How to Leverage Contact Center Chatbots for Improving Sales and Marketing Efforts? 

Most of us see chatbots as virtual assistants who support contact center agents with their tasks. But these digital sidekicks are capable of much more. Beyond simply assisting, these technology tools can perform various other tasks for the business. 

Recent research not only affirms this role but also suggests a significant shift in customer attitudes towards chatbots. According to Intercom, a substantial 74% of customers now expect to encounter chatbots on websites, and notably, 25% express comfort with this evolving interaction.  

As customers increasingly embrace chatbots and these tools demonstrate potential beyond the traditional scope of contact centers, businesses can leverage them to scale up multiple areas of the business. 

One such promising domain is sales and marketing. The previous study had in fact shown that chatbots are more frequently employed for sales than support. Usage statistics revealed a 41% chatbot utilization rate for sales compared to only 37% for customer support. 

Here are some of the best ways to use contact center chatbots to enhance sales and marketing efforts.  

Optimizing Sales and Marketing Strategies with Contact Center Chatbots 

In the last few decades, consumer behavior has undergone a significant transformation. Cold calling, telemarketing, and, to some extent, mass advertising is not as effective as it used to be. 

Modern consumers prefer the convenience of chat platforms, and this is where chatbots step in to manage interactions at scale. 

The integration of chatbots can improve sales drastically. Now, the question arises: How to harness the potential of chatbots to drive notable remarkable sales and marketing growth?  

Let’s explore some effective strategies. 

For lead generation 

Chatbots can skilfully collect vital customer data and feedback, providing valuable insights with automated efficiency.  

But these boundaries can be stretched. You can train chatbots to detect competitor mentions. They can dive into the context, record instances, and flag them for your team’s attention. This proactive approach enables timely interventions, putting a stop to customer churn. It will also allow for swift adjustments to your engagement strategy when needed.  

Lead Qualification 

Lead qualification is often time-consuming but a mundane task. But it becomes much easier when businesses delegate the task of engaging potential customers and onboarding them to a chatbot.  

The bots can pose targeted questions and use the answers to assess whether the candidate will qualify for a product or service. Human agents need to step in only after this qualification process. Hence, it efficiently saves both time and effort in the customer engagement process. 

To upsell or cross-sell products and services 

By expanding their programming, you can fine-tune chatbots to provide tailored suggestions to customers.  

For instance, consider the scenario when a customer reaches out to a business for a product recommendation or issue. A well-trained chatbot can recommend and sell an upgrade at this time.  

However, the key to enabling this action is integrating it with customer information, training it to analyze context, and offering relevant suggestions.  

The best part is that all of this is achievable without any manual intervention or added effort.  

Create impactful omnichannel journeys for customers 

An omnichannel presence is a non-negotiable for businesses looking to forge lasting connections with customers.  

Chatbots make this journey easier. They can effortlessly offer automated conversational experiences across various digital channels and support customers throughout their journey.  

By reducing dependency on human resources, they not only streamline business operations but also enhance the overall customer experience.  

Seize every lead even during out-of-office hours 

Deploying chatbots guarantees round-the-clock availability for a business.  

When customers reach out outside regular working hours, your virtual assistants are ready to interact and update their details in the database. This information allows agents to follow up promptly the next day.  

It not only enhances the visibility of your sales team but also ensures that potential leads are tracked, even during holidays and out-of-office hours.  

Reducing Cart Abandonment with Real-Time Guidance 

Most cart abandonment issues occur because customers cannot find the right answers when making a purchase. Tackle this problem head-on by offering real-time support to customers using chatbots.  

You can train bots to guide buyers with recommendations for similar or associated products and services. In doing so, the prospect of a sale increases, and customers have a smoother shopping experience.  

Automate Product Promotions and Personalize Messages 

Employing chatbots is a highly effective, dual-marketing strategy. Firstly, automate promotional notifications and alerts, proactively reaching out to customers through diverse channels like email, text, and WhatsApp. This ensures that promotions are visible, regardless of the customer’s preferred channel. 

Simultaneously, craft personalized interactions to build customer loyalty.  

For more far-reaching results, businesses can use segmentation software to study customer demographics and preferences. Based on this data and past interactions, they can use chatbots to send tailored messages. Sending personalized wishes and special offers for occasions like birthdays will further improve brand perception. Apart from fostering customer loyalty, it also increases the chances of sales.  

Cracking the Code: Challenges of Deploying Chatbots for Better Sales and Marketing 

As we have seen, AI chatbots are a powerful tool for personalized and cost-effective customer interactions. They can effectively bridge the gap between human agents and customers, without compromising the customer experience. However, each business is different. Hence, the challenge lies in crafting a tailored chatbot aligned with specific business needs. 

When your business lacks chatbot technology experts, you need an experienced partner who adeptly understands chatbot technology and your approach to sales and marketing. This will equip them to design a custom chatbot solution. For actual results, it is also essential that they successfully integrate the chatbot with the CRM and back-end systems.  

Voxtron is a reliable and steadfast partner for such needs. With our extensive experience in contact center solutions, CRM, and ERP integrations, we are well-equipped to provide a comprehensive chatbot solution for your business.  

Our in-house chatbot solution, Engage 360, improves customer experiences and elevates agent productivity. We welcome you to get in touch with our team for a demo of this fully-featured chatbot solution. Contact our team for more details.