How to Use Chatbots for Lead Generation: 4 Tips

— April 25, 2018

Chatbots truly revolutionized the way small businesses handle customer support. Being able to provide 24-hour support with zero costs is one of the many benefits that chatbots provide for businesses.

In fact, the majority of users prefer to use chatbots to communicate with a company than using an app. 37% of Americans also prefer to use chatbots in case of an emergency to get a quick answer to their questions.

Over the last few years, there have been great advancements in chatbots and AI technology. You can now even setup your own chatbot using apps like ChatFuel and SnatchBot without writing a single line of code, free of charge.

Did you know that you can also use chatbots to generate leads, grow your email list, and boost sales? Here’s how it works.

How chatbots help generate leads

Chatbots started out as a fun way to pass time. The earliest version of a chatbot created by MIT in 1964, called ELIZA, used to simulate conversations. Today, it’s evolved much more beyond just conversations.

Biggest brands and businesses now use chatbots to boost sales and improve customer support.

Starbucks Barista chatbot helps users place orders more quickly.

How to Use Chatbots for Lead Generation: 4 Tips

eBay’s ShopBot helps customers easily find the right products and place orders.

How to Use Chatbots for Lead Generation: 4 Tips

Sephora’s Kik chatbot is another great example of using bots to improve customer shopping experience.

In addition to improving your services and customer relationships, you can also use chatbots to generate leads. Here are a few ways you can get started.

1. Engage visitors with a live chatbot

Providing live chat support is a must-have feature for every business website. Heck, even some of the popular blogs now have live chat, thanks to chatbots.

Live chat allows you to instantly engage with your website visitors by asking a simple question such as “how can I help you?” or “do you have any questions?”. Some of the live chat systems even allow you to engage with visitors by automatically launching a chat window during any step of your buyer’s journey.

How does this help generate leads? Well, imagine a visitor viewing your pricing page opens a live chat window to ask a few questions. Your chatbot answers these questions immediately.

And then, at the end of the discussion, you can share an email optin form and suggest the visitor to join your email list to receive special product discounts and get special deals.

2. Promote lead magnets with educational chatbots

One of the most common uses of chatbots is education. Many websites and brands use chatbots to answer common questions and share useful tips with customers.

If you have an educational bot, you can also leverage the bot to grow your email list by suggesting a content upgrade. For example, you can mention your upcoming webinar, an eBook, or your email courses to let people learn more about specific topics.

How to Use Chatbots for Lead Generation: 4 Tips

For example, the candy company Trolli uses its Facebook Messenger chatbot to promote fun activities for its users and also promote giveaways to spread the word about its products.

3. Help visitors make the right choice

Many of your website visitors will often have a hard time figuring out the right product, right pricing plan, or the right service by themselves. Using your chatbot, you can help them figure out the right choice by asking a few questions.

At the end of a discussion, simply ask for their email if they want further assistant so that you can have one of your team members reach out to them via email.

With the help of apps like Landbot, Zapier, and Google Sheets, you can easily collect the emails from your chatbot and export them to your email list.

4. Use booking and scheduling bots

If you have a website related to hotels, travel, real estate, coaching, or health, then you probably have a booking or a scheduling system on your website already.

Why not make the process easier for your customers by letting them make instant reservations using a chatbot?

How to Use Chatbots for Lead Generation: 4 Tips

This is exactly what Expedia’s Messenger chatbot does.

To generate a lead from a session, simply ask for an email to confirm the booking or appointment. It’s as simple as that.

Wrapping up

Convenience is the most important feature that most customers look for in a company. Thanks to chatbots, now even the smallest startups and companies can afford to answer user questions instantly or provide 24/7 customer support.

By using the tips we’ve shared, you can set up a chatbot to provide a better service to your customers while also generating more qualified leads to grow your business.

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Author: Syed Balkhi

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