# Are chatbots the answer?

By [Doug Lane](https://paragraph.com/@axalane) · 2022-03-30

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Are chatbots a way to fix [our broken SDR model](https://mirror.xyz/axalane.eth/zZPra-wZnycVMLmwmGWolFE_44l8mFiqZA-xmhpvdMs)?

I think the answer is: **no**.

Chatbots have been a hot trend in marketing over the last few years. They’ve also come a long way in their usefulness, as companies like [Drift](https://www.drift.com/conversational-marketing/) have elevated them from tactical website widget to strategic marketing tool.

But I’m not a believer. At least not for B2B cybersecurity.

I’m sure there are unequivocal success stories with chatbots. But here’s my own experience with them:

*   I usually ignore them, because (fairly or not) I feel like they will waste my time and not actually help me in the end.
    
*   When I do interact with them, the questions tend to be more about qualifying me and guiding me to schedule a call (which there are much easier ways to do).
    

Now, these are arguably criticisms of execution more than criticisms of the medium itself. And there are definitely companies that use chat more intelligently as an asynchronous way of having substantive conversations before setting up a call.

It’s just hard for me to imagine an enterprise security buyer or influencer engaging this way.

I’m happy to be proven wrong though.

\-Doug

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*Originally published on [Doug Lane](https://paragraph.com/@axalane/are-chatbots-the-answer)*