Chatbot marketing refers to the strategy or technique used by companies to market their products or services using chatbots. These computer programmes interact with users either via predetermined scenarios or artificial intelligence. Marketing chatbots are capable of being integrated into the company’s website or used with other messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Telegram.
The critical difference is that marketing chatbots carry out certain marketing exercises, and their efficacy is measured by getting the bot to sign customers up for the newsletter or the purchase of products from the e-commerce store.
What is Chatbot Marketing?
Chatbot marketing is an online marketing tactic involving a computerised programme acting as an intermediary to promote goods, services, or brands by conducting a conversation with the user. Chatbots can be integrated into websites, apps, and various messaging services to provide interactions for real-time updates with customers and prospects.
Top Chatbot Marketing Strategies for Success
Here are the top 5 chatbot marketing strategies for success:
1. 24/7 Customer Support Builds Reliability
The greatest benefit chatbots offer in brand marketing is their capacity to offer support at any time. Customers no longer need to work with business hours to ask questions or resolve simple issues. This 24/7 presence establishes reliability and commitment, showing that the brand cares about customer needs. It reduces frustration for the user, who expects a rapid response. The chatbot is available to answer questions, even at night during holidays. This, in turn, leads to favourable branding and improved customer loyalty.
2. Personalised Conversations Build Engagement
A personalised experience is sometimes given by chatbots through the analysis of customer data concerning previous purchases, preferences, and browsing history. London Premier Hub of Training and Consulting offers expert-led training to implement chatbot solutions that truly enhance customer interaction. If a user feels that the brand understands their needs, they are more likely to stay engaged and convert into a sale. For example, the chatbot may identify the product that best matches the customer’s earlier views. Such interactions not only feel useful but also create an emotional hook. These personalised conversations make the brand feel human and approachable. A better user experience equals higher customer satisfaction.
3. Smart in Lead Generation and Qualification
Chatbots serve in the role of digital assistants that confirm vital information from the website visitors as opposed to calls and manual forms. They determine the need of the user through some friendly and non-obtrusive question sets, thus automatically qualifying the leads based on preset conditions. All of that means that only leads that are worth pursuing are handed to the sales team. This means that resources are saved, and there will be a better return on the marketing investment. Further, it avails brands a chance to communicate with the leads informally and in a non-pushy manner, thus making for an optimal sales pipeline.
4. Cost-Effective Solution for Emerging Brands
Hiring and training customer service staff can be expensive, especially for growing businesses. Chatbots present an economical way of offering support by interacting with several thousand customers simultaneously without any added costs. They save on extra hiring of customer service staff while guaranteeing rapid and consistent support. It creates an opportunity for brands to invest their money into other important areas, such as product development or marketing. In addition, chatbots mitigate human errors and work continuously unless interrupted. This ensures better resource management in the long run, which translates into financial health.
5. Boosts Engagement Across Digital Platforms
Chatbots are now unique and have the ability to shine in every instant that your customers spend time online, from websites to messaging programmes, such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. Long stints of customer engagement result as the chatbots ask questions or make quick suggestions or even have fun campaigns. This increases time spent on your portals, which is good for SEO and visibility. Customers are also engaged towards action such as following a link or signing up for a newsletter. This way, by continuous conversation, your brand is more remembered and more likely to be chosen.
Benefits of chatbot marketing:
Some of the main chatbot marketing benefits are:
1. Boosting engagement & sales
Chatbots can increase customer engagement on your website and boost sales using conversational marketing. You can also set your marketing chatbots to collect orders and move the client down the funnel towards the sale. This is especially useful as Juniper’s research projects that chatbot-based spending will increase from $7.3 billion in 2019 to $112 billion by 2023.
2. Segmenting traffic
Chatbots for marketing can help you segment traffic and advertise your products to the right audience. This is important, as research shows that around 77% of a company’s return on investment (ROI) comes from segmented and targeted communication.
So, for example, if a person shows interest in your pricing or one of the products from your collection, the chatbot identifies them as a warm lead. Based on that segmentation of users, the chatbots can engage them at the right time.
3. 24/7 availability
Even if a potential client is browsing your website at 3 am, a marketing chatbot is there to provide recommendations and help with the orders. This could improve the shopping experience and land you some extra sales, especially since about 51% of your clients expect you to be available 24/7.
4. Providing data for analysis
During the conversation, your marketing chatbots can collect visitors’ names, contact details, and interests. Other data that you can collect for analysis is about the bot’s performance and efficiency. After analysing the data, you can put additional information into your knowledge base and make your bot more effective. You can even put a customer satisfaction survey at the end of the chat to get insights about the visitor’s opinion of your brand.
5. Lead qualification
Research shows that companies who answer within an hour of receiving a query are seven times more likely to qualify the lead. So, make sure your business responds to customers’ questions as quickly as possible. Chatbots for marketing can do that at any time of the day, as well as provide suggestions and offers to increase the chances of a sale.
These were some of the main benefits of implementing a chatbot marketing strategy. Now let’s find out what you can use marketing chatbots for.