4 best Chatbots in marketing – an overview in the world
Effective promotion of products and services takes place on the Internet. Why? All the key indicators in today’s global network for determining the marketing success are measurable and quantifiable. However, when confronted with the growing needs of today’s consumers, these traditional marketing tools are losing their usefulness. Chatbots with artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming able to make bolder, and more lucrative risks in their place. The biggest global brands have already discovered just how effective they are.
Emma from Singapore’s OCBC bank promotes loans over the internet. Emma is not just any consultant. She is not even a woman. It is an effective AI-Chatbot, which in just 3 months helped to generate more than 7 million dollars. All from “cold leads”, which, with the help of Emma, became potential customers[1].
Dialogue is the key to the hearts of consumers and… marketers
Where exactly does Emma’s success come stem from? From a dialogue with a client, who turned into a real profit for the bank. Customers actually love to talk to brands, and the Internet is the most natural place in which to communicate. That is why Chatbots are an inseparable element of conversation marketing today. This is the result of generational change, growing consumer expectations and rapid technological progress.
Companies and marketers willingly use the global network in their contacts with consumers. So far, e-mail marketing has had the highest rate of return on marketing activities. On average, $44 to $1 spent on promotion. The problem is that email is overcrowded. Every day, dozens of messages are sent to customers’ mailboxes. Only 10% of them are ever read[2].
This is why traditional emails are being replaced with Chatbots, who talk to consumers in a natural way, increasing their involvement and brand value. This is confirmed by the data. AI Chatbots are able to generate up to 60% click rate[3]. No wonder they already are starting to be used to gauge the marketing strength of both large corporations and small businesses.
Chatbot and marketing – the perfect combination?
In short, Chatbot is one of the most versatile new digital marketing tools: it acquires leads, saves for an event, sells or entertains customers. It is with them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That’s why Chatbots are beginning to fill the space once reserved for hotlines, e-mails and traditional text messages when it came to brand and product marketing. Today, we send messages via Messenger or Live Chat on a website much more often than from an email account.
Conversational marketing is nothing new, but thanks to Chatbots, its impact on increasing business efficiency cannot be overestimated. As many as 86% of millennials believe that brands should use Virtual Assistants to promote their offers, products and services, and 67% say they will most likely buy these products or services through a Chatbot[4].
Chatbot supports the acquisition of leads and more
Global brands use Chatbots in marketing in several ways. Here are some examples:
- Lead Chatbots – they are used to obtain (generate) contacts, so they are willing to provide information, answer questions and encourage you to leave your email address. Through dialogue, Chatbots guide the customer through the entire sales funnel to the final transaction.
- Competition Chatbots – are more and more willingly used by brands, because they significantly simplify the rules of participation in competitions giveaways or contests. It is enough to answer a few simple competition questions and wait for the win.
- Promotional/event Chatbots – who knows, maybe in the future they will replace classic newsletters? Instead of an email, the discount coupons get to the customer via Messenger. All you have to do is agree to receive notifications. They are also ideal for event promotions, such as increasing the number of registrations for an event.
- E-commerce Chatbots – allow you to purchase products and services directly from the Virtual Assistant, turning typical transactions into more personal relationships.
Examples of global brands with Chatbots in marketing
The previously mentioned Emma is an example from the frontiers financial and e-commerce Chatbot usage. Chatbots, with a Virtual Consultant, can offer mortgage loans from Singapore’s OCBC bank. Chatbot quickly establishes relations with its clients by providing them with key information about loans. The bank claims that thanks to Emma, 10% of the 20,000 conversations with customers in the chat are converted into real loans[5].
National Geographic used Chatbot to promote their new “Genius” series. The program itself describes the fate of the well-known geniuses, including Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso. The station used its Facebook profile to increase interest and encourage social media users to watch the series. Chatbot on Messenger spoke with Internet users in the voice of one of the geniuses. Before the premiere of an episode with Einstein, visitors to the site who clicked on “Send a message” spoke with the voice of the famous physicist.
Chatbot followed the user’s conversation, provided information about the program and suggested solving quizzes on the theory of relativity. The conversational Chatbot was natural—it spoke like Einstein. This kind of dialogue with the viewer creates a deeper, more lasting impression. The conversation is individualized, personalised and, as a result, more intimate (on average, it lasted from 6 to 8 minutes).
MongoDB is an open, cloud-based database program. To increase lead generation and qualify potential customers more effectively, the company has installed Chatbot on its website. The Virtual Assistant answers the questions of potential customers and directs the most qualified, interested users to the sales department.
Chatbot launches by asking website visitors if they want to know more about the price of a service. Chatbot is programmed for a specific response. From among those conversing with it, Chatbot is supposed to select those who are really interested in the product and who practically guarantee conversion. Then potential customers are asked to book a phone call with a sales representative. Integration with a calendar facilitates the reservation of a place, and the connection with CRM means that potential customers are automatically directed to the right salesman.
Automated lead generation and instant response time increased the number of new customers by 70% within three months.
A Messenger and a lucky number from under the bottlecap of Desperados were enough to win 1000 zlotys. The idea turned out to be a great success, because the beer brand chose the perfect channel for reaching its customers. For millenials, Messenger is a totally natural communication platform. All with a relatively uncomplicated overhead, information and rules of play always at hand and winning literally “at your fingertips”—these are the strengths of the application, which is confirmed by the statistics. As many as half a million conversations with Chatbot and the ratio of 7:3 in favor of the application, as the place where the game participants reported their codes[6]. Chatbot on the InteliWISE platform revolutionized the approach to the lottery. It offered the possibility of withdrawing winnings directly from an ATM thanks to BLIK Cheques.
Chatbots are becoming more and more determined in entering new aspects and areas of our lives. They were discovered by marketing and customer service as soon as possible, which is perfectly understandable. It is precisely in promotional, image and marketing activities that the range of possibilities of using Virtual Assistants is the richest. Knowing the behavior and preferences of customers, brands and companies can reach for solutions closest to their customers and consumers hearts.
[1] Data for: Chatbots Magazine: https://chatbotsmagazine.com/chatbot-emma-facilitates-10-000-000-in-loan-applications-in-3-months-4282b5df52fb
[2] Data for: Impactbnd.com: https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/marketing-chatbot-examples
[3] Data for: Impactbnd.com: https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/marketing-chatbot-examples
[4] Data for: Forrester Research
[5] Data for: marketing-interactive.com: https://www.marketing-interactive.com/ocbc-banks-emma-how-a-chatbot-aided-in-generating-leads-and-conversions/
[6] Data for: “Polish Chatbots 2018” Report
