5 Compelling Reasons To Use Chatbots
We have all heard about AI. It's a buzz word these days with the likes of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerburg debating it. It's the next thing as Jeff Bezos has mentioned recently with no human workplaces. An aspect of AI and bots that I want to touch on is chatbots. We can use them in marketing and it's important we do.
I don't want to dive into implementation now - that comes separately. First, we need to agree on the need to use them if you've not already started. I want to give you 5 compelling reasons to start using chatbots:
#1 Active Communication Method
One would say that telephoning is an active communication method. The prospect phones you to talk about buying a product or service or getting more information. It's happening right now. Well, the same goes with the chatbots.
You are opening up an other communication channel to engage more prospects. It can lead to better results for those "hot" ones that are ready and hungry for more information. This is not to say email doesn't work, but email is more passive communication. You don't want to necessarily have a hot prospect start email unless they have been informed and believe they are taken care of.
#2 Flexible and Efficient Lead Generation
By engaging the prospect you can turn a prospect into a lead. You have a chance to grab them and put them into your sales pipeline. Of course, I am not suggesting you will definitely close a deal. What I am saying is you can move them to a further stage in their buyer's journey. You move them along the journey by giving them relevant information.
On the hand, you can also exclude a prospect that is not serious about buying. Or, you can exclude a prospect that doesn't fit your business model. Depending how your bot is setup, you can move the prospect outside of the pipeline. However, you can do it in such way to re-engage them to consume more content. In consuming more content, they may become a relevant prospect for you to consider later.
Ultimately, you have the freedom to make that choice based on the paths you configure. Remember, the path you choose guides your prospect in a specific way. Your decisions of how you proceed should be based on goals-based desired outcomes.
#3 Extend Your Brand Storytelling
The chatbot can continue your brand's story. It can achieve this objective depending upon how configuration. If setup in such way, then it can achieve two goals. The first goal is purely answering questions to give information. The second goal is telling the story through answering questions in a conversational way. That story is infinitely scaleable. This means, you can continue to expand out your story as time goes on.
This storytelling is also about how you brand the chatbot. When we will discuss setup and implementation, I will also talk about branding.
#4 Enhance Your Facebook Marketing
Now, if you don't use Facebook, let me provide you a couple of reasons why you should start:
- Nearly 2.07 billion user
- 1.15 billion mobile users
- 307 million users are in Europe
Assuming that you are using Facebook, the platform allows you to install bot applications. You could install it on your business page, or your personal page. Either way, you enhance your Facebook marketing strategy by engaging potential prospects and leading them somewhere. You can choose either to lead them to your website or engage with them to proceed via Facebook.
Why would you want to miss tapping into a 2 billion users market?
#5 Logical and Free To Set-up
You need some logic and patience to setup. It may take you a few trials and errors, but it's do-able. There are certain applications out there that you can use for free to setup. Of course, I am not saying it will yield you the best results, or provide you all the necessary features. Nevertheless, you can start with it as a point of reference until you master the technique and skill of chatbots.
Why pay for something unnecessarily until you have the setup correct and required 'know-how'?
We have covered five compelling reasons that only scratch the surface. I leave you a chance to think in more detail about the concept. In doing so, you may already start to see how the bots can increase your marketing ROI.
I don't guarantee that you will have massive results right away. However, it's a continuous work in progress. You have to modify the chatbot to evolve with your market, target audience, and what you want to achieve.
Key Takeaway: Chatbots are becoming a mainstream must have. They can provide many benefits such as efficient lead gen, prospect engagement, and brand storytelling. Their storytelling ability is scaleable. They can also be programmed in a way you believe is needed. The conversation paths should be built out based on logical conversations and goals-based outcomes.