8 AI Lead Generation Techniques and Tools for Record Sales

If it seems like there’s an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to solve just about any business problem these days, that’s because there is. But, AI isn’t isn’t a fad or a gimmick—these tools are here to stay because they’re helping businesses reach their financial and operational goals faster. AI-powered tools offer companies new and innovative solutions while also increasing efficiency in many areas.

One of the best uses of AI is for lead generation and sales purposes. AI-powered tools—like Podium’s AI Employee—can assist with every stage of the lead generation and sales process, from getting more eyes on your business and leads into the funnel through scoring leads and developing personalized marketing and sales strategies to helping your sales team close the deal. Discover the top AI tools to boost lead generation and sales and learn how to take advantage of AI tools for lead generation with our guide below.

Why Use AI for Lead Generation

Lead generation isn’t as simple as finding any leads and working to convert them into a customer. Instead, it involves a lot of steps to ensure you’re attracting the right leads through your marketing efforts, then qualifying and narrowing down your pool of leads based on how closely they match your target audience. Even then, only a percentage of those prospects will turn into customers.

It’s a lot to handle on your own, which is why AI is so useful. Here are several ways AI tools can help your business manage lead generation.

Enhanced Efficiency

AI lead generation tools reduce the complexity of the entire lead generation process by automating many mundane and repetitive tasks. These tools can evaluate your previous marketing campaigns and suggest ways to improve conversions and return on investment (ROI), so you’re getting more high-quality leads from the start (and a better bang for your buck).

AI tools also collect leads from across your channels (like your website, social media platforms, and third-party sites) and can even score and qualify leads for you, letting your sales and marketing teams focus on more revenue and sales-generating work. Podium’s AI Employee boasts a 30% increase in sales through automation and more efficient operations.

Personalized Outreach

AI tools create tailored outreach for your leads based on their previous interactions with your business, including what web pages they’ve looked at or other content they’ve interacted with the most. Sending leads more personalized and relevant content improves their experience with your company and ultimately helps drive more conversions.

In fact, personalized emails have a 32.7% better response rate than generic emails. This is huge considering that only 8.5% of all outreach emails ever receive a response.

Data-Driven Insights

AI can process large, complex datasets much faster than humans can, giving you insights into your leads and customers in real-time. Analyzing their behaviors and interests along with how they’re engaging with your business and the sentiment of their interactions helps find patterns and trends.

This data can inform everything from your marketing and lead generation strategies to the type of outreach you’ll want to use. Using data instead of relying on your gut feelings or guessing has significant benefits for your business, as you’re 23x more likely to acquire customers.

Scalability

Business growth and increased revenue are great things, but trying to achieve this can overwhelm your already maxed-out sales and marketing teams. AI tools reduce this problem, offering increased efficiency through automation and filling gaps within your company. In fact, 80% of workers report that using AI has increased their productivity levels. And, AI’s flexibility means tools can scale with your business as you grow.

8 AI for Lead Generation Tactics

There are numerous ways your business can use AI to improve lead generation, making it more efficient and effective. Consider these top tactics:

1. Chatbots and Conversational AI

Make your website a conversation starter by using AI-powered chatbots. These tools can instantly respond to leads using conversation AI. Chatbots automatically collect lead information while engaging with and nurturing leads by answering questions and directing them to relevant content and other resources. See Website Chat in action on your site to understand how this powerful tool can help your business grow.

2. Behavioral Analysis

What if your business could understand what drives your leads and customers to make certain decisions? With behavioral analysis in many AI tools, you can do just that. AI tools evaluate customer and lead data to reveal patterns in their decision-making and give you a better understanding of how they’re engaging with your company. From there, you can make informed decisions about engagement and outreach to retain and convert more leads.

3. Lead Scoring

AI-powered lead-scoring tools evaluate data through machine learning (ML) and predictive analytics to help qualify leads and predict their probability of becoming customers. Not only can AI perform this task quicker than people, but the tool’s ML capabilities also mean the more you use it, the better it becomes at scoring leads. Using this tactic helps your sales team focus solely on leads that are most likely to convert—which can also boost your ROI.

4. Tailored Responses

Being able to respond quickly and offer the right support is key to building a positive customer experience. AI lead generation systems can engage with leads on-demand, even outside of your regular business hours. They can tailor greetings and responses to individuals based on data, so leads receive relevant, helpful support. Plus, AI can boost productivity by answering FAQs and directing leads to the right information, saving only the most critical questions and support issues for your team.

5. Automated Review Invites

Generally, people don’t make purchases without reading reviews and knowing what to expect from your company. More customer reviews mean more business for you, and AI-powered review tactics simplify and speed up this process by automatically sending review invites to your customers for you. Try out this free Google review link generator to see how you can get more reviews with less time and effort.

6. Content personalization

You’re more likely to retain and convert leads if you’re sending them content that appeals to their interests and preferences and they’re receiving it in a way that works best for them. Personalization is easier with AI, as it analyzes lead data and makes relevant suggestions about what content to send and which contact methods are best to use. Doing so boosts engagement and satisfaction—key components of converting leads to customers.

7. A/B testing optimization

Previously, marketers would have to A/B test every single element in a marketing campaign on its own to optimize their strategy. AI can now do this for you and A/B test multiple elements quickly—even at a large scale. You’ll be able to use the best-performing subject line and call-to-action (CTA) for your email campaigns and offer more personalized email content to raise open and conversion rates.

8. Dynamic content generation

If you want your website and social media content to appeal to your target audience and help attract leads, AI can help with that. AI analyzes customer data (like demographics and preferences) to make suggestions about the type and subject matter of content your business should create. Adapting your content strategies to align with your customers’ behaviors and preferences makes your content more relevant and helpful, improving engagement.

3 AI Tools for Lead Generation and Sales Prospecting

Now that you understand how AI can improve lead generation and sales processes, here are a few tools you may want to consider for your business.

Podium

If you’re looking for an AI tool that not only improves the capture and management of your leads but also helps make more sales on your behalf, Podium is a top choice. Podium’s AI Employee automates numerous lead generation and sales workflows, letting your team focus where it matters most—closing the deal.

The tool captures leads from across all your platforms—not just your website—and consolidates them for easy management. Plus, its chatbot feature responds to leads instantly, keeping them warm and leading them to your goal-oriented outcomes (like making a purchase). Podium’s AI Employee helps businesses get consistent lead generation results, boasting an average increase of 30% in sales.

Pros: Offers omnichannel lead generation, nurtures leads through email and text campaigns, helps you make more sales

Cons: Since it offers multiple tools through one platform, it can be more costly than other single-tool AI options.

InboxPro

This AI tool focuses on using email and automation to acquire and nurture your leads for you, offering a completely hands-off approach to lead generation. All you need to start with this tool is your list of leads, and then InboxPro’s AI email assistant generates personalized emails in seconds. It also features automated follow-up email sequences and a calendar for leads to schedule meetings with your sales team.

Pros: Fully automated, great for lead generation if you have a small team, has tracking and analytics capabilities

Cons: Only uses email for lead generation and nurturing purposes, which means missing out on engagement opportunities through your website, social media channels, and more

Jasper.AI

Jasper.AI’s platform features a writing assistant designed for marketing tasks. This tool automates and personalizes just about any type of marketing-based content your business needs, including website copy, blog articles, social media posts, marketing and sales emails, and more. A top feature, Jasper Campaigns, helps you generate content for your entire lead generation strategy in minutes, from ads to attract leads to landing pages and follow-up emails.

Pros: Handles content creation for every stage of the lead generation process

Cons: Doesn’t offer data analytics capabilities and isn’t hands-off (your team will still have to edit content for relevance and to ensure accuracy)

Your Own AI Assistant to Grow Your Business

If you’re ready to get more leads and boost sales with the help of AI, check out Podium’s AI-powered lead conversion platform. Our all-in-one solution, AI Employee, captures, nurtures, and converts more leads so your business closes more sales. How? By automating tasks

along the entire lead generation process.

With Podium, AI automation helps your business boost lead generation from your website, social media, and third-party sites (like Angi). Our conversational AI tools engage leads in personalized, meaningful interactions through email, text, or your website when your team is busy or your doors are closed for the day.

The AI Employee not only directs leads through your sales funnel but also makes sales on your behalf, so your company can generate more money in less time. But don’t just take our word on it—our AI tools helped Southern Heating and Cooling lower their response time to new leads and immediately generated an estimated $25,000 in new revenue. See how our AI Employee can drive growth for your business.

AI Lead Generation FAQs

Getting high-quality leads for your business to boost sales is easier when you’re using AI. To help you adopt this process in your company, we’ve answered some common AI lead generation questions below.

Can I use AI to generate leads?

Yes, AI-powered tools help you generate leads through reviews, chatbots, and more. Not only do they collect leads, but they also can segment and score leads based on your specific criteria, helping your team focus on high-quality leads that are more likely to become customers.

What is the best AI tool for lead generation?

The best tool for lead generation offers the specific features you’re looking for. You may need more help generating reviews or improving marketing campaigns to attract more leads, or you may prefer a lead-scoring tool instead. You can’t go wrong by choosing an all-in-one platform that can handle every stage of the lead generation process.

Are chatbots good for lead generation?

Yes, chatbots are great for lead generation because they capture leads and can gather important information to help you qualify or score leads. They also assist with personalized outreach, so prospects receive relevant, helpful support along their customer journey.

What are AI leads?

AI leads are your potential customers identified using machine learning and AI algorithms. Because they use data from current leads and past customers to identify and score leads, they can be of higher quality than leads generated from traditional methods.