How to Generate Leads with Artificial Intelligence

It’s widely accepted that artificial intelligence, when implemented successfully, can be a huge cost saver in terms of efficiency for your organisation.

What’s not so commonly understood, is how it also has the capacity to increase the volume of leads generated and onboarded too. That’s a double whammy goodie for your bottom line (yes, “double whammy goodie” is a technical accounting term).

So here’s how…

1 Cast your net wider and be in the right place at the right time

AI conversation helps you meet leads where they already are — in messaging apps. With 1.2 billion monthly users of Facebook Messenger alone, businesses really need to be using messaging channels in the most effective way possible to generate leads.

You can also send messages to users who have previously interacted with the engine. With open rates much higher than email (up to 80% open rates!) this is an attractive proposition. Combine this capability with the next level profiling and segmentation, you can send the right message at the right time, generating more leads.

2 Personalisation

Artificially intelligent conversation can address the user by their first name right from the very first interaction. This isn’t possible with humans over the phone or on a usual website interaction.

The conversation also becomes more personalised over time.

With emotionally intelligent conversation engines, the lead profiling is simply next level. Responses from the conversation engine go beyond just remembering their last interaction, but deliver tailored responses based on their profile and interactions. This is lifting AI conversation onto an empathetic level more similar to humans. Long gone are the days of “Chatbots”.

Humans forget. AI doesn’t — it has the memory of an elephant. This adds to the next level of personalisation AI conversation can provide — all helping you generate more leads.

The conversation will pick up exactly where it left off, remembering what the user was interested in — perhaps they might want to purchase the same again or something similar? This all makes the user experience much smoother and easier, generating more leads.

3 Easier quoting and sign up

Where a prospect might once have trolled through your website to find where to sign-up, fill out a form or get a quote, now they can chat with your AI conversation in natural language. This all makes for more engagement and better lead gen.

4 Shop directly within the conversation — remarketing

AI conversation is no longer just for FAQs. Carousel shopping with image rich content and instant product information makes for easier shopping for ecommerce businesses.

A user might use the conversation for product research the first time; you send them a reminder in Facebook Messenger a couple of days later; and then they come back to the conversation right where it left off, and they continue to make the purchase right within the app.

5 Instant responses, 24/7, 365 days a year

Most consumers now expect businesses to be open 24/7. 82% of people also expect an instant response. As consumer expectations develop in this direction, businesses can’t really afford not to offer an instant response, 24 hours a day. AI conversation is a great cost effective way to be there for your customers whenever they need it. The faster you respond, the more likely you are to generate or convert a lead.

6 Greater user insights — optimise optimise optimise

With greater insights on your leads, you gain insights on your product offering too.

This can help fuel your product, marketing and sales strategies for constant improvement, propelling the cycle of generating more leads.

Not only do you know more about who your customers are and what they’re buying but the conversation can also show you what questions are being asked before a deal is closed or purchase made. This can help with upselling and converting leads in the future, as well as optimising your content strategy — again, generating more leads.

7 Human handover

If a case is handed over to a human, the human is empowered to better deal with that client, with detailed tickets and profiling. Instead of relying on other staff to write detailed notes, the conversation engine keeps every interaction right there for the human to reflect on, informing them to better deal with the prospect and turn them into a lead, or better yet, a customer.

8 More effective digital advertising

Your Facebook and Google ads can direct users straight to the conversation engine, where they can ask questions, sign up, or make purchases. Instead of passing them to your Facebook page or a landing page, you’re streamlining the customer journey, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

There’s probably more ways and reasons that AI conversation can help businesses generate leads, like delivering a consistent tone of voice for your brand, showcasing your company as digitally mature, etc etc etc. But I feel like 8 is a good number and enough to digest, so I’ll just stop right here…for now 🤗

Originally published at www.jrny.ai.