New tools are constantly coming to sales management. One of them is chatbots, virtual helpers that simulate human behavior during communication with users. Many entrepreneurs underestimate the potential of chatbots, but already tens of thousands of companies use them as full-fledged sellers. In this article, we will talk about how chatbots can help in sales and what you need to consider when creating your bot.

What is wrong with traditional communication methods?

According to a Twilio study, 90% of modern consumers also prefer to use instant messengers to communicate with companies. But most companies are still trying to call them or send emails. Companies insistently rely on old ways to communicate with customers. They offer us to register and leave contact details. How often do you click “unsubscribe” from newsletters you’ve never subscribed to? Cold calls and traditional marketing are becoming noisy.

Common digital marketing is not so bad. But what kind of conversion do these channels give? 5%? Isn’t it strange that marketers take pride in a 5 percent conversion of visitors to customers? 95% of visitors leave with nothing.

If a website does not meet the needs of 95% of visitors, you need to change tactics. What about responding to requests in real-time via user-friendly communication tools?

To find out how long customers wait for an answer to their requests, the Drift marketing team conducted a study covering 433 B2B companies in 2017. Chatbots Magazine’s results are staggering. The “5-minute rule” is not followed by 93% of companies. Only 7% of companies responded to a website visitor’s request within 5 minutes or faster, and 55% did not respond for 5 or more days

InsideSales.com data showed that the conversion of a potential customer into a buyer directly depends on the speed of response. The study shows that if a potential buyer completed the capture form and was called back within 5 minutes, the chance of purchase is 21 times higher than after 30 minutes. InsideSales researched phone calls, not chatbots, but their study shows the importance of a quick connection.

Chatbots are changing business

Chatbots are AI services that automate chatting. For example, the LeadBot chatbot developed by Drift is programmed to turn potential customers into real buyers.

Chatbots can be used to attract customers and deal with simple inquiries. In addition, bots are able to determine when it is time to transfer the dialog to the appropriate “human” employee.

The Signum.ai trend forecasting AI service has identified a trend for automated chatbots for executives. The market for AI assistants continues to grow and attract investors. This is one of the beneficial automation features that can significantly reduce business costs.

Uptrend predictions on chatbots for executives, June 2019.

Let’s say you are a SaaS company. It is difficult for you to communicate with clients in real-time, and you have created chatbots to help. The process of their implementation and use could look like this:

• You install a chatbot program, but you don’t pester all visitors. Start communication if people stay for a certain time or go to a certain page (for example, pricing). Help potential customers find what they are looking for.
• You program your chatbot to display a simple greeting message like “Hello! How can I help you?”. Depending on the selected program, your chatbot will answer simple questions or redirect potential customers to the sales team. In addition, the chatbot is able to analyze managers’ answers and learn from their experience.
• Potential customers, as well as their personal information collected by the chatbot, can be automatically added to a CRM.

Now, your sales managers can be sure that they are facing the perfect buyer. Moreover, they will be able to get in touch with a potential client at a time of the highest interest, not after a few hours or days.

According to Kelly Abner on the Marketo blog, increasing customer quality by 10% can increase sales efficiency by 40%. It’s especially nice that you will achieve this result by spending no extra money on expanding the sales department.

KPI for the robot. Measuring chatbot efficiency

Let’s talk about additional benefits among higher conversions achieved by chatbots you should expect.

Increased user engagement. Users will be intrigued by how quickly automatic answers appear. A potential client can get all the information without having to call the company to consult with a person.

Personification. Chatbots help generates higher conversion rates by making sure the conversation is heading in the right direction. You can build different audiences using relevant key indicators, such as location, age, budget, resources, dates, and so on.

Conversational interface. Users can choose the path of the conversation. When every request is processed fast, the client is attentive. Users are provided with all the information without the need to switch to different pages.

Finding a turnkey solution

You can create a chatbot by yourself, cutting costs and adding all the necessary functions and integrations. Here is a list of services you can use.

Dialogflow

Supports integration with Facebook Messenger, Skype, Telegram, Viber and other services. Available in 14+ languages. The main advantage – it is 100% free on the standard version.

Botsify

Convenient drag and drop constructor. You can create a chatbot for a WordPress website. The starting version includes 10 robots, up to 30,000 unique users, free integrations, unlimited messages, and fast support. Paid version starts at $50/month.

Chatfuel

Chatfuel developers promise users the opportunity to create a chatbot for Facebook Messenger in 7 minutes. Integration with Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and other services included. The starting constructor is free.

Flow XO

Supports integration with 100+ services: Gmail, Todoist, Trello, YouTube, Facebook Messenger, Telegram and others. You can also create a website chatbot. Service is paid (from $19/month) but has a free trial period.

Morph.ai

Works with Facebook, websites, Android, iOS. Supports integration with CRM. Pricing starts from $35/month.

What else can a chatbot do?

Now let’s talk about the other side of this useful tool. After all, this service not only “warms up” customers, it is also an indispensable assistant for you because it can:

• work with CRM: add notes, check customer contact information or set up meetings;
• print documents and photos;
• plan your day and add notes;
• notify about the balance and transactions on the corporate account;
• plan the business day of the company and remind employees of meetings and tasks;
• track the latest news with specified criteria;
• generate and send Google Analytics reports;
• even order food;
• book tickets and hotels, plan trips;
• receive legal or other specialized advice on a matter of your interest;
• manage multi-channel marketing campaigns on Instagram, AdWords and other services;
• select synonyms or antonyms for creating letters, posts on social networks or articles.