Lead generation is a particularly important issue that all business should keep in mind. Without effective lead generation methods, the influx of new potential customers can start to slow and taper off, which affects cash flow and the health of your business.
Chatbots can be a fantastic way for your business to bolster its lead generation efforts, without affecting how effectively your staff work. But how exactly can chatbots help a business to generate new customers?
Instant service at any time
Having a chatbot can be really effective when it comes to engaging visitors on your website. For example, a chat window might pop up after a user has browsed for a certain amount of time, or there might be a clearly-marked chat button somewhere on the screen.
By showing a visitor that you’re able to help them right then and there, it might encourage them to start interacting with your business, hopefully leading to that person becoming a customer down the line.
Using a chatbot means service can be provided at any time, even outside of business hours. If necessary, such as for more complex queries, a member of staff can take over from the bot and provide more personal assistance.
Even if it is out of hours, a chatbot will be able to handle many simple queries on its own. Or it can collect as much information as possible, including contact information, to provide a staff member with a help ticket to follow up when they come into work for their next shift.
A constant level of service supported by a chatbot could be exactly what you need to turn a site visitor into a customer.
Using a chatbot means service can be provided at any time. Outside of business hours a chatbot will be able to handle many simple queries on its own. If a lead needs more nurturing a member of your team can follow up on the information gathered the next working day.
Wider reach
While a chatbot on your site does mean that you can directly engage with a wide range of people, including those who might still be on the fence about getting in touch, chatbots can be used through multiple platforms for far wider reach.
Consider implementing a chatbot on your social media channels. This will mean you’re generating and interacting with leads through multiple avenues. Facebook, for example, has over 2 billion active users as of 2018, while Twitter has over 350 million active users.
By implementing chatbots across your social media channels, you’re making it far easier to attract and engage with a huge number of potential leads. It also means you and your staff aren’t as pressured by having to do everything manually, letting staff focus on other vital business matters such as providing sales support to existing customers.
Collecting information
The information you can gather from the people who interact with your chatbot can be really helpful in two key ways.
Firstly, the information that a potential lead gives to your chatbot is collated and saved for future reference – especially useful when your chatbot is linked to your CRM and lead management systems.
When it’s time for the prospect to be passed from the chatbot to a member of staff, all the information will be there for the staff member to read and take in. This means that staff have no need to repeat old questions, or ask for information that’s already been given to the bot.
The way that this transforms the customer experience, providing exceptional, useful and relevant service at every step, really helps to paint your business in a positive light.
The second way that the information a chatbot collects can be useful is far broader. For example, you might get a far keener insight into the demographics of the people who are interacting with your business. Are there any trends that particularly stand out? What’s their most common query?
Looking at the data your chatbot collects and analysing it in this manner might let you tweak, optimise or alter what you offer and how you offer it. This lets you more accurately target the right kinds of people in a more effective manner going forward, such as by influencing how your marketing efforts are structured and implemented.
How Flow XO can benefit your lead generation efforts
Using a chatbot for lead generation can be a fantastic way to improve how effectively potential customers interact with your business. With the ability to reach a huge amount of people without impacting your staff’s ability to work effectively, a thorough and well-developed chatbot service can really help a business grow.
Flow XO can help you do exactly that. The powerful chatbot services we offer:
- Are business ready – Setting up Flow XO is simple, meaning you can quickly get effective chatbot software in place
- Integrate cross-platform – With over 100 integrations, we can place chatbots wherever you need them within your company
- Provide intelligent responses – Powerful workflows allow you to create logical, robust systems that meet both your business’s and customers’ needs
To find out more about how Flow XO could help your business, visit our Flow XO for Chat page.