The good, the bad, and the better of marketing automation: from one-way messages to 2-way conversations
Bird
Aug 31, 2020
Marketing
1 min read
Key Takeaways
Traditional marketing automation has limits. Tools like Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Marketo excel at one-way, scheduled messages but struggle to convert them into live, conversational interactions.
Customers expect to reply. Modern audiences want to engage directly within the same messaging channel — not click external links or switch platforms.
Two-way messaging drives better outcomes. By integrating Bird’s Conversations API, Flows, and Inbox, businesses can seamlessly shift from marketing to sales to support — all inside a single chat thread.
Real-world proof. Similar conversational automation has improved experiences across industries — such as healthcare platforms that reduced costs and wait times with appointment-based messaging flows.
Unified engagement, not fragmented tools. Bird’s omnichannel stack lets teams collaborate across multiple apps (WhatsApp, SMS, Line, etc.) without losing message context or continuity.
From automation to conversation. Businesses can use Flows to respond to replies automatically, qualify inquiries, or route high-value conversations to live agents in Inbox.
Customer-first continuity. End-users experience an uninterrupted thread of communication, while agents see full conversation histories across all channels for better personalization.
Outcome: A consistent, human-feeling experience that transforms static campaigns into interactive, trust-building dialogues.
Q&A Highlights
What’s wrong with traditional marketing automation?
It focuses on sending messages, not holding conversations. Customers can’t easily respond within the same channel, making engagement feel one-sided.
Why are two-way conversations important?
They allow customers to act immediately — asking questions, confirming purchases, or resolving issues — without leaving their chat app. This improves conversion and satisfaction.
How does Bird make this possible?
By integrating channels like WhatsApp or Messenger into Bird’s Conversations API, Flows, and Inbox, businesses can manage both outbound campaigns and inbound replies in one place.
What’s an example of this in action?
A company can send a WhatsApp notification via Salesforce Marketing Cloud, let Flows handle automated replies, and seamlessly transfer complex inquiries to agents in Inbox — all within one thread.
Do agents see the full conversation?
Yes. Inbox shows every message from every channel, ensuring context isn’t lost as the conversation transitions between automation and human support.
How does this benefit customers?
They never have to switch platforms, reintroduce themselves, or repeat information — every interaction feels connected, fast, and personal.
What’s the bigger takeaway for marketers?
The future of automation isn’t about volume — it’s about connection. Turning campaigns into conversations builds stronger customer relationships and boosts long-term engagement.
Marketing automation platforms (e.g. Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Marketo, etc.) are great at sending 1 time emails or messages to individuals, at scale. But, how can you drive more conversational engagements with your customers?
The good
Marketing automation platforms (e.g. Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Marketo, etc.) are great at sending 1 time emails or messages to individuals, at scale.
You can build really complex journeys that react to user behavior and send messages at different times in the day, with thousands, even millions, of users going through the same automated journey at once.
The bad
The better
At Bird, we’ve spent years understanding customer communication and developing powerful tools for businesses to create amazing customer experiences: namely with conversations API, Inbox, and Flows.
When you enable a social channel, say WhatsApp, with Bird, the entire conversation will happen using our conversations API. Healthcare organizations are pioneering these conversational approaches, with DrDoctor's NHS patient experience transformation demonstrating how automated appointment flows can save millions while improving patient satisfaction. Any application listening to that conversation can contribute by receiving and sending messages.
This means that you can start the conversation from one (internal) platform and continue it on another one without the end user ever noticing the transition — providing that seamless marketing - to sales - to support experience, all on the customer’s preferred channel of communication.
What’s possible?
We’ve seen our users (and worked on some solutions of our own) that show off how easily businesses can create these new types of 2 way communication experiences.
For example, you can construct a journey with Birds’s Salesforce Marketing Cloud plugin that sends a WhatsApp notification to a customer that matches a particular audience.
A business could send a message to users immediately after signing up offering an easy channel for support, education, and even upsells/more purchases.
Flows would be listening to this conversation and be ready to handle the user’s reply:
And, where needed, it could smoothly pass this conversation to an agent waiting in Inbox, converting the conversation to a support case (or lead):
What the end user experience looks like
For the user, the conversation happens seamlessly, all inside their WhatApp account and at no point are they aware that they are transitioned between a businesses’ internal tools and platforms.
What the agent experience looks like
For the agent, once a customer starts a conversation they will have the entire conversation history (across messaging channels) as context for any future interactions.
What does the technical configuration look like
This is all possible through a combination of a few of our tools:
Off the shelf Salesforce Marketing Cloud connector with the WhatsApp channel activated
A WhatsApp HSM template approved to allow us to send users notification messages
A Flows flow that automatically handles messages handles for support and channel questions and forwards to an agent for pricing and purchasing inquiries
Inbox as a UI tool for our agents
Conclusion
We hope this was helpful and enables you to create great, conversational experiences for your users. If you want to know more about our marketing solutions, or our products like Flows and Inbox - let us know!
