Bring Clients from Offline to Chatbot [3 Tools and 4 Channels]

Our clients implement bots for businesses to reduce costs and increase profits. To get results from the bot, there should be a certain number of active users.

The worst thing can happen with entrepreneurs is losing money without results to show for the money spent, which is applicable for chatbots development as well. That’s why, it is important for us not just to develop the bot, but also share knowledge on how to attract clients to bots.

Let’s focus on how to bring clients from offline to bot in messenger.

This article contains the following items:

• Tools for engagement with customers.
• Link delivery channels.
• Common mistakes of using QR codes for business.

Tool for engagement with customers

A Chatbot can’t start a conversation without a subscription to a channel with a bot. We need to present a link for customers to lead them to the bot.

Let’s take into consideration how to lead the customer, step-by-step to the chatbot. You can use the standard link or embed it into QR codes. The first step is to present the customer with the link with bot inappropriate messenger.

PrivatBank embed links with information into QR code.

The following action is confirming readiness to start chatting with bots.

Use QR codes correctly and embed the information you need to get. For example:

• Shop identification (the place the client scanned QR code).
• Goods/services that the client is interested in.
• The way how the client finds bot.

After the client has started to communicate with the bot, the entrepreneur gets the list of benefits. There are leads subscribed to bot, information about Mobile OS, place and date of scanning QR codes, goods or services the clients are interested in. It allows for creating personalized offers, selling additional services and planning out a marketing strategy.

Link delivery channels

SMS

It is an expensive and cumbersome way to communicate with clients. Let’s see how to benefit sending a link through SMS and just what can go wrong.

Advantages:

• SMS can cover a wide range of customers from a client database. Conversion rates are up to 10%.
• No chance to be banned because customer connects with the bot by themselves.
• The easy way to implement and expand bots for SMS. There are a lot of services for mailing prospects easily, affordably and quickly.

Disadvantages:

• Expensive messages ( about one cent per message in Ukraine).
• The limited number of characters, which prevents you from good messaging or engagement with any kind of media.
• Isn’t possible to send big links.

SMS works well to cover a wide range of prospects. However, there is little chance to gather leads to a community because of no info about the preferable messenger.

E-mail

Despite the huge flow of email every day, e-mail marketing provides high open (about 19$%) and click (about 4%) rates. Also it is the great way to personalize a message, at least, you may know prospect name.

To connect customers to chatbot through email, send them a personalized link in the letter with the name and services you provide. It is not necessary to know which preferred messenger, because the bot works through the web as well. Email gives the ability to chat with a live agent as well. It is an expensive way to hold the client and sell the service but works quite well.

Posters

Link embed in QR codes may be located in a visible area and takes up a lot of space. Posters cover only a few advertiser’s needs, such us service adv and gathering leads through QR codes to the preferable messenger. The benefits for the customer can be a discount or special offer that the customer gets after scanning QR codes.

Poster with QR code placed on the visible area.

So, as can be seen, posters are an effective way to attract the customer from offline to bots.

Price tags

QR codes placed on price tags allow for identifying goods, location and the time where the code was scanned.

Offer this value to encourage the customer to connect with the bot, for example:

• Personal discount.
• Mark of goods absence.
• Report about goods/service of bad quality.

Common mistakes of using QR codes for business

The Messenger isn’t specified.

We faced cases of QR codes without information as to where it leads to. Let the customer know that links lead to the messenger with a bot but not to a mobile application. Additional actions like authorization, providing access to personal data aren’t really that necessary for bots.

Customers don’t know what they can get from QR codes and bot subscriptions.

Let them know what they can get by scanning the code. For example:

• Discount card.
• One-time bonus.
• Service on a priority basis.
• Drawing on prices.

No Call to Action

Ask customers to scan the code and connect to a chatbot in the mentioned messenger.

We describe only the one tool for how to bring customers from offline to online — link, there are different ways to attract customers to the bots. Find that which works best for you and use it correctly. Also, provide benefits to the customers and encourage them to scan a code and connect with the bots.