Improving Sales: 9 Ways Chatbots Can Engage and Inform
Chatbots have caught on with businesses and brands. These programs allow companies to quickly share information with visitors, answer general questions and direct users to specific spots online. They can also increase engagement, keeping visitors on the site longer as they gather information and have their questions answered through AI.
All of this can help sales: An active customer is more likely to stay and purchase, especially if they feel confident about what is being sold.
There are a lot of specific details to weigh when adding a chatbot to your site, especially when seeking to improve sales. We asked nine members from YEC how they leverage chatbots and why they work for them. Here’s what they had to say:
1. Help Visitors Find the Right Information
– Abhi Golhar, Real Estate Deal Talk
2. Have Your Top Sales People Train Your Chat Crew
– Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now
3. Provide Answers Outside of Business Hours
4. Answer Frequently Asked Questions
– Chris Van Dusen, Parcon Media
5. Focus on Escalating and Prioritizing
If you’re using a chatbot, then it’s best to focus on escalating higher-priority customers. No one likes to say some customers are more important than others, but if I have an extremely angry customer or my top client chatting on the website, I want to address them ASAP.
– Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure
6. Preload the Chatbot with Pitch Materials
– Jordan Edelson, Appetizer Mobile LLC
7. Give It Access to Purchase Histories
– John Rampton, Due
8. Let the Chatbot Test Different Sales Approaches
9. Pay Attention to How Customers Are Interacting With Your Bot
9. Act as a Marketing Strategy
Chatbots are thought of as mostly a support or guidance tool for customers and visitors to a website. And that still holds true. However, many brands are being to leverage social media bots, through platforms such as Facebook Messenger’s chatbot. Many e-commerce brands are using Facebook’s chatbot features as a weapon to increase their sales, and even as a shopping-cart abandonment strategy. Currently there are over 300,000 brands using Facebook’s marketing bot features and have exchanged over 8 billion (with a b) messages. But that is just 1% of all brands who have a Facebook business page. Look for chatbots to become a bigger tactic for marketing teams going forward.
Using Chat Bots and Automation to Scale Your Business
As internet-based businesses, we already know the benefits and value in automating wherever possible. With the exciting outlook for chatbots and advanced IA, there is no question that your business will be changing and developing in such a direction in the coming months and years.
Now that you’ve heard what some of the industries top experts had to say about chatbots and AI, it’s time to start thinking about how you can start using such methods within your own business.
If you enjoyed this expert round up, I highly recommend you take a look at this roundup with 83 online marketing experts and their best advice on “How Do I Start a Successful Blog?“. If you don’t already have a website or blog of your own, follow my blogging guide to getting started with one today.