Gone are the days of push marketing and passive sales. We are now living in the conversation economy, where every customer conversation is an opportunity. But carrying out 1:1 marketing conversations at a large scale requires having a massive workforce at your fingertips.
The solution? Chatbots.
Chatbots are all the rage among Digital Advertising Agencies in New York right now – and rightly so. They are customizable programs to mimic human-like conversations between a brand and its customers, usually in a question-answer format. Chatbots have traditionally been the go-to tool for customer service. But recently, they have become indispensable for conversational marketing.
In this blog, we share with you the various ways your digital marketing can benefit from chatbots. We will also shed light on the do’s and don’ts of getting the most out of chatbots for digital marketing.
How Do Chatbots Work?
The underlying concept of a chatbot is really simple. There are hundreds of questions that customers ask business representatives everyday. A chatbot developer compiles all these questions and feeds standardized answers for each question into the program. All related questions are then linked using program logic. Trigger keywords are identified for each set of questions. This makes it easy for chatbots to help the visitor find exactly what they are looking for.
Why Are Chatbots the Future of Marketing?
Automated Lead Generation
Chatbots work even when your team sleeps. While the primary job of chatbots is to answer visitor queries, they also collect important visitor information in the process. Whether it is on your website or social media, your chatbot can quickly collect details like:
- Email addresses
- Names
- Locations
- Company names, and more.
With the right integrations, these details can be automatically fed to your CRM or leads pipeline.
Reduced Response Time
Marketers are increasingly struggling to meet customer expectations when it comes to waiting times. While a customer waits for a brand to answer their query, they often browse through competitor websites. If their information needs are met there, they don’t mind switching either.
Digital advertising agencies in New York trust Chatbots as they can answer most of the routine questions in the blink of an eye. This prevents lost opportunities and brand switching due to longer waiting times. If a chatbot stumbles upon a query that it cannot handle, it can route the customer to a human.
Personalized Customer Experiences
Marketing chatbots help in tailoring deeply customized experiences for customers and visitors. Personalization can happen on the basis of parameters like:
- Whether the person is an existing customer or a visitor.
- If visitor, whether first-time visitor or repeat visitor.
- Location, gender, and age-group of the person.
- Whether the person needs a problem to be solved or is just exploring.
Next-to-buy Suggestions
Chatbots can be programmed to serve as product/service recommendation engines for existing customers or new visitors. For example, a chatbot on an eCommerce platform like Amazon can offer next-to-buy suggestions like the following.
- Seasonal recommendations such as Christmas shopping and summer clothes.
- Personalized celebrations like birthdays and anniversaries.
- Gift-buying for special days like Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
- Buying recommendations based on recent purchases.
Using Chatbots for Digital Marketing – Do’s and Don’ts
Do’s
Create a Conversation Tree
Distributing your questions and answers into categories and creating logical conversation flows can go a long way. Link follow-up questions, similar questions, and related questions for a seamless experience.
Integrate with CRM
Give your chatbot superpowers by letting it work in tandem with your CRM. Top digital advertising agencies in New York automate lead generation & nurturing while saving you time and money.
Go Social
Social media chatbots (like those for Whatsapp, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter) are great alternatives to stand-alone chatbots. Integrate all customer interactions by linking your social chatbots to your website and third-party applications.
White-label Chatbots to Your Brand
Chatbots are a great means to deliver branded content and experiences. Tune everything from the color scheme of the chat window to the tone of voice of the bot to your brand identity.
Keep Improving
Marketing chatbots are rarely a one-time effort. Gather feedback from customers and visitors after every conversation to see what needs to be better. Sky’s the limit!
Don’ts
Avoid Jargons and Technical Language
Unlike a human interaction, there won’t be someone to explain those tech-terms and tough words. Resort to simple and precise language whose meaning is clear as day.
Avoid Open-ended Questions
As amazing as bots are, there’s a limit to what they can work with. Avoid questions that lead to long, open-ended answers. Instead, leading digital advertising agencies in New York use chatbots to seek answers in one or more of the following formats.
- Yes/no questions
- Multiple-choice questions
- One-word answers
- Touch or swipe actions, and more.
Don’t Go Overboard with Chatbots
Sometimes marketers forget that no one really enjoys talking to chatbots. They are just a means to pass on the information. Prompting the user unnecessarily can lead the visitor to leave, opt-out, or even never return to your website again. Stick to a welcome pop-up and then recede into the background. Be ready to answer questions as and when needed.
Don’t Remove the Support of Human Agents
Lastly, don’t make your visitors and customers feel that you have hung them out to dry with a machine. Assure them that human help is available if they so require it.
So go ahead and give wings to your sales team with chatbots! Looking for the right digital advertising agency in New York? Visit agencycouch.com, or write to us at getintouch@agencycouch.com.
