7 Ways Artificial Intelligence Is Helping Businesses Generate Leads

There was a time when we used to read and hear about Artificial Intelligence in science fiction novels and movies. AI has moved out of the realms of entertainment, business and into the real world.

The other day, my Spectrum Internet was acting up and so before reaching out to customer service, I performed a Spectrum Internet speed test to check my download speed. A chat box appeared on the webpage asking if I needed help with testing the speed. That chat box was AI-based.

It’s very evident that AI is being implemented in several areas of business starting from marketing, customer service to sales. If you haven’t started tapping into AI just yet, you are missing out on a number of benefits. Have a look at some ways AI can boost sales and improve your business bottom line:

1: Bring Relevant Customers

Imagine having software that signals you regarding the purchase intent of your audience. AI can make your wish come true.

AI algorithms can prove to be very handy in helping your sales team sort out who you should contact based on their purchase intent. If the visitor has previously visited your website or downloaded something, they are considered a hot lead. Your sales team should contact them right away.

When you target those leads who are actively engaged, this helps generate an immediate response. A potential lead that is called within 5 minutes of requesting the information is 10 times likely to answer and 4 times more likely to qualify.

2: Increase the Close Rate

You can get answers to the following questions if you analyze the past customer behavior:

• Do your customers prefer to be reached out through email or phone calls?
• Which customers are more likely to answer your calls and at what time?

AI systems help learn the behavior of your customers on a deeper level and hence your sales team can create accurate projections. This means your salespeople won’t be chasing customers blindly. They will only reach out to those customers with whom they have higher chances of success. Using their past information, your sales team can personalize the pitch and increase the closing rate at the same time.

3: Use Predictive Analytics to Improve Pitches

Artificial Intelligence lets you track the buying behavior of your audience which further allows the system to predict what a user would be interested in buying. Traditionally, salespeople had to spend hours interviewing and researching their customers. AI knows everything already.

AI is effective in gathering data based on the customer’s preferences. You can hence develop a winning pitch without a face-to-face meeting with your customers. Your sales team might already know how to create a selling pitch but with AI, they get an extra edge. This system would allow you to be one step ahead of your customers and their purchases. With this competitive edge, you will get to build a lasting client relationship.

4: Find Qualified Leads

AI platforms such as Tensorflow, Google Cloud Prediction API, and Microsoft Azure Machine Learning, can help you gather data on your leads. It’s highly time-consuming to manually sift through tons and tons of customer data. This slows down your marketing campaigns and affects your ability to generate sales.

This is where AI can help. It helps you analyze data with lightning speed and more efficiently. The outcome – you get to find qualified leads faster than ever.

5: 24/7 Availability

Time management is very critical to the productivity of a business. With AI chatbots by your side, you can say goodbye to this problem. This ensures your salesperson is available 24/7 to answer customer queries.

If a customer messages outside business hours or during the holiday season, a virtual assistant will be available 24/7 to address their concerns. You will be providing efficient customer service by saving costs.

6: Create Personalized Customer Experience

You cannot win customers by sticking to generic sales and marketing messages. Customers these days want a personalized experience. A study says 91 percent of customers are more likely to spend their money on brands that they recognize and that offer deals relevant to their wants. You can use AI to offer your customers a customized experience.

Amazon and Netflix are great examples of personalization. They use Machine Learning algo to analyze user data which includes previous purchases, browsing behavior, and past interactions. This data is used to recommend the products which would be hard to ignore.

7: Price Optimization

It is never easy to determine how much discount to give to your customers. AI has solved this problem too. It lets you create an ideal discount rate. It takes into account what features of the deal made you win or lose in the past. The features which the software takes into account include the number of competitors, size of your company, your location, size of the deal, product specifications, etc. It gives a result on the basis of all that.

Summing Up

After performing a speed test, I found that my download speed was fine, something else was the trouble. To figure that out, I had to call at one of the Spectrum toll-free numbers to get in touch with a representative.

It’s time every business starts using AI technology to customize marketing messages and generate quality leads.