Chatbot Marketing: The Complete Guide For Business Growth

With the rapid competition amongst businesses, entrepreneurs have no option than to hop on to any strategy that will save them time and money. Need I say, help them win more clients?

With the cost of virtual assistants heading north steadily, businesses need to come up with cheaper ways to continue serving their website visitors, without compromising quality. One such way is by adopting chatbot marketing.

According to research by Ubisend, 21% of consumers see chatbots as the best way to contact a business and most of them don’t mind if a human being is behind it or not as long as they get their problem solved.

In this article, we will discuss how chatbots can help small businesses in their marketing efforts.

Chatbots Meaning – What Is A Chatbot?

Chatbots are artificial intelligence (AI), programs that simulate conversation or chat with users in natural language via messaging apps, websites, mobile apps, or by phone.

Chatbots can be powered by pre-programmed answers, artificial intelligence, and/or both. A chatbot uses the applied mechanism to process a user’s query and deliver a matching answer.

Some Interesting Chatbot Marketing Statistic

According to tidio.com:

• By 2024, consumer retail spending through chatbots is expected to reach $142.
• 90% of US consumers prefer companies that respond quickly to their questions.
• Chatbots are able to answer up to 80% of frequently asked questions.

Chatbot Marketing: How Do Chatbots Work?

Chatbots work in three steps: understand, act, and respond. The chatbot first processes the information the user has sent. It then acts according to a set of algorithms that interpret the messages.

Finally, it chooses the appropriate response from a set of algorithms. Chatbots can either respond in the same way every time or differently to messages that contain certain keywords.

Any system or application that depends on a machine’s ability to read human speech will likely struggle to understand its complexities such as similes and metaphors. Chatbot applications are constrained by the limitations of natural language processing because they rely so heavily upon it. 

Another issue is human speech. Chatbots attempt to mimic human conversations but conversations aren’t linear. There are many things that can go wrong: conversations restart, there are tangential subjects, and multiple topics being discussed simultaneously. This can make it difficult to follow an algorithm.

A chatbot can be improved by training it to respond to human interaction. Chatbots will respond better to human speech and other idiosyncrasies if you give them more data. Chatbots that are successful rely on context comprehension, intent variation, and intent recognition.

• Chatbot training using context understanding

Context understanding refers to the ability to track and remember different aspects of a conversation, such as time, location, and preferences. Then, it can combine all the inputs to create a complete picture of the conversation.

Chatbots need context information in order to have an effective conversation, just as humans use the surrounding context to guide their interactions.

• Chatbot training with intent variation

Understanding intent variation is important in order to understand what intents mean in natural language processing. A user’s input to a model such as a chatbot, search engine, or chatbot is called an “intent”. A chatbot is a tool that allows customers to inquire about hours of operation.

Intent variation is where the problem lies. People have different ways to express the same intention. A customer might ask, “What are your business hours?” “What hours are your restaurant open and closed?”.

The chatbot will be able to understand this and tell the customer the hours of the store regardless of how the question is phrased.

• Chatbot training using intent recognition

Intent recognition allows you to understand and extract the relevant information from every word and sentence. Because the chatbot can understand multiple intents, users can use long complex sentences.

These complex features demand a strong foundation for natural language processing that can only be supported by high-quality training data.

Benefits of Chatbots Marketing For Businesses

Before you will ask – what are chatbots used for? Let me start by quickly expanding on some of the benefits of chatbot marketing to brands or businesses.

• Chatbots can automate many functions for companies.
• Chatbots make it easier to acquire new leads and communicate with clients.
• Chatbots are able to ask users qualifying questions and calculate a lead score. This helps the sales team decide if a lead is worth chasing.
• Chatbots are able to help customers in a significant way by answering customer questions immediately. This reduces customer service costs. Chatbots are able to transfer complex queries to human executives through chatbot-to–human handover.
• Chatbots are a great way to streamline order management and send notifications. 
• Chatbots can be interactive, which allows for a more personalized customer experience. Our complete guide to chatbots contains more information.

Types of Chatbots 

There are two types of chatbots. These types tell us how they communicate. These chatbots are AI chatbots and rule-based chatbots.

Rule-based Chatbots 

Chatbots that are rule-based communicate with predefined answers.

You can compare them to actors in movies because they follow the script. Chatbots that are rule-based provide answers based upon a series of if/then logic, which can be complex. A chatbot designer defines and implements these rules.

It is important to note that chatbots built on rules don’t always understand the context of the conversation. They only provide matching answers when the user uses a keyword or a command that they were programmed for.

A rule-based chatbot will first look for keywords in a sentence when asked a question such as “How do I reset my password?” The keywords are ‘reset’, and ‘password’ in this example. It then matches the keywords to its database for the answer.

The chatbot may not be able to match a question with the answer if it is presented with a language or spelling that is outside its scope. Rule-based chatbots often ask users to rephrase their questions. Chatbots may also be able to transfer users to human agents when necessary.

It is important to note that chatbots that are rule-based can’t learn from past experience. They only respond to what they are currently able to understand. A rule-based chatbot can only be made better by providing it with more predefined responses and improving its rule-based mechanisms.

Rule-based chatbots can be built quickly and are easy to train. As far as chatbot marketing is concerned, they are a great addition to business strategies as they allow customers to communicate with them automatically.

You can also design the behavior of rule-based chatbots from A to Z. This allows companies to create predictable brand experiences.

AI Chatbots

An AI chatbot can be described as software that allows users to communicate freely with it. 

AI chatbots can communicate with users more effectively than their rule-based counterparts, as they use machine learning, natural language processing, and sentiment analysis.

• Machine Learning helps chatbots identify patterns in user input and make decisions based on past conversations.
• Natural Language Processing (NLP) helps chatbots learn how humans communicate so they can replicate the behavior. NLP is a method that allows chatbots to understand the context of a conversation, even if someone makes spelling mistakes or uses jargon.

• The sentiment analysis helps chatbots to understand the emotions of users.

AI chatbots must be trained and have pre-defined responses in order to start. They can learn from previous conversations and don’t have to be manually updated later.

AI chatbots are able to understand different languages and interpret the customer’s emotions. This allows them to customize their communication with the customer.

Popular Website Chatbots

#1. Lead Generation Bot

A Lead generation bot is a chatbot that’s specifically designed for lead generation. It collects contact information from prospects and qualifies leads automatically. 

They can also take dynamic lead forms that are tailored to your IP addresses and cookies. The bots then interact with you in a friendly way. This type of website chatbot will help you generate more leads by collecting your visitors’ emails or phone numbers. 

#2. Welcome New Visitors Bot

Use this chat robot to send a greeting to everyone who is visiting your website for the first time. First impressions matter and a good AI chatbot can make a good first impression with a warm welcome message for every new visitor.

#3. Visitor Leaving Page Bot

You can increase the dwell time on your site by using a Visitor Leaving Page Bot. This is different from a pop-up because it is more engaging and interactive. This automated bot will reach out to your visitors before they leave your website.

#4. Returning Visitor Bot

Let your returning customers know that you appreciate them by setting up a Returning Visitor Bot. This can increase customer loyalty and they will stick with your brand.

#5. Abandoned Cart Discount Bot

Don’t leave money on the table with your visitors who have abandoned carts. Rather use an Abandoned Cart Discount Bot to re-engage them by offering them some exclusive discounts or some incentives to complete their purchase.

With an Abandoned Cart Discount Bot, you can stop up to 60% of your clients from abandoning their carts.

#6. Order a Phone Call Bot

This chatbot will ask your visitors if they’d like to talk on the phone to get more info about a product/service.

#7. Operator Not Responding Bot

Not responding to a visitor’s question tells bad about a brand. Even if your company is experiencing some temporary glitches, your customers should not be left to feel abandoned.

Using an Operator Not Responding Bot will save your business from customer dissatisfaction by sending a message to the visitor who hasn’t received a reply to his query.

Difference Between Chatbots And Bots?

A bot is an automated tool that is designed to perform a particular software-based task. A chatbot, on the other hand, is the same thing. However, it focuses more on conversation and talking.

Chatbots are a sub-genre within the bot environment that allows humans to communicate with them. These devices are able to automate interactions with web visitors, social media followers, and SMS clients.

Chatbots are a great way for companies to offer 24/7 customer service, even to the most demanding customers in today’s age of customer experience.

Chatbots Examples: What Are The Most Popular Chatbots?

Many times, readers and clients ask to know which chatbot to go with in order to improve their website visitor experience. We always respond with the same line – It depends on your website and your service, plus what you are willing to invest.

Like everything in tech, all chatbots are not built equally. There are chatbots in the banking business just as there are also chatbots for business management. There are even chatbots in healthcare – can you beat that?

Chatbot Marketing: Which Are The Best Chat bots?

As stated above, depending on your website and business type, we will recommend the following chatbots.

ChitChatChimp

ChitChatChimp allows you to easily create a chatbot for personal or commercial use. You can then add it to your website to provide better support, sales assistance, or just entertainment.

 

The ChitChatChimp bot creator allows you to create bots with zero technical skills! You simply need to fill in the blanks, select a name and tag, upload an avatar, and then set your greeting message.

Training your bot with ChitChatChimp is an ongoing process. You only need to answer a question once. The next time you ask the same question, your bot will know the answer.

Your bot becomes smarter as your answer database grows. There is a ‘close match question algorithm to help you find answers to questions that are not already in your answer databases.

This algorithm searches your answer database to find the best match and provides an answer if there is no pre-programmed answer.

You can edit your bot’s answers easily (e.g. if you need to modify a refund period or revise a launch time, or change a link).

It’s easy to add your bot to your website once you have created it. You will receive a small snippet code that you can place on your page. That’s all there is to it. Your account dashboard will allow you to edit the bot’s look and feel at any time.

The changes will immediately appear in the area where your bot was placed (you don’t have to touch the actual page).

 Collect.chat

Collect.Chat, a chatbot-building tool for websites, is easy to use. It allows users to create chatbots that can be used as an alternative for static web forms. The software allows you to create chatbots in minutes. Users don’t have to be coding experts to use it.

Collect.Chat allows individuals and companies to collect more information from visitors, track leads, and increase conversion. Everything is automated by the application. Collect.Chat can generate leads in addition to scheduling sales meetings. It is also a great platform for building email lists, collecting feedback, and executing surveys.

Here are some of the benefits of using Collect.Chat.

• Collect.Chat offers a chatbot creator that makes it easier to build chatbots. To create a chatbot for your website, you don’t have to tweak codes. This allows you to control the chatbots and what questions they ask visitors.This saves you time and money. You don’t need to hire coders or spend a lot of time creating chat widgets. Collect.chat allows you to quickly build chatbots and then deploy them with minimal effort.

• Collect.chat offers a variety of question templates that allow you to quickly ask your visitors’ relevant questions. This makes chatbots more interactive and encourages visitors to interact.It also ensures that you receive valuable information so you can develop personalized and effective approaches.
• Collect.Chat allows you to easily install your chatbot using Html code or a WordPress plugin. You can also mail your developer.
• Collect.Chat displays the details of your chatbot via powerful visualizations through its user-friendly dashboard. Some of its features include –

• • Chatbot Builder
  • Exceptional Question Templates
  • Fast and Easy Installation
  • Powerful visualizations
  • Integrations

PRICING: It has a free plan. Paid plans start at $24/mth.

Tars Chatbot

Tars is a chatbot marketing and creation tool that saves leads from Google Ads. This allows you to provide potential customers an interactive experience using a chatbot rather than static, unengaging landing pages.

This increases prospects’ conversion rates and gives you a better chance to increase your profitability while also maximizing your ROI.

Tars can not only bring you leads but also qualify prospects. The Tars chatbot will ask you relevant questions to help you filter potential clients.

This process is faster and more efficient because your audience has the feeling that they are talking to someone, rather than filling out tedious forms.

Some of the benefits of using Tars in chatbot marketing include:

a) Higher Conversion rates

Boring forms and static landing pages are often ineffective at obtaining information from prospects. You can save clicks from Google Ads by using a Tars chatbot. Your future customers will enjoy a more engaging experience with your bot. This will allow you to gather the necessary information to put your conversion strategy into action.

b) Leads Qualification

Your Tars chatbot qualifies leads before they are sent to your CRM. The chatbot asks more questions to help filter potential leads. This process is faster and more efficient than requiring site visitors to fill out forms.

c) Custom Conversation Workflow

Tars will guide you through the creation of your chatbot using its workflow builder. You can also customize the conversation your customers have with your chatbot. If you find this tedious, you can use any of the pre-built templates on the platform to speed up the creation process.

d) Unique Chatbot URLs

Chatbots behave much like landing pages so they live at their unique URLs. This allows you to create multiple chatbots for different purposes and target different audiences. This functionality allows you to easily organize, separate, and filter leads.

e) Powerful Data Analysis

Tars chatbot comes with an analytics tool that will provide you with numerical numbers that can be used to measure your success. These can be used to optimize your conversational pages and increase conversion rates.

f) API Integration

Tars make it possible for you to connect your chatbots with your preferred backend sales and marketing tools using its extensive APIs. This allows you to transfer leads and prospects’ information automatically from chatbots to your CRMs or ERPs.

PRICING: Plan starts at $149.00/month

MobileMonkey

MobileMonkey is one of the popular chatbot marketing tools for Facebook Messenger and Instagram.

MobileMonkey lets marketers create chatbots that interact with customers, segment their audience and grow their contact lists to drive conversions.

It is essentially a new channel for marketing that unlocks a completely new channel with insane conversion rates, massive engagement metrics, and a huge payoff.

MobileMonkey is a Facebook Messenger marketing chatbot. This means that the app can be used to send Facebook Messenger messages directly to your Business page followers. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Let me show you some of the most important tools in MobileMonkey.

Chatbot Builder: MobileMonkey’s chatbot builder is its heart. It allows you to create as many chatbots as you like from scratch or by using templates.

Chat Blaster: MobileMonkey’s chat Blaster lets you send a message or segment to all your Messenger contacts.

Drip Campaigns: MobileMonkey’s drip campaign allows you to create a sequence of messages to be delivered at specific intervals to keep your audience engaged.

RSS Blaster: MobileMonkey’s RSS Blaster lets you share your RSS updates to your audience. You can add an existing RSS feed to the tool, then input some additional text and toggle a few more options.

Connections: Connections can be used in a two-way manner. The bot can send data to you, such as your contact lists. You can pull data from. Webhook and Zapier are the two supported connection types.

Messenger Ads: MobileMonkey allows you to create Messenger ads and then import them into Facebook Ads Manager.

FB Comment Guard: You can add a Comment Guard to your Facebook organic posts. You can add someone to your Messenger contact list by commenting on your post.

Chat with Your Customer: This tool will allow you to add a chat button to your website.

Analytics: You get deep insight into each campaign, contact, and chatbot performance.

PRICING: Mobile Monkey is a  FREE chatbot. However, there are also paid plans but it is completely free to start with.

Chatbot Marketing: How to use Chatbot for marketing

1. Give your audience a personal experience.

A conversation with someone you know by name can change the tone of a conversation. Chatbots can integrate with social media and gather data about each person they interact with.

2. Larger engagement capacity.

Chatbots have a unique advantage: they engage customers and keep them coming back. Chatbots are a different type of marketing because they keep customers engaged for longer than other types.

3. Reach a larger audience.

Chatbots can reach an almost limitless number of people because they are primarily found on social media messaging platforms. Chatbots can help you reach new customers by reaching new audiences.

They can also be integrated with multiple messaging apps, making it easier to assist your customers. This opens up new sales opportunities.

4. Collect and analyze customer feedback.

Chatbots are a great way to get feedback from customers. People won’t spend their time filling out surveys unless they are given an incentive. Chatbots make it easier to gather feedback by asking questions in conversations.

5. Send pertinent notifications.

Consumers don’t want to receive a flood of notifications via text message, email, or other means every time anything happens about your business, products, services, or business. Chatbots can collect and analyze data and send personalized notifications via social media to each user.

6. Make it more enjoyable to communicate with your brand

Chatbots are able to provide quality information to customers but they can also make customer interactions more fun.

Chatbots make marketing fun and interactive. They leave a lasting impression. You can increase your website’s visitors by sharing links to relevant blog posts or other content.

7. Make your brand proactive.

Brands often take a passive approach when it comes to customer interactions. Brands only communicate with customers if they have been contacted by them. Chatbots automatically send a welcome notification to users who visit your website or profile on social media.

This can make you appear more proactive and improve your brand’s image. It can also increase interaction, which can have a positive impact on your sales figures.

8. Take your customers through the sales funnel seamlessly.

Although lead nurturing is an important part of any company’s marketing strategy, it can also be very time-consuming. Chatbots enable you to collect the information that you need in order to create personalized messages to guide your customers through the buyer’s journey.

9. Keep your social media presence current.

It is unrealistic to expect your customer service team to be able to answer every inquiry on your social media profiles. This is also very time-consuming and expensive. Chatbots allow you to be available 24/7. Chatbot marketing can save you money and help you maintain your social media presence.

In Conclusion

Chatbot has evolved beyond just customer service. Now it can be integrated fully into marketing and sales in various business niches.

Entrepreneurs and marketing managers should map out a winning strategy that includes chatbot marketing. With so many statistics supporting it, you can hardly go wrong.

If you are overwhelmed with it all and need some sort of clarity in integrating chatbot marketing into your business, you can consult me by clicking on this link.

If you signed up for any of the chatbot service providers like ChitChatChimp, Collect.chat, Tars Chatbot, or MobileMonkey, and need assistance setting it up, you can check out our chatbot building service in the shop.