Online marketers are aware of the importance of lead generation for businesses, so they employ different tactics and tools to improve the process. Automation and chatbots have become increasingly prevalent in the industry, assuming various tasks that were previously carried out manually by typical users. However, it is worth exploring how chatbots can be utilized for lead generation and the benefits they provide.
What is lead generation?
Lead generation refers to the process of generating interest or inquiries from consumers about a company’s products or services in advertising and marketing. Leads can be generated for various purposes including building a list, acquiring e-newsletter subscribers, or obtaining sales leads. The methods used to generate leads are typically encompassed within advertising, but they can also originate from unpaid sources like organic search engine results or referrals from current customers.
How can chatbots help in Lead Generation?
Chatbots can enhance customer service and also contribute to sales by potentially increasing conversion rates by up to 25%, as per Chatbotslife.com.
If we consider the data specifically related to chatbots, combining it with live chat enhances the impact. As per Vtldesign.com, 38% of customers made a purchase due to a live chat interaction. Additionally, if we were to evaluate the effectiveness of a lead generation chatbot, the following points should be taken into account:
It helps you understand the audience
When you are selecting a gift for your close friend, it is easy because you know them well. Similarly, selling products to customers can be difficult when you don’t know their preferences. However, a lead generation chatbot simplifies this process by allowing you to understand your audience. It helps you identify the consumer’s product interests, likes, and dislikes, which improves the commitment of the lead. Through surveys, questions, and quizzes, the chatbot collects data and personalizes the user experience. Additionally, a lead generation chatbot can also provide insights into your best and least effective goods. To generate a lead, an eCommerce store can utilize a sales chatbot.
Segments the audience
Segmentation is crucial in ensuring that your content remains relevant and also enhances your leadership generation strategy. The experience of customers may be compromised if a tour package, suitable for Indian nationals, is recommended to American residents. Your chatbot will segment the audience based on various factors including demographics, interests, age, and gender, using the data you have obtained.
If a consumer falls into a certain category, you can address the solution you have for that segment. For instance, if a user celebrates Christmas, your lead generation chatbot can display the top gifts for customers to give during Christmas. This can have a significant effect as it specifically targets the audience with an appropriate solution, helping you to nurture and retain the lead.
Builds Relationships with Customers
The foundation of a relationship is trust. To help users gain confidence, a customer support chatbot communicates with them regularly and provides direct assistance. This creates a connection and gives users the belief that they can always depend on a product. This is particularly beneficial for lead generation. Chatbots are relied upon because they are not pushy and prioritize the customer’s preferences. By offering customer support through a chatbot, you can address any issues related to the shopping experience or account. There are various approaches to chatbot lead generation, but this is the recommended one. Using chatbots to increase lead generation allows for the establishment of a long-lasting relationship with customers.
Replaces manual forms
Filling out forms has become a boring and unappealing task. However, chatbots have found a clever way to replace forms effectively. As the conversation progresses, the chatbot asks for user details, easing the pressure and making the information gathering process more streamlined. This ultimately enhances your lead generation strategy, as customers no longer have to exert effort to fill in their data. Users have found it easy to provide information, and clients are not annoyed by the chatbot’s lead data collection. To create a lead generation chatbot, make sure it can ask for the client’s name, email, phone, address, and other relevant details. Additionally, offering autofill options can minimize the amount of typing required and expedite the process further.
Educates the audience
In the cycle of lead generation, knowledge plays a crucial role. The consumer’s purchase is dependent on their understanding of the product or service. Utilizing a chatbot simplifies this process, which is why many companies employ chatbots to educate their audience and increase subscription rates.
5 ways to build a lead generation funnel through chatbots
Attract and connect with your audience
To start constructing your lead generation funnel, the initial step involves attracting and establishing a connection with your intended audience. This specific step cannot be fully accomplished solely by using the chatbot.
In order to attract more customers, it is important to provide your audience with something that is both unique and attention-grabbing. This can be achieved by offering high-quality content that is likely to pique their interest. In the realm of digital marketing, this strategy is commonly known as using lead magnets.
As the users are engrossed in the content, the chatbot has the opportunity to distribute a message featuring a lead magnet.
It is possible that your audience may find this interesting and choose to provide their details in order to obtain the lead magnet.
If your chatbot is a Facebook Messenger chatbot, you have the option to request permission to message the users and obtain access to their public profile. Another possibility is to request their name and email address in order to continue the conversation.
Engage the lead
After finding a way to reach the lead, it is important to actively involve the lead in order to increase the likelihood of them converting. It is important to note that having just the contact information is only a small part of the entire picture. Before the lead can be beneficial, it must be evaluated for suitability.
Therefore, what approach can you take to accomplish this?
There are two methods you can use to accomplish this.
Now that you have their email address, you can continue the conversation either through the chatbot or by engaging with the lead via emails.
You may ask, why are emails chosen?
Engaging with the lead through emails might be a good option since email marketing has a high ROI of up to $40 for every dollar spent on it, implying that prospects might respond positively to it.
To ensure that the lead remains warm, the next step is to engage them in order to learn more about them.
One way to segment them is by asking them relevant questions.
By asking about their marketing budget, you can determine if they are a freelancer, an agency, a small company, or an enterprise.
By obtaining such information, it becomes possible for you to enhance personalized customer experiences and improve the likelihood of converting them.
Ask qualifying questions
After initiating contact with the lead, you can proceed to inquire about their qualifications. The use of chatbots alleviates this task by allowing them to pose questions in a conversational manner, instead of requiring the lead to complete lengthy forms.
If you use either AI-powered chatbots or regular ones, it is important to aim for a quick process. A method to achieve this is by incorporating buttons.
What does this do?
By adding buttons for the responses, the lead only needs to click on the buttons instead of typing out the answers. This offers a win-win situation as it guarantees consistent data without any variation in answers and spellings.
You can display the next relevant question based on the answer to each question, which can assist in qualifying and segmenting the leads into highly specific groups.
Add the data to your CRM
After segmenting your leads into various categories and gathering their information, the next step is to input the data into your CRM or a spreadsheet.
Chatbots also excel in this area.
Numerous chatbot platforms provide integrations with well-known CRMs, email clients, and even Google Sheets.
By thinking in a systematic manner, you can rephrase the following text without altering its meaning: This process can assist you in achieving full automation.
The chatbot automatically transmits and registers all information received to the respective application. Refer to the article on CRM for start-ups for more details.
Set up human takeovers
During the process of segmenting leads, you may come across enterprise leads that require particular attention from you.
In this type of scenario, you should be able to choose to control the conversation in order to prevent the lead from escaping.
In situations like these, it is advisable to establish triggers that will cause the chatbot to prompt the transfer of the conversation to a human agent.
If the enterprise account has a threshold of 100 users, when the lead enters a number higher than 100 in response to the chatbot’s question, the conversation will be transferred to a human agent.
By thinking in a systematic manner, it is possible to ensure that enterprise clients receive tailored services that address their specific problems.
BONUS: Key benefits of chatbots for businesses and customers
Why are chatbots essential for businesses? This infographic demonstrates the financial benefits of chatbots and how they improve customer satisfaction for clients.
1. Generate leads
Your chatbots can begin gathering leads for your marketing team even before the chat officially starts. They accomplish this by prompting visitors to provide their information before commencing the chat.
Another benefit of using a chatbot is its ability to evaluate potential leads before transferring them to your sales agents or service team. By asking questions pertaining to the customer journey, the bot can determine which leads align with specific products or services you offer.
To save time for your agents and determine the stage of the sales funnel, the bot can ask “what is the occasion?” when dealing with customers in the gift box business with various packages for different occasions.
2. Increase sales
By showcasing your new products and providing discounts to attract potential clients, chatbots have the ability to convert first-time website visitors into new customers, thereby increasing sales for your business.
In addition to aiding clients in finding what they are seeking, chatbots also proactively send notifications to visitors of a website, facilitating a faster purchase decision process. These notifications may consist of ongoing offers or updates pertaining to the company.
A retail chatbot can be utilized to provide personalized product recommendations and assist in placing orders, making it one of the use cases for this benefit. Moreover, chatbots can guide visitors through the sales funnel and provide support such as helping with delivery tracking and other forms of assistance.
3. Save costs
One more crucial advantage of having a chatbot is the cost savings it provides. It has the capability to automate various daily tasks such as responding to frequently asked questions and scheduling appointments. As a result, your customer support team can focus on handling more challenging inquiries.
Implementing a chatbot is a cost-effective alternative to hiring employees for individual tasks or developing a cross-platform solution for handling repetitive tasks. It allows for reductions in staff requirements since only a few agents are needed to supervise activities and intervene when necessary, while the bots enhance the speed of operations.
For instance, if your company has multiple customer support representatives, the monthly cost of each representative is $2,000. However, if you opt for a vendor-provided chatbot, you will only need to pay approximately $40 per month for an unlimited number of chatbots. By the end of the year, this would save your company thousands of dollars in revenue.
4. Improves customer engagement
You can utilize chatbots as virtual assistants to assist your clients and enhance customer engagement. By offering a more interactive experience, bots allow your clients to engage with the chatbot and receive personalized support, rather than navigating your ecommerce platform.
Bots deliver information in smaller portions and customize it according to the user’s input, resulting in a more personalized and targeted interaction. Consequently, clients are more inclined to stay engaged and obtain a higher level of knowledge compared to reading a monotonous knowledge base article.
According to research, companies that interact with customers on social media tend to receive 20% to 40% more spending from them. This emphasizes the significance and profitability of providing immediate engagement to your website visitors.
5. Provides conversational marketing
One more advantage of having chatbots for your business is the ability to incorporate them into your marketing plan. Chatbots designed for marketing purposes can suggest products, process orders, and guide customers through the sales process using AI-driven conversations.
By thinking in a systematic manner, you can rephrase the following text without changing the meaning or omitting any information: It is possible to utilize the data obtained by bots in your email marketing campaigns and tailor future customer interactions accordingly. Additionally, bots can bridge the gap between when a customer expresses interest in your products and when a sales representative becomes involved in the conversation.
If a potential customer visits your website and doesn’t complete the checkout process, you can have a chatbot appear after a certain amount of time. The chatbot can recommend using an interactive spinning wheel that offers discounts and other promotions to the visitor. This interactive feature adds enjoyment for the user. By spinning the wheel, they receive a discount code for your latest collection. They may likely consider it a missed opportunity if they don’t use the code, leading them to proceed with their purchase. As a result, you successfully secure a sale.
6. Decrease bounce rate
The bounce rate of your website is mainly influenced by the level of engagement of users when navigating through your content. It represents the proportion of visitors who cease browsing your site immediately after accessing the initial page.
A chatbot’s advantage lies in its ability to simultaneously entertain and engage your audience, while also providing assistance. By combining these elements, it can prolong users’ time on your website, enhance search engine optimization (SEO), and elevate the level of customer care you offer.
If your bounce rate is high, it indicates that potential customers are unable to find what they were searching for and consequently choose to go to your competitors. In order to address this issue, a chatbot can be employed to appear just as a visitor is preparing to leave. The chatbot can then extend assistance in locating the desired information or provide the visitor with a discount code.
7. Gain customer insights
In addition, chatbots have the capability to gather customer data, including their name, email address, and other details. Furthermore, it is possible to integrate a customer satisfaction survey into the chatbot’s discussion to assess the level of satisfaction customers have with your brand.
Furthermore, chatbots can gather customer feedback with the intention of enhancing your products and services based on the customer’s preferences. This can be achieved by reviewing the chats and identifying recurring patterns.
In the event that a particular landing page is not performing well, one option is to use your chatbot to engage visitors by conducting a survey. This will enable you to determine the reasons behind potential customers leaving and potentially offer exclusive deals to enhance conversion rates.
8. Help with recruitment
Your HR department can also benefit from utilizing chatbots. They can be employed to automate various recruitment procedures, such as responding to inquiries from candidates and keeping them updated.
If you are hiring for a customer service representative position, chatbots can handle the majority of candidates’ inquiries about the recruitment process and your expectations. As a result, your HR department can concentrate on other recruitment-related tasks.
9. Lower the number of requests for the human agents
One of the advantages of chatbots in customer service is that they are effective in resolving issues, as reported by over 87% of customers. Additionally, they have the ability to greatly reduce the number of requests directed towards human representatives.
The utilization of bots to handle certain customer inquiries can bring about positive effects on both customer satisfaction and the well-being of your representatives. Instead of being overwhelmed with the pressure to provide prompt responses, agents will have the opportunity to dedicate more time to thoroughly address each request. Consequently, this will enable you to better cater to your clients and enhance their perception of your brand.
Benefits of chatbots for customers
In order to sustain the excellent outcomes of chatbots, it is insufficient for your business to solely reap the benefits from them. Equally important is ensuring the satisfaction of your clients. Here’s how chatbots can assist you in accomplishing this.
1. Available for customers 24/7
Chatbots are accessible around the clock, allowing customers to ask questions and receive immediate responses or be directed to the webpage with the relevant product.
Imagine your customer is browsing your website late at night for shopping, but they are unable to find the specific model of the product you are selling. Since it is late at night, they are unable to reach your support team. However, at this moment, the bot appears and provides assistance. Eventually, the customer successfully finds the desired product and proceeds to place an order, feeling satisfied with the support received. Doesn’t this scenario depict excellent customer service?
2. Multilingual support
One of the benefits of chatbots for a customer is that they are available in many languages. Therefore, no matter which language your customer is most comfortable with, they can receive proper support.
If the vendor offers multiple languages, you can program the bots to be compatible with each one. Assuming you have a customer base that spans across different countries, you can assist them in their own languages to fulfill their expectations. By doing so, clients can articulate their issues more clearly and receive valuable support.
3. Better personalization
Customizing messages and providing personalized customer service pays off, as 44% of buyers become repeat customers when they receive a personalized experience.
Chatbots have the ability to enhance communication by adding a personal touch. This is achieved through their natural conversations with clients, which result in an interactive one-on-one experience. In addition, they can offer personalized recommendations for products and services based on the responses of the visitor.
4. Easy checkout
Chatbots have the ability to either accept orders directly from the chat or guide the client to the checkout page in order to finalize their purchase, effectively reducing the steps a potential customer needs to take during the checkout process. As a result, this decreases any obstacles encountered before making a sale and enhances the overall user experience.
A chatbot allows clients to order a pizza by selecting their preferred type, size, and any additional items. Afterward, they are directed to the checkout page with their order ready for payment. The process is simple and efficient.
5. Proactive customer service
Many companies have a tendency to engage in passive customer communication, wherein they solely react to clients without taking the initiative to start the interaction. However, offering proactive customer service can lead to a more positive perception of brands, as approximately 68% of shoppers hold a favorable view towards such brands. You can leverage this advantageous situation by employing chatbots.
