In the early nineties, if someone heard the word “bot,” they either conjured up an image of Johnny 5 or RoboCop. Today, with the advent of the internet, the word has taken on a new connotation.
Bots are no longer physical creatures made of metal. They’re programs that live on a computer server and perform automatic tasks.
And they’re everywhere on the web. They even get a little annoying at times like a needy little brother. But they’re extremely useful for small businesses who don’t have the funds or resources to hire whole customer service teams.
Bots are not only a time and resource saver, they’re an incredible marketing opportunity as well.
In the marketing world, we’ve harped on social media like it’s the Philosopher’s stone. Yet, something else recently eclipsed social media in marketing effectiveness: messaging apps.
Now is the best time to get a chatbot working for you. But how does one use a bot for marketing and business?
In the next few paragraphs, I’m going to give you five answers to that question.
1. Make It Personal
Personalization is all the rage these days. People want to feel like they’re center stage when it comes to customer service.
That’s kind of hard to do when you’re talking about a web page store front. You don’t have an employee ready with a smile and a “how are you doing today?”
But what if you could? What if, when someone clicks on a link, the landing page was equipped with a virtual employee?
In real life, an employee can quickly size up a customer and ask questions at the same time. A bot is blind, so how could you possibly personalize a customer’s experience through a chatbot?
Simple. Questions. A short quiz could definitely give the bot the information they need to tailor the user experience to the customer.
Most chatbots are complex enough to do this. And, of course, the quiz only gives the user a small set of options. It won’t be so open ended that the bot needs to call up IBM’s Watson for help.
Making it personal will also give you a more natural in-road to getting lead information. Sure, straight up asking for information sometimes works. But when it’s part of “this will make your experience more personal,” then people will be more willing to give up useful information.
2. You Can Lead a Horse to Water…
But they may not even be a real lead. Qualifying leads saves you time. 61% of B2B marketers send all lead generation directly to sales when only 27% are qualified leads.
Not all leads are genuine leads. You may think you’ve caught a lead at the end of the funnel, but the numbers say you’re more likely to catch them outside the sales funnel completely.
It’s a lot of work to qualify leads. And it can get fairly frustrating as well.
Why not let a bot do it for you?
You can program Driftbot by Drift, as well as several other bots, to ask a set of questions. These questions will tell you where the customer is at in the sales funnel.
3. There is No “I” in…Bot?
Unless you’re a one man show, teamwork is how things get done in your business. No man is an island, there is no “I” in team, blah blah blah. You know the drill.
But, despite all the trite office-speak, you do want your team to succeed with the least amount of hassle. Customers may not realize how important your team is, but you do.
A bot can smooth out various team functions and make your life as a boss or manager easier. Especially if your team is remote.
Bots like Nikabot can check-in on your team for you. This helps when you have a load of work and can’t be bothered to keep up with your team for a day.
Outsourcing this to a bot is not neglect. It’s smart.
4. Hello, Computer…Computer?
Programs like Siri and Cortana are proving that the Cheif Engineer of the Starship Enterprise won’t be able to go back to the nineties and use computers without difficulty. In fact, a lot of young people today probably couldn’t use an old Apple computer without difficulty.
But we really do interact with computers differently today. And bots are accelerating this change.
Research is one area humans outsource to computers regularly. And if you’re not outsourcing your research to bots, you’re losing precious time.
When it comes to content marketing, research is a massive undertaking at times. You quickly run out of well-known territory and suddenly have to research something new.
Bots like GrowthBot can make your life a lot easier when it comes to research. GrowthBot will both help you keep tabs on your competition and give you great topic ideas.
5. Takeout or Delivery?
People do everything on the go now, and they expect to be able to ride their vintage Schwinn while conducting a Skype call and ordering their non-fat latte at the same time.
Bots can help you deliver this kind of experience.
(At least the ordering a non-fat latte part.)
If you’re a food service, messaging services like Slack will allow you to offer customers on-the-go food ordering.
Slack is a slightly different messaging service than other simpler interfaces. You can type in commands and have Slack perform them for you. And slack allows you, the retailer to program these commands as needed.
You can even set up checkout and payment services on slack.
Taco Bell is one of the first major retailers to use Slack in this way. The TacoBot allows whole teams to order TacoBell directly from Slack.
Other retailers and services have followed suit. And soon everybody will be ordering their food via chatbot.
Conclusion: Bow to The Bots
The bot revolution is here to stay. And we might as well take advantage of our current programmatic underlings.
Businesses will now have more time for the things that matter like office foosball tournaments. And your customers will feel a little more valued, to boot.
If you’re interested in bots for your business, try one out today!
