Over the past few years, technology has emerged as a game changer. From blockchain to augmented and virtual reality, and IoT to Chatbots, we have seen adoption at every level from businesses to home use and so on.
AI chatbots particularly have changed the way businesses interact with customers. With the popularity and growth of chatbots, the question is whether it is worthy to invest in your digital marketing strategy.
Before we look at how digital marketers can benefit from chatbots, let’s have a look at few statistics to know the overall impact.
- Chatbots could save businesses up to £6 billion per year cross industries. (Juniper Research, 2017)
- By 2020, over 80% of businesses are expected to have some sort of chatbot automation implemented (Business Insider, 2016)
- 27% of consumers predict they would buy a basic item through a chatbot. (Drift, 2018)
- 48% of consumers would rather connect with a company via live chat than any other mean of contact. (HubSpot, 2017)
- 27% of consumers worldwide are very interested in artificial intelligence based tools. (HubSpot, 2017)
Seamless Communication with Website Visitors
People who visit your website are likely interested in availing your products or services. They may have concerns and need some assistance regarding products/services. This may include the benefits, pricing, shipment or discounts. Businesses either product or service based needs to address the concerns of customers without making them wait.
A few years back, customer sales team was dedicated to answering those questions. However, there were some limitations such as non-availability of services during weekends and wee hours of the day. Moreover, it was almost impossible for a company to employ dedicated support team 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
AI chatbots are here to address the problems of website visitors. You can set up a bot to talk directly to the customers. There is no way you can lose a customer because 57% of customers prefer live chat according to Econsultancy.
Without the need of a dedicated team of the sales rep, bots can prove to be an easy way of developing messaging environment. However, you need to make sure that it sounds like a human. Otherwise, people might get annoyed. For a better experience, make sure to include a profile picture and name the bot.
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Analyze Consumer Behavior
The power of bot is not limited to replying customers to their queries. It can be optimized to build better marketing strategies. You might be surprised but the fact is that chatbots can gather the information that can be accommodated to customize recommendations based on customer’s past buying and search behavior.
The chatbot automatically gathers the information as they talk to the customers, without letting them know. Imagine, if you ask a customer to fill out a short survey, will they do it? The majority of them will just ignore or often opt out of the website. This means that you are not able to collect data that might result in successful sales and devising marketing strategies in the future.
However, chatbots can learn and improve as much as they interact. It can also make the shopping experience better and customer friendly. For instance, if the customer asks about is there any deal available for a specific product, the chatbot will bring up the promotions and deals available at the store.
Selling Products Got Easier
Product selling is much easier with the help of chatbot. Create a bot and sell products through chatbot on its own. For instance, the bot can help the customers to find the products that they are interested in and thereon head to check out right from the interface.
The bot asks questions like what is your age, gender and style preference. The conversation will not let the customers feel whether they are talking to a bot or a human. Moreover, the bot can also help customers find related products and accessories that would further enhance the purchase. Thus, the bot is a great way to increase sales without taking the burden on your shoulders.
Increase User Engagement on Website
The good thing about chatbot is that they can let the customers stay on your website in a fun and entertaining way. They are dynamic and sets apart from all other forms of marketing. They are adaptable and keep them engaged in fun conversations. Moreover, they can improve the traffic of website by offering relevant links and information about the products and services.
Starting a conversation with the customer has never been easy. However, with the help of bot, it is possible where it acts as a sales representative that would welcome you as you enter the store. The bot asks specific questions that almost guarantees a response from the user. This ultimately leads to sales funnel that would bring sales and grow revenue of the company.
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Qualify Your Leads
Bots can be great for conducting market research and some of the companies have successfully benefited from bots to help them generate leads. Leads are not going to turn into customers after qualifying for the lead. They need some nurturing before they are ready to purchase. Nurturing the leads can be daunting. However, bots can help in doing so.
Chatbot can be integrated on your website that looks like a live chat. It will not only answer the inquiries of the customers but also help them in finding the product or service that suits their needs. Analyzing the pain points of the customers, the bot can help companies to know where those leads are in the sales funnel.
Conclusion
Digital marketers have to face tough competition in a world full of customers with diverse needs. Staying ahead of the competition is quite difficult, but not when you have a technology called chatbot. Stay ahead by finding what your customers want and how well you can optimize the data.
This article is written by Ray Parker. He is an entrepreneur and internet marketer with over 15 years of experience in Search Engine Optimization, Creative Writing and Digital Marketing with IQVIS. He has worked with several clients from all over the globe to offer his services in various domains with a proven track record of success. Follow him on Twitter.
