Conversational Marketing vendor Drift is moving away from volume-based pricing and offering unlimited contacts for its chat platform.  Volume pricing places pressure on marketing departments to trim the number of contacts in their databases to stay below volume thresholds.  By moving to unlimited leads, marketers can better forecast their budgets and avoid panic as they approach volume limits.

“Why should companies punish you for growing?” blogged Senior Director of Demand Generation Kate Adams.  “After all, that’s the promise most software products these days make.  Use our service and you’ll grow your business faster.  Install our product and your conversion rates will skyrocket.”

“Because you’ve spent YEARS building up your database.  And now you need to decide if contacts that are 1 year old or 6 months old or 3 months old make the cut.  You’re literally washing money down the drain.  What if the leads you’re throwing in the trash to keep your marketing budget below your benchmark are actually just higher up in your funnel?  And require more nurturing and education about how you can help them solve their problems?”

Drift Senior Director of Demand Generation Kate Adams

Drift also announced a Drift Meetings feature which allows prospects to schedule meetings directly from the company website via a “book a meeting” call to action.  Meetings can also be booked by chatbots, and sales development reps can qualify a lead during a live chat and book meetings on behalf of account executives.

“With Drift Meetings, you can target your best visitors and ABM accounts, welcome them with a personalized message from the right rep, and let them instantly schedule a meeting right from your website,” says the firm.

Calendar seats are priced at $20 / seat / month.

Drift has 220 employees and 150,000 customers.