Sales bots can be great tools for improving the customer experience, boosting sales and increasing customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. The key to achieving these results is knowing how to use the tools to your advantage.
Using bots for sales activity amplifies sales pipeline velocity when you implement them in helpful ways. You can use them to streamline the buying experience, provide customers with an instant response and nurture leads through the sales funnel.
In this article, we’ll show you how to use sales bots effectively and explain how they work, the benefits of using them and when to use them to get the best results.
What is a bot for sales?
There are various types of sales bots you can use to connect with visitors to your web pages or elsewhere, such sales chatbots, retail bots and AI bots.
What is a sales chatbot?
A sales chatbot is an automated software program designed to engage with customers and assist in the sales process. It uses prewritten scripts and/or algorithms to simulate human-like conversations, answer customer queries, provide product information and even guide them through the sales funnel. Sales chatbots can improve customer engagement, save time for sales teams and generate leads by qualifying prospects.
For salespeople, a chatbot is a useful tool for managing the sales pipeline. For example, while a consumer is browsing your products online, the sales bot can pop up and ask if they need help. It encourages consumers to engage with the business and offers support if they need it.
It also helps with lead qualification. If a potential customer asks a question through the chatbot, they’re showing interest in your business and you can start moving them through the sales funnel.
Essentially, a sales bot (also known as a retail bot) is a chatbot or live chat agent that’s available around the clock.
What are AI bots?
AI Bots, also known as artificial intelligence bots, are software applications programmed to perform automated tasks with human-like intelligence. In the context of sales, AI bots can be used to streamline various aspects of the sales process, including lead generation, customer support and data analysis.
By leveraging machine learning algorithms and natural language processing, AI bots can enhance sales efficiency, provide personalized interactions and offer valuable insights to optimize sales strategies.
Some sales chatbots are AI bots, while some rely on scripts pre-written by the user.
How do sales bots work?
Chatbots use pre-programmed conversation paths or artificial intelligence (AI) with a natural language processing (NLP) functionality. They recognize words, phrases and sentence structures, relying on their programming or understanding of language to interpret the best possible answer.
For example, say a customer asks where their order is and provides their order number. The chatbot uses this information to review the order status and provide them with an update.
Machine learning is also a key element of many AI chatbots. It means that the technology continually adapts without you having to tell it what to do. For example, chatbots analyze how customers respond to figure out what they want. Then, it continually adapts and improves its answers based on responses and search patterns.
Sales bot integrations
You can integrate chatbots into your sales customer relationship management (CRM) software to make processes more efficient. Many sales bots have available integrations for CRMs that make it easy to automate tasks between the two. Otherwise, you’ll have to use an application programming interface (API) to get them to communicate.
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What are the benefits of using sales bots?
Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of using a chatbot as part of your sales process.
Automate customer support. Chatbots can automate key parts of the customer support process, which includes everything from first-line customer support lead generation to order follow-up. Look at Pipedrive’s Chatbot as an example. With the LeadBooster add-on, you can automate responses to customer queries to provide immediate access to support and a better overall experience.
Provide a personalized customer experience. Customers want a personalized experience. In fact, 62% of consumers say a brand will lose their loyalty if they fail to deliver a personalized experience. With a sales bot, you can track queries to understand more about what your audience wants and how they behave. As a result, you can provide tailored and unique messaging.
Free up time for sales staff. Sales bots are an easy way to enhance the customer experience while freeing up employees’ time to work on other tasks. For example, instead of answering basic customer queries, sales teams can focus on nurturing leads and closing deals.
Why salespeople are uneasy about automated chatbots (and how to overcome concerns)
Some sales professionals have reservations about moving forward with chatbots. They worry about the customer experience, their own role in the process and how the technology will affect working processes.
These are valid concerns, but they don’t need to be obstacles. Let’s take a look at each of these fears and how they can be overcome with planning and investment in the right tech.
Fear 1: They damage the customer experience
For some, the idea of letting a retail bot handle customer queries is daunting.
What if it doesn’t answer questions properly? What if it gives the wrong information? What if it causes a highly-qualified lead to leave the sales pipeline?
You can put these worries to rest with simple planning. Put some research into creating effective responses so your chatbot can provide the customer with a good experience. If the chatbot doesn’t know the answer to a question, program it to direct customers to someone who will.
Fear 2: They dehumanize the sales process
As AI technology continues to advance, there are also concerns about whether sales chatbots will replace the need for human agents.
Geoffrey Keating, former senior editor at Intercom, addresses this concern. He says:
The purpose of a sales bot isn’t to replace real people, it’s to support them.
Fear 3: They disrupt existing workflows
Keating also explains that many people continue to feel uneasy about the actual process of integrating sales bots into their workflows.
If you’re concerned about how to integrate a sales bot into your sales workflow, roll it out in stages. This will help you and your team get used to the new way of working and avoid being overwhelmed by the transition. It can also help you identify which parts of your sales process would benefit most from automation.
When to use sales bots
Let’s look at some of the situations where using a sales bot can enhance your sales process and improve the customer experience. A chatbot can help you improve the overall customer experience, streamline your sales pipeline and increase conversion rates when you use it to accomplish the following:
Improve communication. Using sales bots opens up another source of communication for your clients.The bots can connect to a knowledge base to help users access useful information without waiting for a response from a real person. They get clear answers quickly and can move on in the sales process in less time.
Learn more about your customers. If you want to find out more about who your subscribers are and how they behave, a chatbot is a good place to start. Track people’s questions to identify trends and get a better understanding of what they’re looking for throughout the customer journey.
Streamline your sales process. A sales bot can speed up the sales process by automating customer communications and involving your team when needed. For example, if a customer wants to know more about a product, the chatbot can provide instant answers. You can also automate notifications to alert sales reps and customer service teams so the bot can hand off chats to a live human who can provide additional support or information.
Chatbots work alongside other workflow automations to eliminate manual and repetitive tasks in your workflow. Plus, setting them up can be easy. Many include customizable templates or a drag-and-drop chatbot builder to get you started.
When not to use sales bots
Although sales bots can be beneficial for sales teams, there are some situations where you need to be cautious.
For example, using them to answer technical and specific questions.
If a chatbot fails to understand a highly specific query, your customer is going to get frustrated.Chatbots are equipped to understand the ‘surface level’ details of communication. However, they can struggle to answer technical questions and gauge the nuances of human emotion.
You can prevent frustration by making sure that the sales bot knows where to direct complex queries.
If your bot doesn’t have an answer to a question, program it to direct users to the person who does as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Real-life examples of sales bots in action
Let’s take a look at a couple of real-life use cases of companies using sales bot tools.
Pipedrive
We provide our customers with the tools to launch a chatbot, but we also use chatbots ourselves. Our conversational AI helps customers access the information they need as quickly as possible.
Here’s an example of a customer conversation with our sales bot:
During this interaction, customers have different options to choose from. If they don’t find the answer they’re looking for, they can choose to talk to a sales rep.
Spotify
In addition to sales bots on websites, companies can also use automated communication on social media.
Take a look at Spotify as an example. When a customer reaches out on Facebook Messenger, the automated message directs them to other locations for more information.
Microsoft
Computer software giant Microsoft provides its customers with a support chatbot. The chatbot is there to primarily answer customer queries and solve any software issues.
The first message from the chatbot gives customers some insight into how to get the most value from it. For example, staying at the computer to avoid the chat timing out.
Chargebee
Chargebee is a subscription management platform. Their chatbot allows visitors to choose from pre-written questions or to write their own queries in the text box.
The chatbot then moves through a series of responses to get the customer the information they want. In some cases, this means answering the question in the chat. In others, it means sending them elsewhere for more information.
Final thoughts
If you’re thinking of introducing sales bots into your workflow, take a look at Pipedrive’s LeadBooster add-on. Its web chat features include Chatbot, which can automatically engage with prospects on your site, and Live Chat, which will automatically notify you when it’s time for an available rep to take over the conversation.
Use it to improve the customer experience, streamline your sales process and free up time for your sales reps to focus on closing deals.
Try it for free today or get in touch to find out more.
