For a small or medium-sized business, every visitor who leaves the site without a trace is a missed opportunity. The problem is that questions often arrive at the wrong time: in the evening, on the weekend or during a holiday, when no one is at the office to answer.
Connect Chat, the chat module of the Pratcom Connect suite, was designed for this reality. It is an artificial intelligence chatbot, bilingual and available 24/7, that answers visitors, guides them and captures their contact information as leads. To show concretely how it works, let’s follow a fictional SME from Montérégie, Usinage Rive-Sud, which manufactures custom parts for companies that own a vehicle fleet.
Step 1: A quick installation on WordPress
Usinage Rive-Sud already has a WordPress site. According to Pratcom, Connect Chat can be installed in a few minutes thanks to the Pratcom Connect Bridge connector. The company’s director therefore doesn’t need to bring in a developer or rebuild her site.
Before going live, the chatbot is configured with the company’s content. This is an essential step, because it determines the quality of the answers visitors will receive. The chatbot is trained on:
- the products offered, such as the different categories of machined parts;
- the services, for example custom manufacturing or repair;
- the FAQ and the standard answers the team usually gives over the phone.
The result: the chatbot knows Usinage Rive-Sud’s reality. Its answers are accurate and tailored rather than generic.
Step 2: A visitor asks a question in the evening
One Tuesday evening, long after the shop has closed, a fleet manager visits the site. He is looking for a supplier able to produce custom parts for his trucks. In the past, he might have filled out a form and hoped for a reply, or more likely he would have gone to a competitor.
This time, he opens the chat window. As soon as it opens, Connect Chat displays a privacy notice, in accordance with Law 25. The visitor knows right away how his information will be handled, which builds trust.
He writes that he is looking for a supplier of custom parts for his fleet. The chatbot immediately replies that this is precisely the company’s specialty, then briefly explains the services offered, drawing on the content provided during configuration.
Step 3: Qualifying the need and capturing the lead
A good answer isn’t enough: you also need to be able to follow up. This is where Connect Chat plays its role as a virtual salesperson. Over the course of the conversation, it qualifies the visitor’s need and gathers useful information:
- the person’s name;
- their email address;
- the nature of their need.
To prepare a quote, the chatbot asks the manager for an email address where he can be reached. Once the contact information is provided, a lead is automatically created in the Pratcom Connect CRM. No re-entering data, no email forgotten in an inbox.
When the question goes beyond its knowledge
The next day, another visitor asks a highly technical question about a specific tolerance, a topic the company’s content doesn’t cover. Rather than improvising, Connect Chat invites the visitor to leave their contact information for a human follow-up. The request isn’t lost: it is simply redirected to the right people.
Step 4: The morning follow-up in the CRM
On Wednesday morning, the Usinage Rive-Sud sales representative opens the Pratcom Connect CRM. There he finds the lead created the night before, along with the complete conversation history. Every exchange is recorded in the suite.
This history changes the nature of the follow-up call. The representative already knows what the customer is looking for, what questions he asked and what answers he received. He can therefore call the right person back at the right time, with a relevant proposal, without making him repeat his need.
A salesperson who never sleeps.
Pratcom
Step 5: Serving English-speaking customers too
A few days later, over a weekend, a transportation company based outside Quebec visits the site and writes in English. Connect Chat automatically replies in English, without any intervention from the team. It works the same way in French and English, allowing Usinage Rive-Sud to serve customers across Canada.
For a Quebec SME looking to expand its market, this automatic bilingualism removes the need to dedicate a resource to English-speaking customers for initial contacts.
What the SME takes away from its experience
Day to day, Connect Chat fits seamlessly into the company’s operations. In summary, here is what it brings to an SME like Usinage Rive-Sud:
- an immediate response to visitors in the evening, on weekends and on holidays;
- answers based on its own products, services and FAQ;
- capture of name, email and need, followed by the creation of a lead in the CRM;
- a complete conversation history for relevant follow-ups;
- service in French and English, automatically;
- a privacy notice displayed when the chat opens and data management in line with Law 25.
To go further in terms of compliance, the company can combine Connect Chat with the Connect Privacy module, as part of a comprehensive approach to meeting the requirements of Law 25.
Your business may be letting leads slip away right now, simply because no one is available to answer. Pratcom, a marketing, web and AI agency based in Châteauguay, offers a demonstration of Connect Chat so you can see concretely how the module would adapt to your site and your customers. You can request it directly online or by calling 1-844-640-9500.
