In the 5G world, speed is the new trend. From the internet to customer services, everything needs to be real-time. The drive for the same had recently introduced us to the AI-powered Chatbots, our personalized assistance.
This relatively new technology that has created quite a stir in the marketing segment has undoubtedly changed the meaning behind “customer interaction”.
Chatbots have sparked a revolution in customer services, making them a reliable source for handling operations, ranging from customer interaction to handling sales. Interestingly, they also reduce the cost of operations by up to 30%.
So, What Exactly is a ‘Chatbot’?
Chatbots are software capable of human interaction. Powered by AI (Artificial Intelligence), it typically helps visitors of a website with a specific set of questions or tasks.
Besides helping companies save their bandwidth, these AI-powered chatbots are among the most potent tools in a marketer’s toolkit. They assist digital marketers in ways more than one.
Interestingly, the love for chatbots has divided the internet into two groups: One that entirely relies on the dominance of chatbots in marketing, and the others who believe that integrating chatbots in email marketing will give you the best of both worlds. So, which side are you on?
Can Chatbots and Email Marketing Work Together?
Yes, you can have access to the best of both worlds as these two technologies work very efficiently when integrated.
Chatbots and emails are an effective pair as they communicate with contacts at different points throughout the conversion process besides improving the overall campaign’s strategy and efficiency.
Having bots offers reliable solutions with real-time customer support that works around the clock, providing personalized help to every prospect. The advantage of integrating these AI-bots with your email is huge, making it a win-win situation for all!
However, there are specific ways to integrate them into an effective pair. Adding them to random tools won’t deliver you results.
To help you out, let’s look at some successful ways to integrate your chatbots with email marketing.
Five Ways to Integrate Chatbots with Email Marketing
Listed below are five ways to integrate chatbots with your next email campaign to generate significant results:
1. Integrate your mailing lists with a chatbot
For your newly devised marketing funnel to bear fruitful results, it’s essential that you have a qualified mailing list. However, if you don’t have many subscribers on your mailing list, chatbots might come to the rescue.
These bots manage to attract and engage website visitors with their interactive nature. When compared to pop-up forms, chatbots have a higher response rate due to their conversational aspect.
However, asking your visitors for their emails right away might be a bad move. Therefore, you should consider working on triggers that are based on specific actions that indicate interest.
For instance, if your visitor is spending more time browsing through the contents of your blog or website, you might try to engage in a conversation and ask them for subscribing to your email newsletter.
2. Demographics and segmentation might be the place
It’s no hidden fact that email blast marketing no longer does the trick. The bars are higher, and personalization is the new normal for a successful email marketing campaign.
Known as behavioral marketing (BEM), this type of marketing requires segmentation of your email lists that segregates your users based on their interests and persona. When done correctly, segmenting helps you deliver the right mail to the right person and at the right time.
Sounds like a lot, right?
The good news is that bots can be the key for segmenting your subscribers base, based on their behavioral data. When you configure your chatbot to collect specific data, the responses can help you understand the likes, interests, and various demographic details of your audience.
Once you’ve collected these deets, sending out an email that directly caters to their preferences can help you ace your conversions and see an increase in sales in no time!
3. Works round the clock
Chatbots serve you 24*7*365, meaning that they can strike up a conversation with potential customers at any point in time.
Having a warm lead that has shown a very recent interest in your product has a higher chance of converting; therefore, you could use this chance by automating the email trigger in response to the chatbot configuration.
For this, you require access to automated email marketing tools such as Mailchimp and HubSpot, which can be expensive for many, especially if you are starting out. However, it also does not mean that you can’t follow the above trick anymore!
Rely on alternatives like ConvertKit and MailerLite that fare well against software giants like Mailchimp while being cost-effective.
4. Improved customer service
Nobody likes to wait or be put on hold, only to receive an automated response or a “no-reply” email. Improved customer service is the key, which is why 88% of companies prioritize customer services over contact centers!
Considering the stakes that revolve around customer services, chatbots are the need of the present.
Thanks to their around the clock availability, chatbots have helped companies garner a 73% satisfaction rate from their customers.
Now, it’s no rocket science to get the equation of “a satisfied customer = a long-term relationship”. That’s not all; chatbots also have the ability to multitask and can chat with multiple customers over several topics on the go.
5. A reliable medium to handle sales
One of the fewer known facts about chatbots is that they can be used to handle online purchases. The process can be as simple as your existing customer selecting a product and confirming the delivery and payment details from their account.
Worried where your emails fit? Relax, this is the place for transactional emails to do their thing!
Once the sales of a product are managed, transactional emails can confirm the purchase details and provide customers with order details, besides verifying their delivery with a receipt.
When used smartly, these transactional emails can also bring more sales by introducing seasonal discounts or ongoing offers to the customer.
Conclusion
Powered by AI, bots are among the most effective tools that take the entire marketing concept to newer heights. Giving out significant results for lead generation, open rates, and improved personalization – chatbots are a cost-effective way to increase revenue.
Most importantly, it gives a personified appeal to your brand interactions, cementing customer relationships.
Seeing the brilliant duo and their effectiveness in an email campaign, do we need to ask if you’d like to integrate chatbots with your next email campaign? We hope not!
This post was originally published on technivorz.com