Chatbots are becoming a must have for every business.

They give you amazing flexibility, productivity and responsiveness when it comes to running your business.

• They improve your service to customers
• They ensure your staff are focused on important matters
• That simple day to day tasks and questions are answered quickly.
• Help you improve your feedback to customers

According to Business Insider, 80% of the companies will be using chatbots by 2020.

If you want to keep your business competitive and to grow your business, you must be a part of that 80%.

On top of handling basic customer service the will play an important part in your lead generation, nurturing and follow up will both clients and prospects.

Chatbots are one of the best tools for initiating contact and getting prospects to spend more time engaging with your brand.

They can be used to promote brand awareness on social media and websites.

They can also be used to improve brand discoverability. And, they are excellent at conversing with leads to maintain contact.

Chatbots can be used and paired with nearly every lead generation activity or tactic.  

Whether its social media marketing, content marketing, or email marketing, you can integrate chatbots into the campaign for better results.

You truly have the ability to engage your visitors and to provide a service that is very responsive.

If you’re thinking of diving into the world of AI Chatbots then Facebook Messenger is the best place to start.

At over one billion users and climbing, Facebook is really the one messaging app where business owners need to be.

This will give you access to highly qualified and targeted leads for your business.

Here are 9 Ways Chatbots Will Supercharge Your Lead Generation​

Build Your List with Website Visitors

You can use your Facebook Messenger bot as your website chat

More and more websites and landing pages are including chatbots, and the move toward chatbots as a website standard makes sense.

When customers click a link, they’re probably looking for information, and chatbots provide a deeper dive than text on a webpage.

Use your Facebook Bot to power your website chat and utilise some key advantages:

• Build a list of new contacts who have visited your site that you can send messaging to.

• Answer FAQs instantly: You can answer common questions with a chatbot in seconds, giving visitors on your site immediate answers to keep them around.

• Save on staffing: Using automation and chatbots, you save tons of money on staffing costs.

• Alert a human to take over the chat any time: Get the best of all world’s by setting up your website chat to have a human takeover if questions can’t be answered by the bot.

• Mobile friendly: Messenger is meant for mobile communication, there is no better way to communicate on mobile with your customers.

• Save new contacts as leads: When you get a contact on FB Messenger, you can message them at any time, even if they leave your website. But with live-chat platforms, you can’t message them unless they are on-site

A recent survey conducted by Facebook found that customers are 50% more likely to buy from a brand after chatting, and it didn’t seem to matter whether the person on the other end of the chat was man or machine.

Including chat on a website can increase conversions by 45% (mobilemonkey.com)

By providing a chatbot that hovers in the corner of the screen at all times and clearly states its willingness to answer questions, you can save the person (or people) responsible for replying to your support emails a lot of time.

You can program the FAQ questions (and answers) into the script easily enough — and to cover exceptional cases in which the bot can’t parse the question, it can be hooked into your main support line to call in human reinforcement when needed.

That’s the power of chatbots. They have the ability to not just answer questions, but to use data around the questions to move leads through the purchase funnel by creating scalable, personalized one-to-one recommendations.

One of the most challenging parts of turning a site visitor into a viable prospect is keeping them engaged with your brand. That is, engaged long enough to show them why you’re the right choice for their needs.

Decorating your lead generation website or landing page with long walls of text are not the best way to accomplish this. They can be helpful, sure. But most people find information-based pages on a brand’s website a little overwhelming — and maybe a bit off-putting

Chatbots can transform this experience.

Collect leads when you’re offline by using chatbots. 

Live chat can still do the job even when you’re not there, thanks to chatbots.      

When your potential customer clicks on the live chat widget when you’re offline, a chatbot can inform them that you’ll contact them as soon as possible, and collect all the necessary information, such as name, e-mail, phone number, and the visitor’s inquiry.

As a basic step to improve customer service install a chatbot on your website

The next 8 strategies will focus on how you can use the FB Messenger App to generate leads

Click To Message with Facebook Messenger

If you’re thinking of using AI Chatbots then Facebook Messenger is the best place to start.

At over one billion users and climbing, Facebook is really the one messaging app where business owners need to be, lest they miss out on important conversations with highly qualified leads.

The “Click to Message” feature of the Facebook app is your entry point for connecting with those leads.

According to the SMSS blog, one of the best parts of utilizing Click to Message is the ability to ask leads qualifying questions before the chat process even begins and throughout the entirety of the conversation.

After identifying qualified leads, AI chatbots provide ample opportunity for nurturing those leads. Offering ebooks, discount codes, or even a free trial are all excellent ways to move leads down the funnel.

You can design your chatbot to get customers in the store by making it easy to book appoints with the sales team.

Conversion rates are significantly higher.

Filling out the form via Messenger is much more easy and convenient for users than redirecting to a website just to do the same thing — remember, 90% of people on Facebook use mobile devices.

You don’t lose 90% customers you paid for because the moment a user clicks on your opt-in message they are an immediate subscriber.

Compare this to a traditional landing page where 90–95% website visitors leave the website. Using this messaging system allows you to follow-up with everyone even if they don’t send you their phone number or email.

Messenger allows customer support without switching to another channel to get information about your products or services. They can ask questions and receive a response immediately.

Messenger is a much more personal way for communication. The bot flow can be changed right while chatting. A Bot can know the name and some previous history in the communication. The landing page — can’t.

You don’t need a landing page anymore as your Bot can work as a marketing landing page + form.

Chatbot to Live Chat

You can have potential customers click on your Facebook ad and activate your bot and then ultimately move to a live chat so you can make an offer or close a sale.

The Bot asks several questions requiring specific responses to proceed. Once that is completed, a conversation with a live agent will start.      

Why use this?

This kind of campaign allows you to screen for quality leads that are genuinely interested in your service or product. When the live chat begins, you can continue to nurture and direct that relationship to where the places you want it to go.      

The benefit is by introducing leads to a live agent, you can increase engagement and conversions at your business.

Let’s suppose you are offering a special service or product then this is how to set up your Bot flow:

Step 1: Facebook Ad. Run a targeted FB ad.

Step 2: Opt in message When a user clicks on the ad, they will receive an opt-in message via Messenger. If they don’t click on it or make a reply, the bot flow will not be activated. To increase the engagement, your opt-in should be relevant to the Ad and motivates the user to perform a specific action (click the link or reply).

Step 3: Provide some useful information& if your opt-in was successful, you should provide a few value driven questions to engage the user. In this example, we would ask questions about their travel plans, motivations for visiting, places they want to see, and so on.

Step 4: Offer a free consultation/chat. Once the customer has submitted their answer, and they are clearly engaged with the bot, you can offer a free consultation via live chat. This is an ideal moment to introduce a special offer in a friendly and unintrusive way.

Step 5: Chat. If your customer agrees to chat, send them a notification that a staff member will contact them shortly. This also a chance to ask additional questions your expert might need for the consultation.

Chatbot for Email Capture

This action is integrated with your CRM or Marketing Automation software

This method works exceptionally well for building your email list and when you want the ability to contact leads at a later date.

Why use this? This kind of campaign allows you to collect a lot of lead information (i.e. name + phone number + important information) which you can use for direct selling techniques or email marketing      

Collecting a large list of leads to be sent to your sales team capable of closing the deal or for future marketing

Setting up the Bot Flow:

Step 1: Facebook Ad. Create an image or video Ad offering a special service or free offer.

Step 2: Opt in message. Similar to the instructions above, write a relevant and convincing opt-in message.

Step 3: Provide some useful information. Provide the customer with more details about your offer. Focus on highlighting the benefits of your offer and why that customer should use it or buy it now.

Step 4: Qualify a lead. Here you can ask the customer some relevant questions about your offer. You can set up some categories to get the details you need.

Keep in mind, you do not want to ask too many questions. Doing so can draw out the process and reduce the amount of leads you collect. Try to ask one or two and focus on getting a phone number to make a direct and personalized sales effort.

Step 5: Gather customers contact. As mentioned, this is the piece of information you need. In most cases, getting a phone number is all you need. The first and last name will be collected automatically. However, we strongly recommend that you don’t ask their address or anything else. You can get this information during the phone call.

When the customer finishes the bot flow, the lead information should automatically be sent to CRM, email or Google Sheets (depending on your output) for you to proceed to the next step.

Chatbot with Content + Follow-Up

This bot flow allows you to promote useful content, such as articles, eBooks, and informational video, which is followed by a unique offer.

This kind of campaign allows you introduce value to your potential customer and engage.

You can create a strong impression of your business or brand and begin nurturing a positive relationship with your lead.

Setting up the Bot Flow:  

Step 1: Facebook Ad. In the Ad we can offer a free guide.

Step 2: Opt in message. A relevant opt-in message.

Step 3: Qualify a lead. Before you offer the content, you can ask one or two questions to get a better understanding of your customer. This is not required as the focus should be on providing the content right away but you may have 2 or 3 lead magnets for different markets

Step 4: Provide a content. This is the step where you provide the content that you promised them. It can be as simple as a message with a PDF version that can be downloaded right away. Depending on your product, you can even offer promo-codes and coupons if it fits your goals.

Step 5: Follow-up message. You already have a subscriber to your Messenger channel, however the main goal is to generate a lead. According Facebook policy, you should follow-up with a customer, with any offer, within 24 hours.

In other situations, you can offer a test drive, a vacation package to Paris, or something like it.

Opt-in message should be clear and relevant to the Ad. Ideally it should have a 70–80% click through rate.

Before asking something, the bot should provide value to the prospective customer.

If you ask for a phone number or other data, explain to the user how they should input that information. For entering some predefined answers you can simple use the “Quick replies” feature.

If you don’t get an answer from the customer within 10 or 30 minutes, you should try to asking the question in a different way. This significantly increases the number of responses and will increase your leads.

People prefer to communicate with people. Since you’re using a bot, make the most out of the experienced by personalizing messages and using the customer’s first name.

Don’t send more than 2–3 messages simultaneously. Separate these blocks of messages with buttons like “Got it”, “Next” and so on.

Precisely define the next step when the bot flow is finished. If the customer has to wait for their live chat, tell them a manager will be in touch within 15 minutes. Otherwise, proceed with the live chat immediately.

Don’t use menus in bot. This reduces clicks on opt-in message and also decreases twice the amount of leads!

Create a Facebook Messenger Landing Page

Standard landing page conversion rates are in the neighbourhood of 2.5%. But with Messenger landing pages, you get superior conversion rates.

Everyone who clicks the button and sends your bot a message becomes a lead.

• These are far superior to regular landing pages because:

• They are extremely mobile friendly, with zero forms or heavy page elements. Users get directed immediately into Messenger to convert instead.

• Are very easy to build with your Chatbot service content builder, usually with zero coding.

• New contacts can receive follow-up messaging from you, including promotional offers, new blog posts and more.

• When a visitor of your landing page converts by clicking the “Learn more in Messenger” button they are directed into conversation with a Chatbot that can collect lead qualifying information.

Link to Messenger

The next three strategies use a link to Messenger, a lead magnet that you can place anywhere you would a URL, like your blog, email or ad campaigns.      

Download offers

Just like landing pages you can use them as direct links and place them anywhere you would a normal CTA.

As your CTA at the end of a blog post is one obvious use case.

Chatbots for Messenger are easy to develop, update, and link to for fast acting conversion tools

Email campaigns and Email signature

We covered how to turn your email list into your Messenger contacts with Facebook ads, but you can also generate new Messenger contacts from email for free.      

Link to your Messenger opt-in page from your email.

Customer Surveys

Customer surveys give marketers more info about customers and their preferences that inform more effective campaigns

But surveys conducted via email are poor compared to surveys conducted via Messenger in a few important ways.

Facebook Messenger chatbot surveys create persistent contacts that open the door to follow-up messaging.

Messenger surveys are also:

✓ Super quick and easy to fill out 

✓ Ultimately mobile-friendly 

✓ Have high engagement rates 

✓ Save survey data to customer profiles 

✓ Not anonymous

Getting a subscriber on Facebook Messenger is much easier than an email subscriber because of the reduced friction.

Leverage your existing assets to build your Messenger list faster.

Targeted Click-to-Messenger Ads

Email List

You can target your current email list with Click-to-Messenger Facebook ads

This step will give you:

• Reduce your cost per lead using the messages Facebook ad objective compared to traffic and conversion ads.

• They result in instant lead capture unlike traffic you drive to your landing pages for 1-4% conversion rate

• They’re a new ad objective which gives marketers who do adopt them a first mover advantage.

• Instead of traditional Facebook ads that drive clicks to a website or likes to a page, messages ads start conversations in Facebook Messenger      

With a coupon code remarketing to site visitors

Send-to-Messenger ads are amazing for contacting new audiences and building some brand awareness.

But they are even better when you start to target warmer audiences that have engaged with your brand before

Businesses who utilize this strategy are seeing 20% response rates within a single hour of launching these campaigns. (mobilemonkey.com)

Sales From Live Chat

You can lead people through a nurturing sequence and when they click a certain button towards the end of the sequence, your chatbot can notify you so that you can jump into the live chat and close the sale.

Imagine a chatbot qualifying your leads and you or your staff coming into the conversation at the perfect time.

Professional Bloggers: A health expert can drip messages and teach people how to eat healthier, then offer their course or coaching program.

Product: An sports company can segment their audience, send tailored sporting tips, and customize their product recommendations to sell the perfect sports equipment.

Service: A business can teach why copywriting is so important and at the end of the sequence, offer their copywriting services to them.

According to Vtldesign.com, 38% of buyers purchased something because of a live chat session

And this data is about live chat alone – combining it with chatbots boosts the effects

Chatbotslife.com suggests that chatbots can improve conversion rates by up to 25%.

Cart Abandonment

Engage users when they want to leave the website or abandon their shopping cart

There can be many reasons for visitors bouncing from a website.

Perhaps they didn’t like it, it lacked the information, or they didn’t find the product interesting.

But, what if the reason was more trivial, such as leaving the website just to return a little later?

You can make the best of every visit – a chatbot can engage a visitor who tries to leave the website (or shopping cart), whatever reason they might have.

You can ask that visitor some questions that’ll end in getting a lead (or some feedback, at the very least) or may be even closing the sale.

Others​

Comments: You can set up your chatbot so that when someone comments on your Facebook Page’s post, they get a message directly from your chatbot.

Retargeting Ads: You can retarget people who left your site on Facebook with a Messenger ad and give them a 10% discount on their order.

These 9 strategies will supercharge your lead generation will supercharge your lead generation.

On some occasions, you’ll need a human touch to initiate a conversation. Bots can do that.

But, it must sound natural to work at all. The prospect, for many reasons, may keep ignoring all the bot’s messages. Or, after a series of messages, the prospect might notice the robotic nature of replies and stop responding.     

You need to be around, engage these fans, and initiate conversations if need be.

For prospects that are already on board, tweak the actions of your bots accordingly to encourage meaningful conversations. Also, revise your responses as appropriate until you’re in sync with the lead.

Provide real answers

Chatbots, if not programmed properly, can be very annoying. When someone asks a question, they could respond with a completely irrelevant answer. They can also leave irrelevant comments. This can turn away potential customers.

To avoid such situations, find a way to provide useful responses to each situation. If someone asks about the price of a product, your bots need to respond with an actual price. That’s the only way to keep leads hooked.     

Here are some of the benefits associated with using lead bots for your business:

• They are operational 24*7 and 365 days and are therefore ready to talk to your customers always.

• A lead bot can simultaneously handle any amount of requests, there is no need to increase the capacity or create more number of templates.

• Lead bots can keep track of data, trends and metrics thus helping you create processes and predict trends

• You can integrate lead bots on all web platforms, whether it is native Html, WordPress, Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce and more.

• It saves you a lot of overheads by helping you keep the number of support staff on your rolls to a bare minimum.

All these strategies will provide immense benefit to you and your business. As a minimum install the chatbot on your website.

Then focus on 2 or 3 strategies to begin your journey with Chatbot marketing.