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Drift Reviews & Product Details
Drift is a cloud-based live chat, in-app messaging, and email management platform that consolidates critical features for sales and marketing teams. The platform offers customizable live chat widgets, email follow-ups for abandoned chats, conversation histories, email campaign automation, and an AI-powered chatbot. Among its key features include Drift’s in-app messaging that targets its customers with full-page takeovers and slider messages. Users can also create automated email campaigns with a range of triggers, for customer onboarding, churn prevention, and more.
| Capabilities |
AI
API
|
|---|---|
| Segment |
Small Business
Mid Market
Enterprise
|
| Deployment | Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based, Mobile Android, Mobile iPad, Mobile iPhone |
| Support | 24/7 (Live rep), Chat, Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support |
| Training | Documentation |
| Languages | English |
In the past 4 years that I have been using Drift, I have found it to be an incredibly valuable tool both for the company I work for now and the company I previously worked at. I like how quick and easy the UI is to use, Drift is easy to programme and adapt as things change for the business. It helps to create an easy flow and funnel for customers to go down at any level of knowledge and takes us forward with identifying and qualifying leads. It is also easy to pull up reports and the data is reliable/easy to digest. The UI is easy to onboard people onto also. Finally, the experience for both the rep and the customer is smooth and logical, this is a bot that almost anyone can interact with, with few issues/ dropoffs from confusion on both sides.
The only issue that we currently have with Drift is that we are starting to want to add processes and adapt things within the chatbots that are not possible on the level of Drift we currently have. We are ready to upgrade to the enterprise level at this point and would certainly get more out of the chat function if we did so. Any issues that I can think of with Drift normally come down to the level of software we have rather than Drift not having the functionality full stop. Otherwise, the only minute issue I can think of has just been the way drift is set up for US phone numbers etc as a default, otherwise, it's extremely reliable.
Drift allows us to create an automated funnel for site visitors that we can audit, adapt and control to create an authentic reaction with the company in line with our message. From this, we can identify potential leads quickly, capture data such as email addresses and widen our pipeline much further than traditional methods. We also offer an alternative communication option to customers which could be viewed as less time-consuming as they aren't having to put anything to one side to chat with us such as a phone call. They are connected to speak to the right person within the business and receive the experience and answers they need which cuts down the dropoff we may otherwise experience. The benefit to myself is that I can be a part of adding value and educating leads on the product right as they discover it, I can get them interested and excited for it right away which creates a greater sense of urgency to ultimately purchase. Though this is something that other chat functions do, i find that the data drift produces is reliable and that the interface is user friendly for customers and also visually pleasing.
it is important to connect with prospects while the lead is hot and they are interested - drift allows that
some routing issues with calendar meetings
allowing us to connect with prospects across the globe even when offline
Drift is been extremely helpful to drive meetings by connecting me as an SDR to prospects who browse the site. I have had a lot of prospects that have been thankful for Drift connecting us as there is so much content on the website and it can be overwhelming to explore alone. With Drift I can provide a helping hand and get them to engage with the content that they are interested and can create pipeline by connecting them with our Account Reps.
Something that can happen with Drift is children or internet trolls sometime go searching for websites with Drift Bots to screw with the people on the other end. Occasionally it is a good laugh but typically it takes away from our day and can mess with the rotation.
The main problem that Drift solves for us is easing the process of evaluating and buying our tool. It give our prospects the opportunity to engage with us on their terms to get the assistance they need in the process.
The Drift video tool is a major advantage
Prospect's location isn't always accurate
Being able to connect with prospects at any time through the automatic scheduler. This way, when I'm asleep, prospects from all over the globe can still book time with me and connect with me and I will wake up to a meeting already set up without having to reach back out to them.
I like the flexibility in creating the playbooks and the support I have received from Drify along the way. John Cole has been indispensable in helping us re-work existing playbooks and advising on best practices for new ones.
We currently do not have an Account Manager and only had limited contact with the previous one. It would be nice if that could be rectified and addressed. We have plans for how we want to use Drift but no one to discuss those with.
When I took over managing our Drift account, it was not set up correctly and only had one usable playbook. Since I have been working with John, we now have all the Sales reps added and multiple playbooks active.
Drift is an excellent tool for integrating conversational marketing into our remit. We can connect with customers quickly and efficiently and have in-app reporting to assess the effectiveness of Drift as a tool. It's transparent, innovative and effective. We have seen overall UX improve as a result and we see higher conversions on the site.
Drift requires a little bit of training and insight before use but that's normal for a new marketing technique and tool. Overall there are very few downsides to the service.
We use Drift to ensure that our leads are collected in real-time. Rather than hoping a user completes a form fill we have our Drift bot fire after a set period of time on a page and the automated playbook is designed to help users there and then to either navigate the site or connect with a sales representative.
They organised sessions to improve and update our playbooks with great support and best practices. Changing and updating our hooks to get better engagement. Great integrations and goals which can connect to our CRM
Theres no real downside to drift as it is a great and easy platform to track leads and prospects whilst building personalised experiences for users. Cannot find a downside
Engaging and identifying users on our site. Drift highlights the key accounts allowing a salesperson to talk to them or guide them down the funnel and the prospects own pace
The tool is strong, easy to implement and continually build. That said, our experience with onboarding, support, and training are all stellar. A great tool cannot stand alone and Drift is amazing on both fronts.
The UI for configuration is a bit tricky for navigating. Drift takes feedback and takes action so I would not be surprised if there's improvements already planned.
Web site chat. It takes our personalization to the next level and helps us to meet the customer/potential customer where they are at.
Drift are constantly releasing new features for their product suite which allows us to constantly level-up and improve how we're engaging with our prospects and customers.
With the abundance of features, comes complexity. Managing the Drift instance is a full-time job and takes a lot of work to build and maintain. That being said, the positives outweigh the negatives.
Drift allows us to engage with our users, faster. It offers another path to conversion - every user behaves differently, some want to chat, some want to view a calendar to book a meeting, some want to fill in a form - Drift gives us those extra avenues to capture the user's attention.
Drift's integrations make the platform extremely useful. We use the Salesforce integration for tracking the opprotuinity influence, getting background on the account visiting the website and connecting the Drift chat transcripts with the leads. We use the Google Analytics integration for event tracking for on-page engagement. We use the 6Sense integration for personalization and connecting the bots with campaigns.
I dislike the frequent upsell conversations from the account managers. I recognize that this is extremely common for b2b software, but our budgets are planned a year out, and some discussions need to wait.
Drift is helpful in connecting our pre-sales team with interested website visitors when they are on the website. The bots help with answering common questions and the live chat help with getting the right answers to sales-oriented questions.