Chatbots, the self-learning computer programs, are the future of marketing. And there goes that fluff line that we, as marketers, hate.
How about, “It can improve customer experience and remove the need for redundant tasks in your schedule?”
Wait, what? Oh sure, we need numbers. Marketers talk numbers, after all.
Well, let me explain how chatbots, which you’re still not using as of now owing to the fact that you’re reading this post, are already increasing revenue for businesses and decreasing the time spent by an average marketer in doing his daily tasks.
Also Read: Top 5 Types of Chatbots For Solving Business Problems
With an 11% increase in booking rate, Sephora, a well-known cosmetics brand, propelled over 600,000 interactions and had in-store bookings generate at least $50 worth of sales on average by the clients who made reservations through their chatbot.
Brands like Dominos and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines are also using chatbots for placing orders and booking tickets, respectively, improving their customer experience and saving money on personnel cost. (Source)
On e-commerce websites, 57% of the buyers prefer live chat. (Source)
71% internet users and shoppers prefer personalized ads. (Source)
CNN has a newsbot - a chatbot that sends personalized news to people.
Covergirl has launched Kalanibot - it’s a chatbot version of Kalani Hilliker, a unique branding attempt by the company that has got a great response.
Chatbots for marketing are more common than you think, and you’re missing out on a big opportunity if you haven’t started leveraging the potential of chatbots.
So what are the possible ways to use chatbots for marketing? How can it make your life easier? Let’s take a quick look.
5 Effective Uses of Chatbots for Marketing
1. Live Chat on Websites - Customer Service & Lead Nurturing
51% customers expect businesses to stay online 24/7. It’s a nightmare for a small business with limited resources. Having 24/7 chat support is expensive, and you’re losing out on leads and sales if you don’t have it.
Enter chatbots. They start by being able to answer all the FAQs and then, through use of machine learning, adapt and learn to serve your customers better, so much so that your customers won’t even realize they’re talking to a computer program.
Also Read: 9 Best Uses Of Chatbots For Restaurants
The bot can capture leads for you, filter the incoming messages according to where the person is in the sales funnel and cater to them accordingly.
It can even nurture your leads until the last step - where human intervention is needed just to close the deal.
H&M, a clothing company, is already using this to drive customers to the right products and improving sales.
2. A Research Assistant
Any marketing expert despises the endless hours spent on research and everyone knows there’s no other way around. Not until now.
Your time spent on research can be significantly reduced by a chatbot that could gather all the relevant information on a subject, compile it, and present it to you.
‘Growthbot’ is already a popular digital marketing assistant that can keep track of latest social media & SEO trends, do competitor research for you, look for prospective leads, and find all the fresh content that needs your attention. Life of a marketer would be so much easier with chatbots.
Chatbots can also help you detect where is the customer in the sales funnel and classify leads accordingly. Your conversion rate will definitely shoot up.
3. Team Building
While you can be an amazing marketer convincing people to buy your products as easily as you breathe, people management may still be your most feared task. But not anymore.
Also Read: 5 Reasons Why Using Chatbots in Retail Is A Must
With chatbots for marketing, you can automatically keep your entire team updated, reducing any misunderstandings and delays in work.
It’s also possible to integrate platforms like Slack and Messenger for better communication, internally as well as with prospective customers.
4. Drive Sales
You may do all the promotions you want but if you’re not converting your leads into actual sales, you’re no good.
With increasing competition, it has become tough. You definitely need the assistance of a genius - a computer!
Through personalized ads and product suggestions, machine learning powered bots can drive sales with no involvement of a human being. Many clothing brands, like H&M, are already using bots to recommend best products to their customers.
Combine such chatbots with an efficient machine learning powered recommendation engine and you will see a massive increase in your potential to make sales.
5. New Way to Take Surveys and do Email Marketing
It’s so tough to have people fill out those surveys. Isn’t it?
Why wouldn’t it be? Those questions and forms are so boring.
But what if all you need to do to fill out the survey is to talk to somebody? Do you think you will have more people completing those forms?
Not only that, but you can also personalize those surveys better and not ask them redundant questions.
Instead of bombarding people with emails, you can have your chatbots talk to them and keep them engaged.
Currently, users are spending about 10 minutes on average conversing with chatbots.
So leave everything aside for a minute. Do you know what that could do to your bounce rate?
A chatbot is a digital marketer’s dream come true.
And this is just the beginning. Think of any task you have to do over and over again, daily, weekly or monthly and there are high chances that it can be automated.
Also Read: 5 Money-Saving Ways To Use Chatbots In Your Social Media Marketing Strategy
If you’re a startup owner or a marketer reading this, you have already taken a peek into the potential and profits chatbots can offer.
If you think you have an idea of a chatbot and it may help your business, talk to us for custom chatbots development. We offer free consultation.
We’ll help you build it and give you a chance to utilize the huge potential machine learning has to offer.
