‘’By 2020, it is predicted that 85% of consumer interactions will be handled without a human agent’’
Chatbots in 2019 isn’t all about lessening your burden from repetitive tasks, it plays a huge role in lead generation as well. With the competition striking hotter each minute, your B2B brand requires an intelligent and supportive application that would speed up the way lead generation is being managed.
‘’35% of consumers want to see more companies using chatbots’’ which gives your brand the clear clarity that if you are still not investing your currency in chatbots, you might be lagging. The 2019 market has grown and will continue to grow with automated technologies that are making B2B businesses achieve lead generations much more quicker and convenient.
Think of it in this way, you have a thousand leads to cater to and you need to not only divert your attention to the hot leads but also retain the existing leads which are also crucial to your business growth. Having an employee manually conducting this process can be tiresome and slow hence the growth of chatbots can make your life much easier.
From a marketing, sales and agent point of view, chatbots are the solution which will outsell other remaining tactics of client engagement much quicker ‘’67% of businesses believe that chatbots will outrun mobile apps within the next 5 years.
Why Chat bots?
Source: Smart Insights
Chatbots are software which is designed to conduct a human action. Having to keep up with the constant changes in client’s preferences and market fluctuations, conducting repetitive tasks daily consumes half of your attention to even look beyond.
How many times have you worked late hours because you weren’t able to complete your work activities? When was the last time you were fully focused on creating an exceptional strategy but couldn’t concentrate much because of the piling workload?
It is difficult to tackle the 2019 sales market and emerge as a successful brand if your organization management falls apart, which is the real reason why chatbots are needed in your lead generation activities.
Chatbots can be installed anywhere, your website, engaging with your clients via live chat or callback software, on your bulk personalized email process and many other places. Chatbots are a mini version of you, where it caters to your clients just the way you would when you engage with them.
Chatbots have been a debate for quite some time. While some believe that chatbots can make B2B brand’s life easier, some believe that it can never replace the human touch.
Let’s get a closer look at its qualities:
| Pros of Chatbots | Cons of Chatbots |
| 1. It caters to leads needs much quicker. | 1. It might cater to leads needs quicker but it lacks the most evident emotion while engaging which is empathy in human communications. |
| 2. It can cater to your repetitive work whilst giving you the opportunity to conduct other relevant work measures that require your attention. | 2. You cannot completely rely on a chatbot to conduct your work. Sometimes a chatbot wouldn’t be able to relate to your clients and maybe due to technical issues it can shut down causing you a loss in lead capture. |
| 3. It is programmed to assist clients’ needs so there is no room for any error. | 3. At times a client will not just need answers, they would want the agent assisting them to relate with their issues. |
| 4. Chatbots are increasing in numbers and will soon replace many applications. | 4. Chatbots will never be able to eliminate the need for human touch. |
Despite the challenges being addressed, technology is progressing with unique applications that will conquer every error chatbots can have. In fact, the technology sector in B2B has seen a significant rise in the usage of chatbots, ‘’58% of companies that use chatbots are B2B tech.’’
An article from Forbes states ‘’ The importance of this technology is its role as a stepping stone to the new world of IoT (Internet of Things) wherein traditional roles of sales, marketing, and customer service will be completed transformed.’’
Hubspot even revealed the cycle of growth with reference to this topic.
As you now have adequate information of what the future of chatbots look like, it’s time to witness how their contribution can impact your lead generation activities.
What happens when you blend Chat bots with Lead Generation?
Source: Collect.chat
There are three main segments which chatbots can help in efficient lead generation tactics:
1. Email Management
Sending personalized emails via efficient software can help you in tapping your warm leads much quicker. Today to conduct efficient follow-up processes, having to send personalized emails can be a great way of capturing your leads much quicker. This action not only captures lead attention but also pushed them towards the next step of converting them into a valuable sales lead. With chatbots, this process becomes a whole lot easier.
With chatbots, you can assign it to follow up with leads whilst you manage your other crucial factors that require your attention. For instance, if you have tapped 10 leads out of which 10 are hot leads and the rest still needs nurturing, a chatbot can help you conduct this process without any error, it will send emails to those leads as well as engage with them just the way you would. While the chatbot manages this, you can continue following up with the hot leads and convert them into sales without wasting any time.
2. Online Leads Management
The next proven way to cater to leads efficiently is when you assist them via your website or landing page. There are many B2B users who take the support of live chats or callback software where they immediately cater to their client’s needs. For instance, with an efficient callback software available in the market, you can use a chatbot to immediately assist your leads on arrival and help them reach out to you quickly or schedule a convenient time according to their preference. This is great because even when you are on a break or are away, you still receive alerts of a new lead showing interest.
Chatbots have a great way to engage with clients. With a program embedded in them, you can make them act on situations that require attention in your repetitive tasks. The greatest thing factor about chatbots is that even when you’re away they are still there waiting to assist your leads at any time. For instance, leads can still be captured while your sleeping and you can reach out to them personally the next day since the chatbot has managed to grasp and answer all their requirements.
3. Accessing Valuable Information Online
To outsell your competitors, the main agenda is to collect vital information of theirs to monitor and apply the strategies they are using to gain success. But with the online market restricted brands to retrieve such information technology has made this process doable with proxy servers. With proxy servers, you can easily access any information by hiding your IP address. There are many proxy servers available in the market that can help make this process a smooth journey for you.
However considering the well-established growth of the 2019 market, proxy servers have a great twist to it. There is a solution, called ‘Proxy bot’ that makes your life easier when catering to your clients.
Proxy bots emerged as a solution to tackle untested bots, move away from long approval times of bot creations and having to test bots without any restrictions. Proxy bots are ‘’an intermediary that relays messages from the end-user to another bot and vice versa. By directing the Proxy Bot to connect to a specific test bot, the end-user can test that bot quickly and comprehensively.’’
With a proxy bot:
- Test efficiently with codes
- Make changes and alterations with the bot on spot
- Test the bots by sending instructions to users testing it
- Deprives your way to engage with unpublished and untested bots
While you use Proxy bots to create a dynamic bot that will make lives easier, you can also use chatbots to retrieve quality information for your brand growth at any given time.
The Bottom Line…
With the chatbots preferences increasing by the mark, it is evident to state that it has a wider scope in the business world. As mentioned, there are drawbacks to machine learning technology but with the rise in systematic and organized technological measures, chatbots have a great way to assist clients’ needs more efficiently and conveniently.
As a brand, in order to tap your leads quicker, you must conduct lead generation tactics in a smarter way, in a way that leads to efficient management by a chatbot.
Chatbot is the future for the next upcoming years and will continue to progress its way further.
