- May 1, 2006
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- First Name
- Alex
Man. A.I. Ugh. I didn't want to get into it. I was content sitting on the sideline fearing the Terminator knocking on the door one day.
And then we found a partner who could utilize the engagement data we generate to tune what the AI said to customers.
First month, only 8% of customers responded to the AI. Started tuning. Second month, 20%. Tuned some more. By the third month we were seeing over 1/3rd of leads conversing with the AI. And we tuned further. Now it is consistently over 40% with some of our dealers seeing half their FRIKINtech-generated leads chatting with the AI.
Yes, it is handling our leads better than humans were.
And it is converting leads to appointments! That's the whole point - right??!!
I've learned AI lead handling isn't as strong when you just tune it for a lead source because you only know a vehicle of interest (thinking of an Autotrader lead as an example). It is way more effective when the AI can touch on all the vehicles seen, the trade, and even some of the numbers the customer saw. It can approach the customer with something more personal and relevant to get them responding and then dive into specific questions that help qualify the lead further. And finally it can ask for the appointment - every time.
So, if you've tried an AI and thought it is okay, but not setting your world on fire, this is why. The generic AI you throw at every lead doesn't have enough data to get a customer excited. It is essentially a fancy autoresponse. The ones that can work directly with a lead generating technology are going to perform many times better.
And then we found a partner who could utilize the engagement data we generate to tune what the AI said to customers.
First month, only 8% of customers responded to the AI. Started tuning. Second month, 20%. Tuned some more. By the third month we were seeing over 1/3rd of leads conversing with the AI. And we tuned further. Now it is consistently over 40% with some of our dealers seeing half their FRIKINtech-generated leads chatting with the AI.
Yes, it is handling our leads better than humans were.
And it is converting leads to appointments! That's the whole point - right??!!
I've learned AI lead handling isn't as strong when you just tune it for a lead source because you only know a vehicle of interest (thinking of an Autotrader lead as an example). It is way more effective when the AI can touch on all the vehicles seen, the trade, and even some of the numbers the customer saw. It can approach the customer with something more personal and relevant to get them responding and then dive into specific questions that help qualify the lead further. And finally it can ask for the appointment - every time.
So, if you've tried an AI and thought it is okay, but not setting your world on fire, this is why. The generic AI you throw at every lead doesn't have enough data to get a customer excited. It is essentially a fancy autoresponse. The ones that can work directly with a lead generating technology are going to perform many times better.
