A business can’t survive without customers, making it crucial for every company, no matter how big or small, to find a way to reach and engage its target audience. As a result, business strategies are continuously developed and implemented based on customer preferences, dislikes, and behaviors. But you need data to do all this. With the advent of the internet revolution, it is now possible to collect relevant information in several ways while staying within the guidelines of the law.

Chatbots and automation are growing widely in all industries, taking on many roles and responsibilities that humans would previously perform. Did you know you can use chatbots and live chat for lead generation? If not, this is the perfect place to enlighten yourself about what you are missing.

Lead Generation

Lead generation is all about getting people interested in your business and gradually converting them to paying customers. Creating a buzz is not difficult, and with dedicated efforts, you can keep the audience interested. Today, conversational AI platforms, transcription recording tools, and AI writing software all play a pivotal role in ensuring just that. 

The most effective lead generation tactics combine one-on-one targeting, consistent messaging across various channels, educating the customer, and nurturing meaningful relationships. It is likely to cross over multiple departments within an organization. As part of the modern lead generation program, marketing is usually the first step, then comes sales or business development. In the case of SaaS businesses, product or service teams may also be involved if free trials are on offer.

Channels Of Lead Generation

Lead generation typically happens through two channels.

1. Outbound – In outbound lead generation, one goes after the prospects proactively instead of waiting for them to approach you. Usually, it happens in the form of ads or face-to-face communication.
2. Inbound – Inbound lead generation drives focus on optimizing website content by providing useful information to the visitors. Unique content, rich in keywords, and SEO optimized, generated with the help of AI writing software, proves invaluable in attracting quality traffic. Two prime examples of inbound lead generation are Chatbots and live chats.

Generating Leads With Chatbots

AI has enabled machines to interact with humans and hold proper contextual conversations using chatbots. These elevate customer satisfaction which proves crucial in converting prospects to customers. Some of the ways in which chatbots help businesses generate leads are:

• Greeting The Site Visitors – Configure your chatbot to automatically welcome each visitor when they visit your website. Next, the chatbot can ask visitors whether they want to learn more about your products and services. Based on the response, the chatbot will smoothly move ahead with the conversation. If, for some reason, the bot fails to address the query, it will connect the visitor to a live chat agent or ask for their email address on which the answer will be forwarded. 

First-time visitors can be lured to become customers through an attractive discount option or promo code sent to their email. The idea is to capture the contact information of the people visiting your business website. Once this little detail is captured, the marketing team can use it later.

• Engaging Leaving Visitors – Today, nobody has time to wait around for the live agent to become free and attend to their inquiry. The customer is impatient and wants to be immediately attended to. In these cases, the chatbots are life saviors as they are always available. They are also helpful in engaging customers who try to leave the website before completing a purchase. Generally, in such cases, the chatbot will ask the visitor whether they are sure they want to leave the website. A step ahead would be to train the chatbot to ask the prospect why they wish to leave. Based on the prospect’s response, the chatbot can provide options enticing them to complete the buying action.

This engagement provides the marketing teams with lead data and highlights issues that make the prospects leave without completing the purchase.

• Understanding The Audience – The key to understanding the customer and their expectations is communication. In its absence, there’s no way a business can ever learn what propels its audience to buy. Chatbots are extremely helpful in collecting data through engaging surveys to know the prospect’s likes and dislikes. Furthermore, the conversational AI platform can help segment them according to predetermined parameters. 

The survey data is paramount in lead generation. It also enables the generation and marketing of content that interests the audience.

• Lead Generation When Live Chat Is Down Or Unavailable – There are many instances when live customer service agents have to handle a large number of customer queries at the same time. Or there could be a technical glitch preventing them from answering inquiries. In such instances, the long wait times for the prospects only add to their disgruntlement. They develop negative feelings for the brand and are most likely to be put off from becoming your customer. The chatbot shares the live agent’s burden of work. These bots are instantly available and can answer most queries and concerns of the audience. They can also advise them to continue waiting or leave their contact information so that the first available customer service agent can contact them ASAP. Either way, you can follow up on the lead later.

Generating Leads With Live Chat

No business can run solely with the help of chatbots. The human touch has its own place. Live chat can help generate leads in the following ways:

• Shortens The Sales Cycle – Live chat allows you to answer the prospect’s concern while their mind is still thinking about the product, and the chances of a sale increase tremendously. Once the customer service agent has solved their dilemma, they are most likely to convert. The lead thus generated can be followed up by the marketing and sales teams.
• Identify Those Who Are Most Likely To Buy – A lot of people will see your products, but not all of them will buy. Some are just window shoppers. You can’t dedicate too many resources to them, nor can you write them off. These people may just become your live advertisements based on the experience the customer service agent gave them. Conversely, those who want to buy, but not just yet, can also not be forgotten. You need to get back to them from time to time with a sweeter deal and tempt them.

Identifying the window shoppers and the real prospects is only possible by gathering relevant information through live chats.

Bottomline

Chatbots and live chats are handy resources that have the capability to expand your base of potential customers. These tools facilitate the gathering of information from clients, hasten the customer engagement process through automation, and offer immediate help and support to prospects. Suffice to say, the usefulness of these tools in lead generation is undeniable, and you will only gain by deploying them on your business website.