In our previous post, we talked about Conversational Marketing and how creating a live conversation experience online can help your business to grow reputably and sustainably. Now, let’s add Chatbots and automation to the process so you don’t waste your time with repetitive tasks.
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is a computer generated program that processes human conversations and allows users to interact with a digital device. A chatbot simulates a real-person conversation and can be implemented as an automated mechanism in your conversational marketing strategy. Driven by automated responses and AI, chatbots use natural language processing in order to respond to user requests which means that businesses can resolve queries from multiple users simultaneously, can generate leads and reduce the need for real-life agents.
How can you use chatbots for marketing?
When you give website visitors a way to instantly receive the information they are looking for, it can translate into higher conversion rates and online revenue. A chatbot ensures that your brand is available to engage with leads 24/7. A chatbot can, through a series of scripted questions, determine at what stage of the buying journey your customer is in. Then it can either disqualify visitors that are not ready to make a purchase or connect those that are ready with a sales representative, thus saving your sales team valuable time.
It can go a step even further. Instead of imagining chatbots as a replacement for live agents in a customer service or sales center, think of AI chatbots as a totally new opportunity. A strategically placed chatbot can be used as a product advisor and can enhance the virtual sales experience. You can give the customer the same tailored attention they would receive in a brick-and-mortar shopping experience.
This doesn’t mean you should remove all the forms from your site altogether. Just consider a chatbot as a backup lead generation opportunity. An alternative option for people who are not ready to give up all their contact data yet but are interested enough in your products to be curious for more information.
What does a typical chatbot user experience include?
There are three main touchpoints to consider when setting up a chatbot on your website:
- The first is the Conversation Starter, or Chatbot CTA. This is typically a button at the bottom right-hand corner of your website which accompanies a call-to-action such as “Chat with us”, “Ask us a question” or something product related. It is best if you personalize the experience by customizing the CTA to reflect the page that the user is on.
- The second step is a series of short questions that determine if the user is looking for advice on a product, customer support or is ready to make a transaction. This is where you can generate leads without sending your customers through a form. The chatbot can collect contact information and pass it on seamlessly to your CRM. If a customer is not ready to disclose their contact information, you can program your chatbot to easily answer any product or service related questions as a live FAQ situation.
- The last step is to connect the user to a live agent. A sales or service representative can take over the conversation at any point and will receive all the previously collected information to give them a full picture of what the customer needs. If there are no live agents available, the chatbot can schedule an appointment with a salesperson.
How can chatbots benefit your business?
Integrating a chatbot into your conversational marketing can bring multiple benefits to your business.
- You can save time for your sales or customer service teams.
- You can provide customers with a standardized response to product or service information
- You can optimize your sales process by automating the lead generation process.
- You can improve the quality of your leads by pre-qualifying them.
Learn how to setup a chatbot on your WordPress website here.
