Contact Forms vs Chatbots? which one is the favorite of 53 digital agencies?

We conducted a survey to find out which works better, contact forms or chatbots in the lead generation process.

We spoke with 53 digital marketing agencies, to find the answer of questions:

~ Main channel to generate leads.

~ Most common ways to convert website traffic into leads.

~ If they use any tool for lead generation or converting website traffic into. leads?

~ Biggest pain point faced by most marketers in the lead-generation process.

~ Their thoughts about contact forms.

~ Their thoughts about chatbots in the lead generation process.

Before going further, let me tell you that this survey and its questions were not about how these agencies perform marketing for themself, but for their clients.

Summary of key findings:

• Quickest money: 49, out of 53 marketers suggest that google paid ads are the best way to bring customers and generate leads.
• SEO in long run: 72% of marketers say that optimizing for SEO is extremely helpful in the long run.
• Landing page optimization: Optimizing landing page can increase the conversion rate by up to 60%.
• Email Marketing: 40% use email marketing tools for lead generation.
• Biggest Challenge: 46 out of 53 say that lead qualification is the biggest challenge in the process.
• Contact forms: 96% still use contact forms for lead generation.
• Chatbots: Only 17 marketers suggested using chatbots for lead generation.

We have detailed data and information on our findings below.

Google Paid Ads Are The Main Channel To Generate Leads

After speaking with marketing managers we found that the most effective and recommended way to generate leads is the google paid ads.

It brings the quickest money.

Out of 53 marketers, 49 suggest the same.

Since, for almost every single thing, people use google search, and by running paid ads on google, you’re putting your product directly in front of your targeted audience.

As you can see, for bringing immediate results, google ads work the best. They are quite expensive but can be seen as an investment in return which you’re gonna get traffic to your website.

Though 72% suggest that optimizing for SEO parallelly is the one thing that helps the most in the long run.

It is because if optimize for SEO, you can keep getting traffic even when you’re not running paid campaigns.

Optimizing Landing Page Can Be The Game Changer

We found that optimizing landing pages for conversion can be the real game changer.

If optimised, it can increase the conversion rate by up to 60%.

Optimizing landing page means improving on-page element to improve conversion rate.

It is extremely important since, you're running paid campaigns, you’re spending money and your time to bring traffic to your landing page from different channels but if it is not good enough, you’ll end up with empty hands only.

Everything should be on place like heading & sub-heading, copy, image, call-to-action, social proof, live chat, etc.

40% of Marketers use Email Marketing Tools for Lead Generation

One of the most interesting findings from this analysis was as much as 25% don’t use any kind of lead generation tool.

I know it’s surprising.

Only 40% use email marketing tools such as WebEngage, Sendinblue, Mailchimp, etc.

And 35% use other tools such as chatbot, live chat, exit popups, etc.

The rest of the 25% don’t use any kind of lead generation tools. They are only using contact forms, even on landing pages.

It means, as far as I understand, 25% of websites are completely dependent on contact forms for website traffic conversion.

We Found Out That Lead Qualification Is The Biggest Challenge In The Process

When we asked them what is the biggest challenge or pain point in the entire process, 46 out of 53 answered the same — lead qualification.

And when asked how you think it can be resolved, the most common answer was — by collecting more and more data from the visitors.

Lead qualification is an important factor in the entire sales funnel.

A qualified lead is likely to close compared to those who are unqualified or you can say, those you don’t have much data about.

How can you collect more data?

Web forms or contact forms only collect limited information like name, requirement, email, phone no. and these details are pretty much enough to say that whether the lead is qualified or not.

But on the other hand, a chabot has the capabilities to collect even more data in conversational way that sometime visitors won’t even know whether they have spoken with a chatbot or a real agent.

96% of Marketers Still Use Contact Forms

Contact forms are still the main mode of converting website visitors into leads.

They are widely used to collect information and queries from website visitors.

43 out of 53 marketers say that they use different types of contact forms on landing pages and other main pages of the website.

When we ask them why they use contact forms even when there are plenty of other lead generation tools, the most common answer was:

Because this is the common industry practice and they deliver results, also, we can collect all the important data of visitors.

Very Less Suggests Using Chatbots For Lead Generation

Chatbots are gaining popularity but still even today, only 17 out of 53 marketers suggest using them for lead generation.

Chatbots are highly efficient in order to engage your customers. With chatbots, you can interact with your customers even when you’re not there.

A survey by IBM found that chatbot can reduce customer support costs by as much as 30%.

It makes it a must tool for all the online stores.

It can reduce your customer support cost, engage your customers in a most efficient manner, collect all the important data required to help you convert leads.

In short, a chatbot, if optimised in an effective way, can work as your 24/7 agent, who is always there to interact with your visitors and solving their common queries.

Thanks, for checking out his post.

As far as we have spoken with 53 digital agencies, we will keep updating the findings as we keep talking with other agencies.

All the marketers out there are most welcome to join and give feedback.

Cheers!