Chatbots have been at the top of everyone’s marketing prediction lists for 2019, and it’s no surprise why. These automation tools support sales teams while helping businesses save time and money. Bots also have the freedom to be placed on your website and social media channels, giving you the potential to reach a wider audience.

If you’re toying with the idea of using chatbots, your business can gain more than an automation tool by using them. Chatbots can help with many other tasks, such as the five discussed below.

1. Increase Qualified Leads

Do you rely on landing pages to generate qualified leads for your business? If so, you might want to turn your attention to chatbots. Instead of bringing potential leads to a sales-driven landing page, engage them in a friendly conversation with a chatbot. You can use any bot builder and an integrative tool like Zapier to identify the best leads. This is a far more personalized and effective way to meet potential customers.

2. Gather Valuable Data

When adding chatbots to your website, the conversations between the bots and customers will provide you with new information. Don’t leave this data to dry out. Collect and analyze it so that you can learn more about your visitors. Tools we recommend for data collection are DashBot or BotMetrics.

There are a couple of ways to use the data. First, you can make the chatbots more relatable based on the words and phrases that your audience uses. This will make your bots sound more human and less automated. Second, when you discover common keywords that your visitors use, include them in your marketing campaigns and web content to better connect with customers.

3. Improve Customer Service

It’s not hard to lose a customer these days. With so many ways to shop, it takes one bad experience to turn a customer off for good. This does not mean that you have to be perfect all of the time, but your customer service better be on par. If someone is unsatisfied with a product and you’re able to rectify the situation, you can still keep the person as a customer.

Chatbots give the illusion that someone is available 24 hours a day. However, there are times when you will need a human, such as during your busy times and for complex customer service issues.

4. Generate More Sales

Many people browse websites and leave without buying anything. Often times, they don’t complete the transaction because of something related to price or shipping. To increase sales, give your bots the freedom to offer discounts to those who engaged but didn’t buy. (You will need to set up a drip email campaign to do this.) It’s amazing how many visitors will return when they’re given an extra 15% or 20% off.

5. Save Your Business Money

Lastly, chatbots allow your business to run more efficiently without paying more. Chatbot software is a one-time investment. You can reduce staff or assign them to more important tasks around the workplace. Plus, chatbots improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, so customers are more likely to return to shop.

Chatbots are a wonderful addition to your marketing automation tools, but be sure that you choose a quality product that is capable of communicating with your customers.