Chatbot Marketing Strategies for Lead Generation in 2021
By Larry Kim: MobileMonkey CEO, WordStream Founder.
Generating leads used to be tedious and frustrating as businesses and marketers scramble for eyes to turn their way. That changed with the Internet, more so with social media, and even more so with instant messaging. That process has been made better with the advent of chatbots, which lets brands reach out to targeted audiences and build trust with them. In 2021, chatbots are the key to generating leads that will transform your donkey brand into a unicorn that garners real attention. You can make that happen this year by following these chatbot marketing strategies for lead generation.
Personalized Experiences
Everyone knows at this point how a generic chatbot message looks like, and it tends to irk most people. That’s why it’s important to not just have a one-size-fits-all template for your chatbot messages. The first thing you greet a new user shouldn’t simply be a short greeting, then a pitch, and then a form they have to fill in. Find a way to hook them in right away by making your chatbot act as a human would to make it more inviting. Have it call the user by their name and utilize the information gathered from their profile to customize their chat experience. Then guide them through whatever they need from the chatbot and give them options on how that can be done. There are many ways to make the whole thing more tailored to that user, which a chatbot can offer through various features and functions.
Click-to-Messenger Ads
A solid way to bring users to you is to put up advertisements with a call-to-action that leads them to your Messenger. These Click-to-Messenger ads are very good at attracting users and getting them on board, thanks to the low level of commitment required. After the welcome message, they can just ignore or respond if they wanted to continue receiving messages from you. If they do the latter, they can then proceed with whatever you wish your chatbot to show them. Since they clicked on the CTA of your ad, that means they’re already interested in your brand and what you have to offer. The chatbot then takes care of the rest and guides them throughout the chat.
Comment Guard
Another method that lets you gain good leads is to use a Comment Guard autoresponder, like that in MobileMonkey. Whenever someone comments in your Facebook post, the chatbot can send them a message automatically. The user engaged with your content, so that most likely means your content piqued their interest. You can ask them to give more of their thoughts on your content and your brand, thus making this a good way to gather feedback. They also become leads that you can then lead further down the funnel, thus hitting two birds with one smart stone. Autoresponders can be or already are integrated with chatbots for amazing lead generation that can yield positive results.
Qualifying Leads
Upon generating the leads, you must then qualify them to further bring the good prospects down the funnel. The leads that do qualify have a higher chance of being converted, thus making them of higher quality. It’s typically done once you’ve greeted the user and briefly introduced them to your brand, after which you can then ask if they’re still on board. You can then do different things to verify if a lead is serious with your brand or not, like asking qualifying questions. These questions can be followed by buttons that provide choices they can select to respond accordingly. You can still make them type their response down, like if you’re asking for an email address or other specific information. However, you’ll want to make things as effortless as possible for them at this point to maintain their attention. Doing so can help you separate the wheat from the chaff, and what you’re left with may provide you with a more bountiful harvest. This process also eliminates their doubts about your brand and convince them to opt in, thus making them a qualified lead.
More User Engagement
Of course, you want them to stay engaged with your chatbot to get as many chances to convert them as you can. You want to show them as much of your brand to them to give them more reasons to stay tuned to your updates. A lot of the “common sense” rules for content apply here, like being as concise as possible to maintain their attention. Instead of delivering everything all at once, you should lay out your information or message in a conversational format. Make it more like an FAQ and consider what questions most users tend to ask about your brand. You can then lay out the continuations that correspond to a question the user will likely answer. This is where chatbots can truly shine as this is what they’re designed for, thus making them invaluable for keeping users engaged. You can also do things like using specific URLs to provide even more information, or you can even send them to your social media platforms for even more engagement. Leads that may have fallen off can be reminded of other things like their abandoned carts and recommended items. This can help bring up more user engagement, and
Conclusion
Around 80% of businesses are expected this year to have chatbots as part of their digital marketing toolkit, according to Business Insider.
Having a chatbot can help you engage with leads, qualify them, and eventually convert them into actual customers to increase your revenue. This can be done with little to no money, thus making it a force multiplier that makes your brand more personable and trustworthy.
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