A “for idiots” guide to using free chat bots to secure leads & customers before they’re gone for good!
In to-days world of fast-paced marketing communication is critical… And even more so with social media. If you are not available to help prospective clients 24/7 then you are losing out!
You may have come across a chatbot while messaging a business, we have one of our own in fact! These chatbots tend to be as intuitive as they are helpful to get instant answers, and even to filter a real person to the visitor. We’ll tell you why using one is important for any business. Read on!
Here’s Why You Need A Chatbot
Today, more people than ever expect your business to be able to answer them immediately, and there are still a staggering amount of sites which do not have nor support online “live” messaging capabilities. If a potential customer has one burning question they’d like answered immediately before buying, and you cannot provide the answer, you’re likely to lose them to someone who can answer them more quickly, or who already has that answer within their FAQ section.
Messaging capabilities also mean higher mobile commerce, and by 2020 80% of smartphone users are expected to be using a mobile messaging app with a mind toward purchases. (source)
Isn’t it impersonal?
Unless you can be online 24 hours a day, or have a team which can be online 24 hours a day in rotating shifts, you need a bot to handle at least some of your traffic. A bot isn’t impersonal unless you make it feel that way. The bot can be programmed using AI principles to respond appropriately when it “hears” certain words or phrases, and gives programmed responses you design in its controls.
It can sound and feel as human as you are! Something to include – is a way to reach a real person, so someone isn’t purely stuck within the bot and able to get frustrated. Any coldness found within a bot is offset by the fact that they’re able to get instant answers to some of the most popular questions in your industry. With clever programming, your bot will be just as warm, funny, or intuitive as you are, and best yet? The bot helps build the same emotional connection people share with their smartphones. (source)
Don’t Assume
When you’re building your bot, never assume the customer knows anything about you or your business, or even perhaps, what they want themselves! You need to program your bot as though you’re new to this entire experience, and have a ton of questions. Your bot should be intuitive and guess at the most common things anyone would ask upon discovering your site.
You’ll want to start by giving your bot a unique name. For example’s sake, we named ours “Magibot” considering our business’ name is Magiweb. This creates a link between the bot and our company, as well as gives visitors a memorable name to recall when looking for our bot. You’ll want to give your visitors some hints on how to get started using the bot – like telling them some phrases or words they can type in to go specific places within the bot’s capabilities. Example, “You can say products, services, sales, promotions, or help“.
Keep it Natural
You want your bot to seem like someone is dealing with a human being, rather than an emotionless web presence. The best way to do this is to reproduce actual conversation between people. If you’re uncertain what it would sound like, practice what you want your bot to say with a business partner or team member first and if it sounds forced, cold or ridiculous, try again until it feels like proper give and take, back and forth, as though someone is dealing with a human being, and not a bot.
You’ll also want your bot to be or seem, as smart as you are – but you’ll want to avoid complicated grammar or overly large words which can confuse the reader, or put a full stop on the comfortable flow of conversation and leave the reader feeling inept. Shorter and more concise sentences work best for the bot, and for your visitors.
The Man Behind the Curtain
Part of the draw of the bot is relying upon human curiosity, and the novelty of discovery. The other side of this is that you don’t want to overwhelm your visitor by too many options or things to remember at once. Your bot should “know” to offer the right options at the right part of the conversation. Let them discover how wonderful your bot is by interacting with it.
The more time one spends with your bot, the better chance you have they’ll follow through with the reason they visited in the first place.
