Email marketing is one of the few channels in the marketing world that is likely to stay. Despite being old, it’s basic, easy to use, and neutral.
According to a survey run by Econsultancy, the biggest changes to email predicted in the next five years gravitate around data, devices, personalization, content, and of course, automation. The unveiling of the chatbot trend this year could lead the path towards these predictions.
With this in mind, chatbots allow for:
- Targeted lead generation and improved conversions
- Targeted up-selling and cross-selling
- Payment and customer service
- Media and news content distribution
Above all, chatbots and artificial intelligence can now integrate with email in various ways, creating email auto-replies with intelligent and specific answers to customer questions. Because email is still a very prominent channel, it is crucial for marketers to be aware of how chatbots are expected to share the space.
As a result, I’ve put together a list of ways in which you can integrate email and chatbots to achieve maximum efficiency and bring value to your customers.
Running automated workflow
Automated workflows are a series of actions that you can put into action based on information you have about your audience. By integrating email and chatbot marketing, you can:
- Send automated emails
- Automatically add and remove contacts from your mailing lists
- Introduce email notifications
Chatbots can give you a good level of marketing automation where it is easier to manage and nurture your leads, pushing them through your sales funnel quicker.
Upgrading your email notifications
Email and chatbots are not mutually exclusive; they complement each other. Chatbots guide your audience to your brand, products, services, or website. Because of the personal nature of a chatbot and the platform on which it serves, its level of interaction gives you the chance to engage and re-engage with your audience to build a deeper relationship.
Yes, many customers will prefer to receive your updates via email, but some would like to see them in their favorite messaging applications, for example, Facebook Messenger. Offering the same services on your chatbot as email is a powerful engagement strategy that will help you turn visitors into active subscribers.
Sending confirmation emails
You can integrate your email account with your chatbot so that it sends specific and relevant automated emails to your customers. These emails can:
- Confirm a purchase
- Confirm delivery
- Confirm an appointment
- Confirm receipt of a customer service inquiry
Confirmation emails are those that are sent automatically after an event has occurred. These can be linked directly to your e-commerce or services website. The second type of email notification you can send is relevant to events that take place directly on your website, such as cart abandonment. There are a variety of e-commerce plugins that make it easy to track this information and you can program your bot to wait a specific amount of time before sending reminders to these customers via email.
Newsletters
There are many ways in which you can use your chatbot as an acquisition channel. Newsletter opt-ins are a great way to grow your funnel. Although it is easy to create a pop-up that gives customers the option to sign up for your newsletters, you can now enable users to opt-in to receive your content directly from your chatbot.
Users can choose the frequency at which they receive your content and specify the type of content they would like to receive. You can even store their answers to use as variables in future conversations with consumers.
Matching subscribers with the right content
The data gathered about your consumers from your chatbot is automatically stored to best serve individual customers according to their preferences. Your chatbot will use automated data feeds from different channels to create segments based on appropriate criteria.
From there, you will be able to use that data to send personalized content to each of your subscribers. This cross-channel data will increase the effectiveness of your email campaigns, allowing you to better divide and target your chosen customers.
Finally…
The true power of email marketing should not be disregarded; however, chatbots are a powerful tool that allows your audience to interact with your company and brand in a natural language and on a more personal level. By being tech savvy and staying updated with ways to integrate your email and chatbot, you will be able to nurture your leads and get your customers more sales-ready.
Read my
