Just about every business owner would like to be able to automate routine, uninteresting activities. There are many ways to do so today, and even an increasing number that goes beyond such basics.
Well-designed chatbots, for instance, can do some fairly heavy lifting when it comes to marketing. Businesses that put effective chatbots in place frequently report enjoying huge boosts to their sales.
Become familiar with the following seven secrets of the chatbot marketing gurus and you will be able to use this versatile technology to support your own business.
1. Chatbots Are Easy to Set Up
Even among entrepreneurs and business owners who have heard plenty about chatbots and their benefits, a reluctance to jump aboard often prevails. One of the most common reasons for remaining on the sidelines is a fear that designing and setting up a useful marketing chatbot will be too difficult.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Companies like hellojenny! now offer courses and guides that include everything business owners need to leverage chatbots effectively. Following a simple, step-by-step plan will allow you to set up a chatbot that is perfectly customized for your business.
2. Research Makes a Difference
As a business owner, you almost certainly know a lot about how your customers think and the kinds of questions that most often trouble them. Start with these basics when designing a chatbot and you will get off to a good start.
It always pays to look a little deeper in order to make sure your chatbot has plenty of interesting, useful things to say. Talk with employees and even vendors to make sure you have covered all the bases before launching the first version of your chatbot.
3. Structure and Direction Translate Into Helpful Chats
Chatbots that promote aimless, meandering dialogue tend to see their conversation partners fleeing. When designing your chatbot, you will want to think about how to encourage helpful, elegant interactions with it.
Most natural conversations have a back-and-forth structure that chatbots can replicate fairly easily. Add appropriate branches for each of the topics your chatbot will address and its responses should make sense to users.
4. Bots Can Have Personality
Even an advanced chatbot will never match a human’s ability to surprise and delight others in the course of conversation. Your chatbot’s canned responses do not need to be sterile and anodyne, however. Work on developing an appealing personality that shines through in its messages and your bot will do a better job of holding the attention of users.
5. Metrics and Analytics Make Improvement Easy
The first version of your chatbot to go online should always be considered a starting point. Tracking tools, data-gathering instrumentation, and analytics can and should be used thereafter to figure out how to build upon that foundation.
6. Access to Data Makes Chatbots More Interesting
Some of the most successful marketing chatbots of all time do little more than provide easy, conversational access to interesting stores of data. If your business is properly positioned to make use of that approach, give it some consideration.
7. You Do Not Need to Do Away With Humans
Having a chatbot supporting your business via around-the-clock marketing can be liberating and exciting. Recognize that there will be times when it will be better for a human to take over from your chatbot, however. Work on identifying the most natural and appropriate hand-off points and your chatbot will become an even more valuable member of your team.
Knowledge of these seven secrets has helped many business owners and others make excellent use of chatbots. A chatbot can boost your business’s sales for a long time to come without needing any additional investment.
