when they want it, and in their preferred format. HubSpot data shows live chat converts at 20 percent versus 0.7 percent for forms. Messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger and iMessage are now critical engagement channels, and chatbots can provide the 24/7 support customers expect.
Chapters
We ask people that make purchasing decisions, what information do you look at, what influences you when you make a purchasing decision? Top 2 things, word of mouth, customer referrals. Now this is of CEOs and other executives. We ask the same question of VPs and directors. I had the slides, took them out. Same thing for individual contributors. The top 2 in all cases, word of mouth, customer referrals. So what's the takeaway here? Referrals and word of mouth, essentially. So the customer drives a lot of the purchasing decision, and that's not super surprising. So then the question is, okay, we get that, so how do we create delighted customers? Like, what do we do? Simple but not easy, which is you deliver help to customers, engage them however they want, whenever they want, with whatever they want. So let's dig through that. Here's how not to help a customer however they want. So I get this message, Mr. Shah, we are calling regarding the message you sent us. First of all, I got this as a voicemail because I don't answer my phone, and I don't answer my phone because I hate phone calls with a fiery, burning rage. So here's the way it's supposed to work. So here's like, okay, if I tweet you and ask you a question, you tweet me back. If I Facebook message you, you message me back. If I call you, call emergency services, there is something medically wrong with me. I would never do that. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So Facebook released this data earlier this year in April that 1.2 billion, with a B, people are using Facebook Messenger. Not WhatsApp, not— just Facebook Messenger. Those people are sending upwards of a billion messages a month to businesses. Not to other people, not to friends, to businesses. Right now, that's what's happening. Anytime a billion people do anything, it's time to pay attention. And this is not one of those things where like, oh, build it and they will come. They're already here and they want to chat. Now this is internal HubSpot data about HubSpot's own customers and websites. If we put a form on a webpage that has content, if the person fills that form out, 0.7% of those people that filled the form out will eventually become customers. If instead we put the HubSpot Meetings app, which allows people to schedule a meeting with a salesperson, and if they indeed schedule that meeting, that number jumps to 13%. 13% of the people that asked for a meeting will eventually turn into customers. If instead we put chat on the website and say, oh, if you just want to chat with a salesperson right now, if they decide to engage and have that conversation, 20% of those people turn into customers. Now some of you are thinking, okay, well, Dharmesh, this is a bit of a sample bias, a selection bias, because depending on where in the journey they are, different things are going to appeal to them. And you are absolutely friggin right, there is a selection bias, and that's why we need these different modes of engagement. We want people to self-select into whatever it is that gets them further down the journey they're trying to do. If they want to talk to somebody, let's let them talk to somebody. If they want to schedule a meeting, let them schedule a meeting. If they just want to fill out a form, let them fill out a form so we can get the broad spectrum of engagement. That's the idea. So here's where we are. 40 years ago, you had to have a phone number. 20 years ago, you had to have a website. You couldn't be a business and not have a website. What's happening today, because billion-plus people are messaging, they are going to expect to be able to reach businesses over messaging apps, whether it's Messenger or WhatsApp. Apple just announced iMessage is gonna support business accounts, so you can have a business presence on iMessage as well. So all of the major messaging providers are all adding business accounts so you can have A business identity on these messaging apps. Helping customers whenever they want. Your business may not be open 24 hours a day, but as it turns out, the internet is. And what you would consider normal business hours don't really apply anymore. There are people like me that are up till 2 o'clock in the morning every night. We're just strange, right? But they— we buy things, as it turns out. The pushback I get on this is like, okay, well, Dharmesh, I get it. I mean, if I could respond to customer issues 24/7 a day, of course I would do that. But, you know, we're a small team, we can't afford to do that. And this is where software comes in. And of course, I'm talking about chatbots. Last piece, help people with whatever they want. We've all seen this little customer support on-site chat widgety thing. You click it, and here's an example conversation I've had. Click the thing, conversation goes, hello, how are you, having a good day? What is your customer account number? And I'm like, well, I'm not a customer yet, I just have a question on pricing and your terms. And they're like, well, you have reached the customer support chat line. I need your customer account number. But I'm like, I am not a customer. I would like to be a customer. But they're like, no, but you don't understand. This is the customer support chat line. So we should not expect customers to know our org chart. It's like, oh yeah, well, the customer support people spent money on this software that supports live chat. Those marketing schmucks, they didn't do that. And so therefore you can't ask marketing questions. No, that is not the customer's problem. We have to help them. With whatever it is they need help with.
