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Wednesday, 06 January 2021

How to use Chatbots for Lead Generation?

Jordy Sterk

You've probably chatted online with a customer service representative before. It's an easy way to ask questions and you'll be helped quickly. Lately, more and more chatbots are being used for this kind of customer contact.

But what is a chatbot?

A chatbot is in fact a computer that answers your questions. By means of Artificial Intelligence, the computer can even formulate the best matching answer, allowing it to develop itself. And if the computer cannot formulate an answer, an employee takes over.

What are the advantages for your company?

Two important advantages are that the most common questions can already be answered by the chatbot and employees have more time for more complex questions or problems from customers.
But did you know that you can use chatbots to generate leads? In this article, we give you 7 tips on how to use chatbots to generate leads today!

1. Know your customer

Before you start using a chatbot, it is important that you know who your customer is. Only then you know what questions and needs they have. Try to put yourself in your client's shoes.

What questions are frequently asked?
What information are they looking for most?
What needs do your customers have?
What are the visitors' requirements on your website?

Buyer personas can help you a lot with this. You describe characters that could possibly be your customer in a detailed way.
And everything should be based on data. You can get this data for example from Google Analytics, your CRM system or market research. If you work out the target groups of your company in personas, you know much better, which questions you can expect, and which wishes you can respond to.

2. Connect targets to the chatbot and focus on data and KPI's

The success of a chatbot is difficult to determine if you did not set your goals and targets (SMART-Goals). Of course, you can easily measure the number of leads, but the process leading to it might be just as interesting.

For example, the number of interactions can be interesting. Maybe a certain page has a lot of repeat visits. Make the chat window pop up during such a repeat visit, inviting people to ask questions in an easily accessible way. This is guaranteed to generate more interactions than a passive chat window.
Also the number of chatters that eventually speak to a real employee can be useful to send. Both statistics can make the difference between someone leaving your website or a warm lead.

3. Think about the channels where you want to use the chatbot

The channels on which you use the chatbot are strongly related to the buyer personas and your goals. If you sell products or services to consumers, a chatbot on Facebook can be very valuable. Probably your audience is active there on a daily basis.

The channels on which you want to use a chatbot depend on where your target group is active. To determine this, you can use the buyer personas you have set up.

If you work for a B2B market, it might be a good idea to get your target groups on your website through good content. Use the chatbot there to respond to any questions or doubts they may have. Voice search is also an interesting development for chatbots that will certainly take off in the coming years. Think about using a chatbot via home assistants.

4. Focus on helping people, later on generating leads

Many marketers make the mistake of trying to convert website visitors to a lead far too early. Much better is to help people with questions and doubts they have.
Chances are they will end up on your website because they are looking for a solution to a problem. A popup or chat window that directly asks for contact information will not help them any further. Answers to their questions will. And your visitors expect faster and faster answers to their questions. Chatbots can play an essential role in this, because chatbots already have the answers ready. If your chatbot is able to answer the questions of your website visitors quickly, you'll make them excited to become a lead. Because you helped them first.

Another tip to generate more leads through a chatbot is to ask customer feedback about your website, service or product. Or even better, about your website visit himself. It gives them a sense of personal approach. Moreover, people tend to finish things off. So if you first ask easy questions and ask for personal information at the end of the conversation, people are more likely to give it.

5. Make your chatbot personal

You know that a chatbot is a very easy way to get in touch with your customer. Disadvantages are that it can be very impersonal and that people don't always know that they are talking to a chatbot. This is annoying when the bot gives an unexpected answer.

However, you can prevent this with the following points:

Default options: You give your visitors choices that include the most important topics.
Transparency: It is best to make it clear to visitors that they are dealing with a chatbot and that a real employee will be called in if questions cannot be answered.
Personalisation: Give the bot a nice name and a face and it immediately feels more personal.

You have several options to personalise your chatbot.

Other ways to increase the feeling of personal contact is by adding jokes and game elements. Remember, it should always match your brand's voice! If the chatbot can't answer a question, a real employee should be brought in immediately. This combines speed and personal contact.

6. Integrate it with other software

Integrations with other software help you make your chatbot more personal. For example, you can make an integration with your Marketing Automation or CRM system, so the chatbot has much more data of the conversation partner. This way, you can personalize the conversation based on visitor behavior or previous purchases.
But the chatbot is also possible to push data to the CRM or mail system. Using smart questions, the chatbot can already label your new lead in your CRM or mail system. Segmentation is then done automatically and faster.

7. Start today with a simple chatbot

Have you been considering building a chatbot for a while? Then start today! Many people think too much about possible questions people might ask. They come up with different answers and scenarios. Don't get stuck for too long in the design phase.
Our advice is: Start with the most frequently asked questions. Take time to test your chatbot in a closed environment. Then use the chatbot live and improve it with data. With DialogFlow, MobileMonkey, HubSpot Chatbot Builder, Botsify and Chatfuel you can build a chatbot within a day. And that without any programming knowledge!

Conclusion - Chatbots turn an informing customer into a converting customer!

A chatbot is the way to provide your website visitors with a quick response and warm them up to leave their details. However, it is important to know who your ideal customers are and what questions they face. Use the chatbot to focus on answering those questions. Be personal, connect with other software and start building your first chatbot today.

Do you have any questions about the tips on this page? Then contact us right now!

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