In 1938, the Orson Welles radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” shocked the nation. The radio drama proclaimed that Martian invaders had landed outside of Princeton, New Jersey, causing panic and hysteria. While many believed the broadcast, it was later dismissed as a hoax.
Eighty years later, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies are drawing the consternation of many through the use of bots.
The reality is, we have been using bots for quite some time. They are built-in to customer service experiences via interactive voice response systems when dialing 800 numbers. They help facilitate banking transactions at ATMs. And they help us purchase tickets or manage seat assignments at kiosks.
Today we use AI through Siri, Alexa, Cortana and every time we utter the words, “OK Google.” Amazon and Spotify use it to recommend books and music based on our personal preferences. Bots are everywhere. And they are getting smarter and more sophisticated.
This brings us to conversational marketing. Utilizing bots, solutions like Drift provide a new way to engage, connect and interact with customers and prospects visiting your website. This is welcomed as only 22 percent of business-to-business (B2B) companies are satisfied with their website conversion rates.
Conversational marketing changes all of this. It helps educate and engage with visitors in the moment. Companies like Drift are delivering innovative tools to improve interactions on your website and significantly improve conversions. You can answer questions in real-time, convert more leads, and close more deals.
We are working with several clients on deploying Drift. One client, etherFAX, has been able to close new business deals by automating and accelerating the process of scheduling demos and sales-related inquiries. We are now building out a more comprehensive set of “playbooks” to further integrate conversational marketing into key client marketing and sales initiatives.
So, the next time a bot engages you during a website visit – fear not. Embrace it. Engage it. Use it to help you find what you are looking for.