Customer chatbots are without a doubt one of the fastest-growing components of the rapidly emerging automation trend… and yet they’re rarely discussed outside of the boundaries of customer service.

Sure, chatbots and customer service go together like cheese and wine, and this innovative form of technology has certainly revolutionized how businesses communicate and build and maintain relationships with their customers.

But by failing to further explore and examine how chatbots could integrate with other areas of business, organizations are depriving themselves of a unique opportunity to drive operational efficiency and derive greater value from their marketing efforts.

One area where the benefits of chatbots are commonly overlooked is lead generation. Could chatbots actually help businesses to identify potential customers? Absolutely.

And not only that, but chatbots could also help to improve the experience of qualified leads, and effectively manage leads that need a little extra push in the right direction. They’re actually one of the most creative ways to generate leads in today’s market.

Data Capture

Let’s start with the basics, and with one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of generating traffic and leads today: data capture. Data capture is the spark igniting all new lead gen activity, but we all know that data capture forms have become a tricky area to navigate.

At a time when online safety and security awareness is rising, willingness to complete online forms is naturally declining. In fact, research shows that 81% of people have abandoned an online form after starting to fill it out. This is resulting in one very prominent shared goal across many businesses: get more business leads.

Enter chatbots. Lead generation bots give a much-needed human touch and conversational feel to the more traditional and generic data capture forms, which are fast becoming a thing of the past. These innovative website chatbots make visitors want to share their details, and they work to remove that initial obstacle to lead generation.

But what do chatbots do with this information…?

Streamlining Processes

Data capture isn’t for nothing. This is used to enable chatbots to streamline operational processes and route conversations efficiently through the right channels, towards the right people, at the right time.

If you’ve ever had a situation where your sales staff has accidentally got tied up in the midst of a support query, you’ll understand exactly why effective lead routing is so vitally important. So… how do chatbots manage to do it?

It’s all based on artificial intelligence — AI — technology. The bot is programmed to pick up on keywords and phrases so that they can direct conversations before they even reach your staff. The result? Accuracy.

Chatbots put the right people in the right places to provide sales teams with more opportunities to engage with qualified leads.

And with lead gen being one of the biggest goals for today’s marketers and sales teams, having an additional layer of analysis and support is always welcomed!

Lead Analysis

So as we briefly touched on above, the way that chatbots can route users to the right department or the right team is through an automated collection of data; the bot collects data from the user’s initial inquiry, and analyses this to determine the best course of action.

So this leads us straight into an important question: If a chatbot can collect this sort of initial data, surely it’s capable of collecting more advanced data?

And it can. Not only can it do it, it can do it well. After all, there’s no ‘off the rack’ solution for chatbots. Each is built specifically for individual business needs, with the ability to input characteristics and criteria that your business uses to assess lead quality.

By asking strategic automated questions, and understanding what to do with the answers, chatbots can auto-qualify leads to ensure that sales and marketing teams are being passed only those who are in a position to convert.

And those that aren’t? Once again, chatbots can handle it. Those that aren’t ready to convert can be redirected to another action. This could be further informational or educational resources on your site.

Ultimately, chatbots are a way to automatically connect high quality leads with your team, and easily provide additional information or resources for lower quality leads to ensure that a positive user experience is offered for every single visitor to the website.

Always On

Chatbots can even capture data from users before they’ve ever even interacted with the bot, which can work to generate tailored, personalized experiences which place users at the right part of the conversion funnel, separating sales qualified leads and marketing qualified leads from leads that require more attention.

It’s the online equivalent of ‘press 1 to speak to…’, basing its approach on where users have been directed from — for example, PPC ads, organic search results, or backlinks — to assess the quality of the lead and handle the lead appropriately on behalf of the team.

Perhaps best of all, chatbots can do this even when your sales or marketing team can’t. Customer behaviour is evolving, and today’s audiences expect much more from the businesses they choose to partner with. They’re looking for an ‘always on’ experience, and with a chatbot, you can be there for your customers, even when you’re not.

 Chatbots form an ‘always on’ data capturing source to be there when your potential leads are, whenever that may be. And they’re capable of handling multiple conversations at once, getting even more qualified leads through to your sales team. And if no one’s available? No worries. Chatbots can schedule call backs easily.

Supporting Existing Processes

Ultimately, chatbots aren’t intended to replace sales or marketing staff in their lead generation efforts, but instead support businesses as they work to derive more value from their human resources.

Chatbots are good, but they’re not human; they can’t ask the more in depth and complex questions that are sometimes needed to encourage action. Your sales and marketing teams can… but they need the time to do so.

Chatbots handle the more predictable and mundane aspects of lead generation, leaving your staff with more time to focus on those users deemed most likely to convert, helping to boost sales and profits. Of course, chatbots are also the ideal solution for low cost, efficient, and effective lead nurturing, too… but that’s a topic for another time!

Next year, 80% of all businesses are expected to use chatbots in one form or another, according to Chatbot Magazine’s 2019 Global Trends and Analysis report. But just how many of them will think to incorporate chatbots into their lead generation strategy?

If you’re keen to derive the most value from the technology available, get in touch with our team today at [email protected] to learn more about how chatbots can help your business thrive in an ever-changing, hectic, and competitive market.

ConvertoBot is a leading chatbot website and social media bots platform. Set up a free account today.

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