Talkative Responds to a Dramatic Shift in Feature Demand
October 16, 2020
This Quarter, UK-based Talkative saw an opportunity to adjust some business and marketing strategies as their target market of call centers was disrupted like so many others. From the start, the company has been positioned as a holistic website communications provider, with live chat as a flagship feature. More and more customers have been recognizing the need to modernize their voice-centric contact centers, and Talkative software is now seen as a leading solution. This is due to its full voice, video and web co-browsing capabilities for agents, as well as key system integrations with Mitel voice platforms and Salesforce contact management tools.
In many of those earlier sales engagements, the deciding factor for the customer was the ability to gain the web-chat automation. Agent video calling through their website was a decision driver for a subset of the customers, mostly in the retail sector. But thanks to COVID, that changed.
In a matter of days, the need for virtual face-to-face contact surged for all companies and demand for Talkative video calling features did along with it. The company experienced a 300% increase this Quarter in leads looking to acquire those capabilities. And the prospects had no time to waste — deployment had to be rapid in order to support the large numbers of contact center employees moving out of offices and into their homes.
Talkative seized the opportunity to help these companies and expand their own reach at the same time. Their software is already feature-rich and simple to deploy, including in a stand-alone mode. The ability to scale and address increased demand presented no issues. And importantly, the large increase in demands placed on the healthcare sector over this period meant those organizations could also benefit significantly from the features and services the company provided. The key work became repositioning the marketing emphasis, from web chat to video engagement regardless of agent location, in contact centers and healthcare facilities.
In no time, the company had their messaging updated, website landing pages optimized, and web copy reworked to ensure SEO and organic web search rankings were as high as possible. New digital content was also created for outbound marketing campaigns, including “The Ultimate Guide to Video Calling”, a substantial blog that spoke to many of the questions potential customers were likely to have.
In line with demand for the fastest deployment, a stand-alone install has become preferable. The ability to integrate with Mitel and Salesforce platforms is still as valuable as ever, but for the short term those steps have been deferred in many cases. So, in collaboration with key channel partners, new webinars were created to highlight not only the sophistication of the product, but also how fast it can be deployed and then evolved when needed.
In terms of supporting the healthcare industry, the key need was to be able to care for more patients and in a remote fashion. Talkative wanted to help, but with the requisite amount of sensitivity to the current realities. The result was a promotional campaign offering full use of the software for a three- month period, without charge. The program remains in effect, and one of the early adopters, a large hospice group, is now looking to expand their relationship with Talkative.
As things continue to evolve, Talkative continues to take stock of current and potential customer needs and ensure their internal strategies remain in alignment. As video agent engagement moved from a niche feature to a core reason to purchase, the lesson was not lost. Business models and plans are only solid until they are not. The trick is in how fast a company can react to changing market conditions, buying patterns, competition and so on. Talkative proved they are nimble and focused and have a solution set with sufficient value and flexibility to handle the latest challenges in a sustainable way. A very good sign for the future of the company. gettalkative.com