A CHATBOT IS MY NEWEST EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH!
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EDITORIAL SPOTLIGHT NEW FOR 2021
A CHATBOT IS MY NEWEST
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH!
Discover how a chatbot can generate leads (and how it differs from a chatbox).
BY JONATHAN KAPLAN, MD
C
hatbots are a type of chatbox but But those of us who’ve interacted their chat platform, most small busi-
a chatbox isn’t necessarily a chat- with a chatbot before know the days of nesses, like medical practices, out-
bot! A chatbox is that familiar feeling like you’re having a conversation source their chat capability to third-
box, typically in the lower right- with a human are still not here. The typi- party vendors.
hand corner of a businesses’ web- cal chatbot conversation starts with the
site, that enables the consumer to inter- chatbot asking how they can help you, CHATBOX VS CHATBOT
act with the company via a text inter- hoping and praying you’ll use a keyword Chatbox vendors try to keep costs
face during or after hours. Chatboxes the bot recognizes! Almost immedi- low, but knowledgeable live agents can
can be “staffed” by real agents, enabling ately, it’s clear that a bot using natural
you to obtain information you need language processing can’t help you with
from a real human being. your problem. At that point, the chatbot BOTTOM LINE
If there’s no human on the other hands off the conversation to a live agent.
side, you’re using a chatbot—a robotic A live agent can be expensive. At Chatbots may be one more option to
or non-human interface that hopes to the very least, it’s another full-time capture leads and generate consults.
understand your natural language and employee. While a company like Key is to choose the right type of bot.
provide the information you seek. American Express can afford to staff
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 | 35
EDITORIAL SPOTLIGHT NEW FOR 2021
be understandably expensive. We’re
left with a conundrum: Live chat that
can more ably answer an online visi-
tor’s question but is potentially costly
vs. a more economical chatbot that
has a tough time answering questions.
The answer? A chatbot that special-
izes in one topic and limits the user to
a finite number of choices to ultimate-
ly provide the answer they seek. By
focusing on only one topic, we reduce
the complexity of options provided to
the consumer, increasing the likelihood
they end up where they want.
Take for example, the chatbot
I use.1 Our chatbot doesn’t try to
answer every question a user may
have. It answers the one question
everyone has: “How much does ‘it’
cost?” With “it” being any procedure
or service we offer.
The chatbot won’t answer any ques-
tions other than price. However, when
it comes to questions regarding price,
it answers the question correctly every
time! If s/he wants to know about the
recovery process, the site visitor will
have to read about it on one of our
dedicated procedure pages. If s/he
wants to know how to book a consult,
hopefully they’ll notice our online
booking tool under the “Contact”
tab. If s/he wants to know about any-
thing other than price, s/he will have
to look elsewhere on our site. But if
they want to know about cost, we’ve
got them covered with either our
streamlined—quick and dirty—chat-
bot or our Price Estimator2 that offers
more information like videos, before
and after photos, or the ability to pur- through our website submission form, So what did we find? The graphs
chase non-surgical services online. they have to enter their name and highlight some important findings. An
email address. If they want to check overwhelming majority of our leads
What do visitors prefer? pricing on our more elaborate Price came through the Price Estimator that
When our chatbot went live in Estimator, they have to either create has been on our site for years. It’s pos-
September 2020, we immediately started an account with their email address or sible there’s more traffic to this page,
collecting data. We wanted to know if sign in using their Google or Facebook one of the most popular on our site,
most interactions came through our accounts. And with the pricing chat- because of the large number of links to
website submission form, Price Estimator, bot, they have to enter their name, this page in cyberspace over the years.
or chatbot. All three tools have one thing email address, and ZIP code. No matter But notice an interesting evolution
in common: their primary purpose is what, we capture their contact infor- in the second figure. It’s evident that
lead generation, so all three require con- mation for immediate follow up or add users are starting to use the pricing
tact information to work. them to our email marketing database chatbot more. Users may be embrac-
If the user wants to ask a question for future email marketing.3 (Continued on page 38)
36 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021
EDITORIAL SPOTLIGHT NEW FOR 2021
(Continued from page 36) would seem that the website submis- star Dr. Sheila Nazarian,5 whose chat-
ing the no-frills chatbot because sion form is our most productive in bot generated 121 leads in its first 24
they’re able to get an estimate sent comparison to the Price Estimator hours. Seeing so many new leads fill
to their inbox in fewer steps than the and chatbot, in that we booked two our sales funnel,6 thanks to our chatbot
Price Estimator. The chatbot, which consultations from only 18 inquiries. team member, gives me hope that as
resides on our homepage, may also But generating leads and booking we exit this pandemic, the future of
be better at capturing the visitor’s consults is a numbers game. The more aesthetics will be stronger than ever. n
attention, compared to the “Get A leads, the more consults. And generat-
1. www.realdrbae.com
Quote Now” call-to-action button4 ing only two consults from the web- 2. www.realdrbae.com/pricing
that requires users to navigate to the site submission form, regardless of the 3. https://modernaesthetics.com/articles/2019-may-june/how-an-email-
database-can-power-your-practice?c4src=search:feed
Price Estimator. If this trend contin- ratio of leads to consults, is woefully 4. https://modernaesthetics.com/articles/2018-sept-oct/get-to-know-your-
ues, the chatbot may overtake the inadequate as a business model. potential-patients?c4src=search:feed
5. https://nazarianplasticsurgery.com/
Price Estimator as our strongest lead The consumer in this instant gratifi- 6. https://modernaesthetics.com/articles/2017-nov-dec/loading-the-sales-
generation technique in the months cation-obsessed world is more likely to funnel-through-price-transparency?c4src=search:feed
to come. use a more automated option on our
website, ie the Price Estimator or chat-
Which is the best automated tool for bot to get an instant quote. JONATHAN KAPLAN, MD
lead generation? nBoard-certified plastic surgeon based in San
A head-to-head comparison of the SOMETHING TO CHAT ABOUT Francisco, CA
three lead capture techniques on our It’s exciting to see online visitors’ nF ounder/CEO of BuildMyBod Health, a price
website ncludes the number of leads relatively quick adoption of new tech- transparency-lead generation platform.
and subsequent consultations gener- nology like a pricing chatbot. And not nW atch him operate and educate @realdrbae on
ated by those leads. By percentage, it only for us, but also for Netflix reality Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.
38 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021
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