The lead qualification process is often slower than it needs to be, bogged down by expensive phone calls or slow emails.
Live chat software can help to speed this process up, with quick conversations that help marketing and sales better engage with potential customers. And, even better, it does so directly at the point of interest – right as the lead is browsing your website.
So, here’s a closer look at how live chat can help you qualify leads without wasting your time or effort.
Funnel leads into your chat
Live chat software is a great way to give your most interested leads an immediate contact point. You’ve caught their interest, and they’re browsing your site.
Perhaps they’ve been browsing for a few minutes, or clicked through several web pages. At this point, their interest is piqued.
They might even be interested enough to send an email, but this represents a cooling delay. The telephone, meanwhile, is often seen as a hurdle. (Not to mention being an expensive contact channel.)
So, live chat – with its promise of quick, immediate answers in a low-pressure channel – is the perfect place to funnel your web leads. And not only is it useful at the point of conversation, it’s also helpful before and after a chat.
The lead qualification process: pre-chat
Even before the conversation, live chat software can help you convert leads. For example, here are some of the chat features that get your lead qualification process off to a smooth start.
It’s much easier to speed the lead qualification process when you can easily identify who your leads are. Prospect detection lets you know who your website visitors are using reverse IP tracking. In turn, this helps your agents nurture your leads as and when they visit.
Entice your leads to chat. Instead of relying on people reaching out to you, you can reach out to them while they’re browsing your site.
Reaching out to leads with proactive chat invitations can mean quicker qualification, at the point when they’re most engaged with your brand.
Pre-chat surveys allow you to screen inbound chat users — meaning you’re vetting queries. You have a much better idea of which incoming chats are leads ready to be qualified before you’ve even reached the conversation stage.
- Intelligent routing
Via chat routing, existing customers go to your support agents. Tech support queries go to your IT team. And your leads go to your sales team.
Intelligent routing reduces the need for transfers. It keeps interactions smooth and demonstrates to your leads that you’re competent and ready to build a relationship with them.
The lead qualification process: in-chat
The main part of the lead qualification process is, of course, the conversation. Live chat software enables this conversation to happen in real-time, without the costs of a phone call. Plus, chat comes with features expressly designed to streamline the conversational experience.
Automate vetting queries with the help of a chatbot.
One way to gather extra information from a lead — and provide stock answers to common queries — is with a chatbot. Bots help reduce the strain on your team and represent a quick and efficient way to handle basic conversations.
- Quick replies
Typically, the lead qualification process will have repetitive answers and queries. You can speed up these conversations, then, with some smart features that reduce the need for repetitive typing.
Specifically, the use of AI auto-text and canned responses. Canned responses will save you time on common queries. AI auto-text, meanwhile, will help reduce the number of manual keystrokes needed to reply to a lead. So, responses come quickly, fluidly, and consistently.
Qualifying leads often calls for the sharing of information — such as files about the products or business. With live chat to speed the process, you can share these materials with your leads in real-time, without the need for channel swapping or long-winded emails.
- In-chat forms
The lead qualification process can involve gathering extra information from the lead in question — what they’re looking for, why, and so on. In-chat forms allow you to ask for and collect this information quickly and simply — without requiring the lead to swap channels or jump through hoops.
The lead qualification process: post-chat
The lead qualification process doesn’t end with the conversations you have with leads. There’s also the data management that comes after the chat.
- Data crunching
You’ll gather a lot of valuable data by using chat, and part of your process will involve collecting, storing and reporting it. So, enterprise chat solutions like WhosOn come with a detailed reporting suite. For example, you can categorise and report on chats, view the files shared, data about the chatting visitor, KPIs from the agent, and more.
Chat integrations allow you to sync session data into your CRM, helping you to keep track of qualified leads for the rest of their journey with you.
Speed your lead qualification process
The lead qualification process starts before the conversation and ends after the conversation. And live chat software can help you manage every part of it.
Simply, live chat software is an effective, streamlined way to engage online visitors at any stage of the customer journey. Speeding up the lead qualification process is no exception.
Explore further today, with a 30-day free trial of WhosOn.
Useful links
Telephone decline: the battle between calls and chat