Chatbots have been considered an up-and-coming AI Technology for conversing with customers for a long time. But where are they now? Simply put, everywhere. According to Juniper's research, 50% of businesses plan to spend more on chatbots than mobile apps. It is because chatbots constantly help with lead generation. And if that wasn't good enough, here's something more significant, 1.4 Billion people are currently using Chatbots (Acquire). Chatbots today are being used as a business tool by every other business, small or big, for all kinds of activities. Chatbots help with marketing, Generating sales, interacting with customers, or simply improving customer experience. This article will be leaning towards more of the Generating leads aspect of chatbots. Find out how to optimally generate leads using chatbot automation!
What are Chatbots?
Chatbots are similar to humans in terms of interaction, being social, and today, even having a personality. So how do they differ? Chatbots, as the name suggests, are virtual bots capable of interacting with website visitors and app visitors 24x7, storing all the data automatically on your CRM, making them a great alternative to human agents that require compensation and rest. Chatbots will save your business the bucks. Period.
What is Lead Generation?
A lead is a person showing interest in your product or service. Generating leads means successfully grabbing the attention of prospective customers (leads) using great marketing strategies, nurturing them, and turning them into long-term customers. Lead generation is an essential part of marketing and being able to run a business. It is the process that comes right before making a sale, so it must get the attention it deserves. You can generate leads using various promotional channels to drive traffic to your landing pages. So you're wondering where do chatbots fit into this?
Different ways you can use Chatbots to Automate Leads
Chatbots can take on numerous roles in lead generation. They connect companies with more prospects, gather valuable contact information, and nurture them through the marketing funnel on their own. AI chatbots can also selectively choose prospects that are more likely to make a purchase.
Step 1: Generate leads
After installing a chatbot on your webpage, a new or returning visitor entering your website will trigger the lead generation chatbot with a proactive message, like greeting the visitor on the site. Generating leads would usually be done using discounts in the mail. Still, this outdated, annoying method would only cause your prospect to mark you as spam and move on. However, like in the old times, to gather the attention of a potential customer, the bot can offer a discount for a first-time visitor or promote a company newsletter subscription. Chatbots can also request a curious visitor to sign up for a webinar or engage with visitors to collect their email or phone number.
Step 2: Qualify Leads
You can also use lead generation chatbots to gather specific information from leads. This information can help a sales team determine how far they are in their buyer journey. A lead generation chatbot will be able to do this if set up with qualifying questions. These questions should parallel your Company's sales processes and SQL definitions. A lead generation chatbot can, for instance, start a conversation with a prospect by asking to give a budget and schedule and can do either based on the prospect's request. The lead generation chatbot can also send them directly to the sales team or continue the conversation if programmed to do so. Based on the answers to specific questions, chatbots can also showcase products or services that are relevant to the prospect.
Step 3: Retarget Leads
Think retargeting leads is pointless? Here are a few statistics to look out for to gain some perspective.
- Retargeting stats show that Conversion Rate can increase up to a massive 150%. (DataXu)
- Consumers are 70% More Likely to Convert after Retargeting. (Kenshoo)
An effective lead generation plan is a combination of different techniques and efforts. Chatbots naturally compliment a business strategy. Users can use email marketing to help move prospects down the funnel by providing something of value in the email, like videos or alerts about new blog posts. Lead generation Chatbots can also re-engage Facebook users who visited your business page and clicked through on your website but didn't convert. In lead generation, chatbots are a part of your efforts to influence customers' perception of your Company, address their needs, and convince them of the value of purchasing from you. And this can start with a simple targeted message.
How to Set up and Use a Lead Generation Chatbot
When planning and setting up a lead generation chatbot, there are several things to consider. Let's get you started with the absolute must of setting up a chatbot for lead generation. (Note that you can also use pre-built chatbot templates designed for Lead Generation)
Lead Generation through Chatbots: Define your objectives
Ask yourself, what are you ultimately trying to achieve with the chatbot? You should align your Company's business goals and objectives with your setup. Making a chatbot just for its sake might do more harm than good. Remember, everything on your website or App represents your Company's values.
Lead Generation through Chatbots: Define what qualifies as "lead"
To design your chatbot's flow and what questions it will ask, plan what information your sales team will need to qualify a lead. What questions and answers should your chatbot cover? Should it also cover irrelevant questions like a conversational Bot as BoiBot or Mitsuku would? It will depend on your objectives. Adjust it according to your marketing funnel. Perhaps you would want to collect either an Email address or phone number, or both. That's for you to decide!
Lead Generation through Chatbots: Define the Chatbot's Tone
Knowing the audience is a critical factor in defining the tone and terminology of the chatbot. Think of the tone as representing your brand's guidelines to deliver a consistent and meaningful message and build trust among the audience. The terminology is how your audience would usually interact with you, is the nature of the conversation goofy and conversational? Or is it a formal, respective tone? Consider these factors before designing the chatbot's personality.
Lead Generation through Chatbots: Decide how and where to target your audience
Where should your lead generation chatbot pop up? Your most visited site? Maybe the page that might seem confusing or prompt a visitor to look for help? A landing page is undoubtedly one of the best places to place a chatbot widget as it's the most visited page and can require guidance. Other popular options are- bouncing back from a previous page, campaign URL, and a traffic source. While targeting your audience, consider the visitor's geographical location, what device they are using - desktop or mobile, and how often they've been on your website.
Lead Generation through Chatbots: Use A/B testing to determine what works best
Testing will show you flaws and chat flow errors. It will show you which type of leads are more likely to respond to your chatbot's messages on that page and at what time. It will enable you to optimize your chatbot efficiently. Most Chatbot providers such as BotPenguin come with an in-built A/B Testing in the dashboard, making your task easier.
Lead Generation through Chatbots: Decide where your chatbot leads end up
Do you want to hand them over directly to your sales team? Which department should handle customer nurturing? It would be best to have this figured out before building a Chatbot to automate lead generation. Because you don't want your leads heading anywhere but where they belong–- your customer base. Give Integration with a CRM or marketing automation system a serious thought, as they will create a smoother handover process.
Wrapping Up
According to IBM, Chatbots can handle 80% of standard questions. So how can deploying them go wrong? There are multiple reasons to start using chatbots for generating leads. Chatbots will not only serve you 24/7/365 and save you money but also store leads for your team, qualify them and retarget them. At the same time, your agents are unavailable, which means your systems continue to collect data and generate leads while everyone sleeps. If you're thinking of implementing a lead generation chatbot that focuses more on your customer experience. At the same time, ensuring your sales goals aren't disturbed, don't hesitate to try out BotPenguin. It's free and easy to set up without knowing a thing about coding!
