"Book a Demo" Forms Are Dead and Chatbots Have Killed Them!

With new-gen SaaS & AI tools emerging almost every day, we are definitely living in the age of technological transformation and automation. These tools have completely replaced the traditional methods of sales and marketing.

But if there is one thing that has remained constant, it is — "book a demo" Forms.

Yes, "book a demo" forms are still a regular feature on most websites today. But they are dead, and it is high time you go beyond them.

In this article, we will discuss how "book a demo" forms have become a thing of the past and why chatbots are a worthy alternative.

Why Do "Book a Demo" Forms Don’t Work?

Using "book a demo" forms in today’s day and age is like riding a horse and expecting it to win a race against high speed racing cars.

Apart from that, there are several reasons why "book a demo" forms don’t make the cut.

Let’s discuss a few of them.

They Are Boring

I don’t know if I speak for you, but whenever I come across a form, whether it is at a bank, government office, or a book a demo form on a website, I feel extremely bored.

Forms have become synonymous with boredom. I guess that’s why people refrain from bureaucratic procedures since they involve so many procedures and FORMS.

So, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to assume that your prospects would also feel the same boredom when they see a book a demo form on your website.

And that boredom could easily discourage them from filling out the form and switching to another tab (your competitor).

What I am saying is that forms have zero human element to it. Forms make the process robotic and add to redtaping.

And I am sure as a growing SaaS business, you would want to dissociate yourself from these terms as soon as possible.

No Instant Answers

Ever filled a demo form to get a response after ages?

This has happened so many times and to so many businesses that it has become a common knowledge. But still, the feeling of never getting an instant answer bugs you, isn’t it?

Guess what! Your prospects also feel the same way

"Book a demo" forms also induce a similar feeling in your prospects, where they don’t know what will happen next and when it will happen. This often leads to a loss of interest on your prospect’s end.

I am sure, as a business, you don’t want your prospects to feel this way. To ensure that this doesn’t happen, you must go beyond forms.

Manual Follow Ups

One of the major disadvantages of "book a demo" forms is lack of automation. In this process, your sales team still has to do a manual followup. They have to call or email the prospect and "book a demo" for them. This eats up a lot of time and effort from your sales department.

The manual nature of follow ups is also a huge contributor in increasing the turn-around-time.

Let’s understand how it affects your conversions.

Let's suppose, your prospect managed to fill the lengthy form despite being bored. Next they would expect a call from your sales department.

What if he gets a call after 3 days. Do you think the prospect would still remember filling the "book a demo" form? Or in the worst case scenario, he would already have been won by your competitor.

Higher turn around times to reach prospects are driving them away. And forms have a big role to play in this. All forms do is provide you with the contact details of the prospects. The latter process still remains manual and slow, resulting in higher turn-around-times.

How Chatbots Are Taking Its Place

Chatbots are the perfect alternative to forms, as they can fulfill all their shortcomings. Let’s have a look at the advantages of using chatbots instead of "book a demo" forms.

Kills Boredom With A Conversational Approach

If "book a demo" forms were boring, then chatbots are exactly the opposite. They offer an interactive, smart, and fun alternative to "book a demo" forms.

With chatbots, you can ask as many questions as you want in a conversational manner. This ensures that the prospects fill in all the details without getting bored or switching to some other tab.

Chatbots unlock so many options that you could never try out with booking demo forms.

For instance, with chatbots, you can start a conversation by wishing the prospect. Later, the chatbot can ask about their basic details like name and company. Later, the chatbot can use the same data to address them, thus making the process more conversational and interesting as shown in the video below.

demoOn top of that, many chatbots use AI to adapt and respond instantly to any of the prospect’s responses. This helps in better data collection and creates a way better customer experience as compared to "book a demo" forms.

Automates Demo Booking

As mentioned earlier, due to forms, sales people have to do manual follow ups with the prospects. This process is highly inefficient as it increases the turnaround time for the sales team.

With chatbot, the sales team could reduce the turnaround time. It is because chatbots also enable demo booking automation that would completely eliminate the manual follow ups done by the sales team.

With this, whenever a prospect answers all the qualifying questions, they are asked to book a slot for a demo or a 1:1 meeting. Prospects can choose any date and time slot from the calendar to book their demo. Here, the calendar shows only those time slots for which the salesperson is available.

Filters Out All the SQLs

It is common knowledge that the Sales and Marketing department are always at war with each other. One of the most common points of conflict is sales blaming the marketing team, that they don’t provide them with enough sales qualified leads.

With the usage of forms, the marketing team could only ask a few questions that are not sufficient to qualify a lead. As a result, many times demos are booked for those leads that are not sales qualified in the first place. This wastes the time and efforts of the sales team.

But with chatbots, the marketing team can ensure that demos are only booked for sales qualified leads.

How? Let’s see.

With chatbots, you can include all the sales qualifying questions in a conversational approach. This ensures that the prospects are able to "book a demo" only if their answers match your criteria for a sales qualified lead.

In this way, the chatbot acts as an effective filter that screens all the non-qualifying leads, thus only allowing SQLs to "book a demo".

Conclusion

Chatbots are the way forward for sales qualified and automated demo booking. If you are still using the way old "book a demo" forms, imagine what opportunities you are missing out on. Also, it is just a matter of time before chatbots fully replace the forms and become the norms.

Wouldn’t it be better to adopt it before your competitors and gain the first mover advantage? So, what are you thinking about?

Sign Up now to try it yourself.