Conversation is the New King of Marketing: How Chatbots Help
Chad Solomonson, VP of Marketing & Alliances
Did you talk to Siri, Alexa or Google today? If yes, then you’ve used Artificial Intelligence, even if you didn’t think of it that way.
People sometimes balk at the term “Artificial Intelligence” or AI because they think robots are coming for their jobs or implementing it is too complex. But, like asking Siri, “What’s the quickest route to the courthouse?,” using the technology at your law firm can facilitate marketing activities like using AI to target relevant audiences on Google and Facebook.
Building Relationships and Trust with Conversation Marketing
Conversation marketing gives you a way to differentiate yourself from the competition, engage prospects and immediately start building trusted relationships.
Consider the following scenario. A business in your area is looking for legal services. They search for what they need online and start viewing top results. Your firm’s website will be mixed in with other firms. When they visit your site, a box pops up in the corner of the screen greeting them and asking if they have any questions. Your prospective client can immediately engage with your law firm, forming an immediate and memorable connection.
To quickly build online relationships you don’t need to go out and hire new staff members. Instead, you need to add the power of Artificial Intelligence to your marketing department.
Harnessing AI for Law Firms with Chatbots
The front office workers at your firm greet visitors, answer phones and questions, and create a welcoming atmosphere that represents your brand. Chatbots serve a similar, digital function. At the most basic level, a chatbot is a computer program relying on Natural Language Processing and AI.
When a user arrives on your site, a chatbot can:
• Answer basic questions
• Process responses and connect the prospect to the relevant person
• Quickly resolve problems
• Personalize the client experience
• Offer a consistent brand voice to represent your firm
You can also program when the bot hands a conversation over to a member of your team. For instance, if a bot receives a query it can’t answer or senses frustration, the program knows to connect the user with a real person right away.
This direct, personalized experience can improve the user’s view of your firm. Because their questions were answered quickly, and it was easy to access the information they needed, they’ll be more likely to use your services or work with you in the future. Unlike email, you’re starting a dialogue in real-time.
Big Data Bonus: Analytics are a Window to the Mindset of Prospects and Clients
Chatbots don’t only foster connections and help your team save time, they give you additional insight into what visitors to your site are looking for. You can leverage embedded analytics to evaluate the questions and comments people send to the chatbot to better understand your prospects and clients. Using the questions and phrases, your marketing team can refine your messaging and create highly relevant content.
Other Ways Your Law Firm Can Use AI for Marketing
There are endless opportunities to enhance your marketing with AI. Below, we consider two additional ways you can use AI for marketing to save time and increase your marketing return on investment.
1. Give Data-Driven Tasks to Robots
From ad campaigns and email lists to information about prospective clients, your marketing efforts produce a large quantity of data. To really use the information, you’ve needed someone to collect, clean, sort and analyze it. Now, software using AI does this for you. With the time-consuming heavy lifting out of the way, your marketing department can spend its time more effectively and act on insights discovered in the data.
2. Personalizing Website Content and Digital Engagement
Many firms are now evaluating the best options to deploy AI to improve customer experiences – their website may be a good start. By integrating disparate customer data sources and building ideal customer journeys they are using machine learning algorithms to learn and predict future customer behavior. They are maximizing their investments through quantifiable improvements in customer experience, increased customer lifetime value and reduced churn. Check out how one firm is using data to build their path to personalization.
AI is always learning. As a result, it can determine market patterns, boost your brand and lower your overall cost of acquisition. If you want to learn more use cases for AI in legal marketing, contact RDA; we can offer more specific ideas for your firm.
