chatbot answering questions online, robot assistant help on website
It’s common to hear people talk about chatbots in terms of how well they help with customer service. While it is true that chatbots can help with answering basic customer service inquiries, they are also able to do a lot more, like boost conversions. In fact, when done well, using chatbots for conversions can have a serious positive impact on your bottom line.
Today we are discussing what exactly chatbots are, as well as top ways that they can help you boost your conversions.
What Are Chatbots?
Let’s start by identifying precisely what chatbots are before getting into their marketing advantages.
A chatbot is simply a way to communicate using a chat interface when there isn’t an actual human being on the other end. Instead, conversational rules are set up ahead of time by any marketer using the chatbot. These rules dictate which messages get sent to a prospect or customer. The great thing is that this helps you gain strategic conversions, since chatbots can gather lead information as part of their duties.
Many services provide the interface for chatbots. Some chatbot vendors include:
- ManyChat
- Chatfuel
- Facebook Messenger Bot (build one yourself or find an app to do it)
- Botsify
- Webdirexion Best Chatbots
- SiteGlue (Webdirexion works with this solution too, especially for larger sales teams that want Bot to human transferring)
Chatbots have become popular because they simplify the communication process between you and your prospects or customers, cost effectively. Your prospects can ask a chatbot to present them with the answer to a specific question instead of hunting for it on your website.
[Above- left to right] Comparing Chatbot Engagement Strategies: SiteGlue uses photo but announces they are a chat assistant and greets in a friendly manner. Botsify asks for a name and email upfront (not recommended). Webdirexion Best Chatbots uses some humor and gifs to set a friendly tone then first asks for a name and later (when appropriate) an email… after a connection is established.
There are generally two fees charged by chatbot vendors: creating them (smart, upbeat conversational writing is important for success) and hosting the bot (you embed bots on your site, but the app and chatbot itself get hosted at a remote server). Some plans upcharge for a number of chats per month. For example, Webdirexion chatbot creation costs are between $199 and $999 (advanced bots offer more dialog and conversion options, including PDF uploads, integrations to CRM, etc.). Our hosting fee for Webdirexion Best Chatbots is $9.99 mo. Some plans offer freemium “do it yourself” options.
See Webdirexion Chatbots in action
Chatbots Help Increase Conversions by Learning About Customer Behavior
Using a chatbot allows you to gain insight about your customers. This insight and data regarding behavior enables your bot to cross-sell and upsell for you.
Consider this example: A customer of yours purchases a pair of running shoes. The chatbot can now suggest a complimentary item that would go great with the shoes, such as a pair of athletic socks. You can use the same idea if you’re selling software, for example. Your chatbot can easily offer your customer reminders about a software upgrade they’re eligible to apply.
Getting the Sale Early… a Chatbot Strategic Conversions Goal
One of the big things chatbots can help you with is turning browsing site visitors into customers. You can set up rules for when a chatbot should make contact with a potential customer.
You can tell your chatbot to initiate contact after a site visitor has visited enough content to warrant reaching out to them. This is highly effective in improving conversions because it helps your visitor enter the sales discussion at just the right time. You are also able to tailor responses based on how many times a visitor has been to your website. And, some chatbots can be deployed with specific messages on important landing pages. Clearly, a first time visitor should be presented with different information compared to someone who has visited five or six times. As they familiarize themselves with your brand, the chatbot can help nudge the prospect through your sales funnel.
For those that aren’t looking to buy? The chatbot can help ensure they stay connected with your brand anyways! For example, the chatbot could offer a downloadable lead magnet instead. This helps build your email subscriber list, allowing you to reach out in the future and gain the conversion down the road.
Another way this process can help you increase conversions is when your salespeople reach out to prospects. The chatbot has provided initial value to the prospects. Your salespeople only need to build on that positive experience when they reach out to have a sales discussion. Not only can this help you increase sales, but it will also help you keep costs lower on your end.
In fact, Invesp put together a helpful infographic detailing top chatbot stats and trends, including the stat that chatbots can save you up to 30% in customer support costs. A few take-aways:
- 67% of consumers worldwide use a chatbot for customer service
- 40% of consumers do not care if a chatbot or a real person helps them, as long as they get excellent service
- Chatbots are used for getting ideas for purchases, making a reservation, paying a bill and more
Get a Step Ahead with Your Customer Service
Like you saw in the above infographic, it would be silly, not to mention customer service when discussing chatbots. You already know that customer service is vital to your business. It’s expensive to acquire new customers, and your future depends on keeping and up-selling happy customers.
It’s also true, however, that your customer service team can only do so much to keep people happy. Customers want to get help immediately in today’s business climate. Making them wait too long to get their needs met is a sure way to decrease conversions over time.
It’s a fact that 75% of your customers believe that it takes too long to reach a live person when they need help. They want 24/7 support. On-going support can become expensive to achieve, especially for smaller companies.
Enter the chatbot. This new technology ensures that customer service is available all day and night. Having a chatbot on your site to answer customer questions has a direct impact on your conversions. This is especially the case when you consider how customer experience is overtaking product and price when differentiating between brands.
Gather the Best Type of Data
Getting your conversions to increase has a lot to do with gathering the correct types of data. Use a chatbot, and you’ll find it’s much easier to collect this data. A chatbot allows you to get real-time responses from your prospects and customers.
You can test various offers and the best ways to approach your prospects with those sales messages. You get vital information about how customers feel about you, your products, and your brand. You gain a better understanding of the customer journey inside your sales process. That is incredibly valuable!
Using chatbots for conversions is an excellent opportunity for your business. However, we also understand that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed about how to get the process in place. Instead of handling this on your own, consider reaching out to our team and allowing us to handle creating your own chatbot. Contact us today to learn more!
