Since the rise of globalization, lead generation has been one of the main ways to help businesses grow. The first step lies in getting people interested in your services or products. Thanks to the Internet, reaching customers across the world is no longer an impossible task. As you build your clientele base from scratch, prospecting becomes a vital process within the business.
Commonly known as lead generation, it is one of the key marketing strategies to generate profit. From getting quality prospects via cold calling to time-consuming research on the Internet, the number of methods to find new consumers is endless.
However, with the use of automation, you can grow your business without lifting a finger. By leveraging modern technological tools like AI, you can draw potential clients to you by simply collecting data.
Here are three of the best methods for automated lead generation:
Email Marketing
Remember a pop-up asking for your email every time you get onto a website? That’s email marketing. Known as a subscription, you receive emails on a regular basis upon every sign-up. With consistency in communication with previous visitors to the site, this form of automated lead generation focuses on informing consumers of the latest discounts or news. Be it weekly or monthly, it works effortlessly in complete automation. The key to making it work is to personalize your message and make it unique.
It primarily works through the steps below:
- Build an email list of potential leads.
- Automate with an effective tool: MailChimp, Pop-Up, Campaign Monitor, etc.
- Create an effective and engaging email campaign.
- Connect with your subscribers by sending an email.
- Monitor performance metrics to curate future marketing strategies.
Live Chat
Nothing beats a personalized interaction with an actual human. Despite the onset of AI and the modernization of website features, most customers still prefer speaking to someone in real-time. From providing technical support to utilizing active listening to meet their requirements, a live chat feature brings interactive engagement to a new level. While communicating with any potential client, you can program the chatbot to ask for contact details or ask them yourself when the time is right. A general rule of thumb is to remember that live chats are unable to fully replace the human touch. Hence, it is vital to create a personalized online experience. In doing so, you can expand your clientele base one at a time with additional information.
These are the five main steps to ensuring the live chat feature works as intended:
- Choose a suitable live chatbot or tool for your business (LiveChat, Intercom, etc.).
- Implement and integrate the chosen live chat tool (Use a plug-in, etc.).
- Provide customer support with interactive engagement for a personalized approach.
- Generate quality leads through product recommendations or queries.
- Collect, consolidate, and coordinate customer data to increase the clientele base.
Web Scraping
Scraping data off websites is one of the most effective forms of automated lead generation. Available in many ways with or without a browser, web scraping can be conducted by engaging coding languages such as Python. A wide variety of tools is still available for a complete beginner with no technical skills. The best part is that the information retrieved can be sorted in Microsoft Excel, which makes data analysis a breeze. One simple example is using Sheets Genie to collect, sort, and organize website data to optimize quality leads. The choices to retrieve quality leads are endless, from plug-ins to Chrome extensions.
These are some of the main steps on how to leverage web-scraping fully:
- Determine the websites and type of information you want to extract.
- Select a web-scraping tool that best suits your needs based on your technical skills.
- Verify, filter, and clean retrieved data before analyzing and using it for your business.
- Reach out to clients from your data through email marketing or other methods.
In Retrospect
Gone are the days of time-consuming manual processes and methodologies. As technology advances, moving with the times and changing how revenue is generated is essential. With a myriad of ways to connect with customers while collecting critical data, lead generation no longer has to be time- or effort-consuming.
Just as automation changed the manufacturing industry, the e-Commerce marketing industry can also be changed as well. Hence, it is critical for businesses to incorporate automated lead generation in their existing processes to expand and grow in profit. Using existing tools online and working smart by utilizing technology in your favor can be a game changer.
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