Every sales team needs chatbots. Here's why.

When it comes to scaling a business in 2019, one thing matters most: customer experience. For today’s prospects, that means providing a real-time, personalized buying journey.

Last week we sat down with growth expert Sujan Patel to talk about how sales teams can create these experiences at scale – with chatbots. Chatbots enable sales people, us included 😉, to automatically move more leads through the funnel while also ensuring prospects receive immediate, helpful attention.

“80% of business buyers expect companies to respond in real time”

Chatbots can accelerate all stages of the sales cycle and catapult businesses into their next wave of growth. Interactions with Intercom’s bots increase conversion by 36%. That’s because when implemented correctly, chatbots enable you to you acquire and qualify more leads, respond to them faster than your competitors and convert them into loyal, paying customers.

In our wide-ranging conversation with Sujan Patel, we covered everything from when you should use chatbots and how to set up your first chatbot to what performance metrics you should be measuring. Check out the slides from our webinar below or on SlideShare:

Short on time? Here are five principles we believe every sales team should keep in mind when getting started with chatbots:

1. Don’t pretend your chatbot is human. Playing bait-and-switch with your leads can set the wrong expectation. If your lead thinks your bot is a person, they’ll expect it to respond like one when it can’t.
2. Personalize the experience. Your chatbot should send leads down different paths based on who they are, what they need and how valuable they are to your business.
3. Keep it incredibly simple. Chatbot interactions should be short and precise. If your website visitor wants to schedule a demo, the bot should quickly collect their information, help them book a meeting and then get out of their way.
4. Drive actionable outcomes. Too often, we treat chatbots like dressed up forms. Always conclude your bot interaction with a relevant action, whether that’s helping your lead register for a webinar, book a demo or buy a new subscription.
5. Optimize for engagement. Just as in real life, if your opening line isn’t working, it’s time to adjust. An effective chatbot message should see an engagement rate, measured by first click, of at least 8-12%.

Want to watch our full webinar with Sujan Patel? Get the recording