What is a Chatbots?
Chatbots are computer programs that communicate with people and automatically respond to their comments. It is possible to program them to respond the same way each time, or to allow them to adapt to various situations.
Among the methods of communication used is a text messaging, web chat windows, and social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook. These bots are currently used by numerous companies to streamline customer service.
Nevertheless, they can also be used to enhance other areas of your business, including sales and marketing. Virtual assistants, or chatbots, can communicate with humans via text messages on instant messaging platforms, forums, and on-site live chat applications.
3 Types of Chatbots
A chatbots can be divided into three categories:
Rule-based Chatbots
Rule-based chatbots can be interacted with by clicking on buttons and using predefined options. However, these chatbots only offer a limited number of selections, which is why they are slow to assist your customers in finding the right answers.
Intellectually Independent Chatbots
ML is used in these bots for learning from users’ inputs and requests. This means you can teach the bots to understand specific phrases and keywords that trigger their responses. These bots can learn to understand more and more queries over time.
AI-powered Chatbots
Bots powered by AI combine the features of the other two types. To understand and remember the context of the conversation and the preferences of the user, these bots use ML, AI, and NLP.
Benefits of Chatbots:
Your business can benefit from chatbots in the following ways:
Increase customer satisfaction with chatbots
Customers can find chatbots easy to use, so they are becoming a favorite. According to an online survey, 44 percent of consumers prefer chatbots over humans for customer service. Therefore, businesses can introduce new chatbots to their customers with excitement.
Humans and chatbots can work together
Chatbots are often misunderstood as taking over services and automating everything, leaving businesses without employing humans. But, this is mostly a myth; not likely to occur (at least not anytime soon). Currently, chatbots deal with queries that are clearly within their capabilities.
Customer questions are best answered by bots when they are simple and common. That’s because the information required to respond has already been provided. Chatbots respond to repetitive customer queries, releasing service agents to handle more complex questions and delivering better customer service.
Chatbots are available 24/7
While a chatbots is always available, no matter what time of day or night, it can take care of your customers. Even if they are unable to answer each user question, they can still save the customer’s information and ask that their query be passed on to the appropriate person. This is much better than leaving the customer to wait for an agent to return their call.
Chatbots reduce operational costs
Chatbots, which are based on artificial intelligence, can greatly reduce these costs. Many companies cannot afford to hire agents who are available 24/7/365, let alone add the resources to provide customer support around the clock. Chatbots help reduce these costs.
Chatbots offer innovative ways for sales and marketing
Chatbots, such as those developed by Acquire, can increase sales through effective marketing. Chatbots can assist you in achieving the following things, for example:
- Enhances customer engagement – Chatbots allow users to establish personal interactions with colleagues, providing valuable advice based on their purchase history.
- A marketing funnel guide – chatbots won’t delay customers. The team guides them throughout the entire sale process, answering their questions as they appear.
- Relevant notifications – chatbots have expertise in predicting customer behavior. Consequently, the right notifications can be pushed to the right people every time.
- Broadened reach – chatbots can reach out to a large number of prospects in a way that no human could ever hope to accomplish.
- Increased brand value – Chatbots can catch the attention of customers through their past interactions. Customer feedback and data are collected and analyzed. It is then used to communicate effectively with the right people in the right manner.
Chatbots can help you collect data and engage customers
Customer profiles, which include names, professions, and contact details, are built by chatbots. It is also possible for them to learn what customers ask for, their product preferences, and so on.
This way, brands, and products can keep customers engaged with chatbots via push notifications. Also, customers can request details on a product when required, and relevant content can be recommended. They also receive videos sent by the chatbots that recommend certain products.
Chatbots improve with consistent evaluation and optimization
Continuous evaluation and optimization are required for chatbots. The performance of chatbots should be assessed on factors such as usability, linguistic capability, and user experience. In other words, they will “learn” how to adapt and provide a better user experience as time goes on.
To achieve this, create a process of learning, devising changes based on analysis, and observing the results you achieve through optimization.
Chatbots optimization includes:
- Different welcome messages and invites.
- Incorporating additional brand information.
- Addition of new products.
- Changes in pricing.
- Promoting new and more attractive offers.
Chatbots enhance brand engagement and meet customer expectations
The chatbots are well designed to provide friendly interactions and build rapport with your customers, and promote your brand values, regardless of the demographic. The customer expects smooth interactions, which means that complaints and questions are promptly addressed.
Using chatbots, we can match these expectations and deliver possible resolutions instantly.
These are some ways chatbots help brands meet customers’ needs:
- Improved open rates – chatbots proactively interact with customers, delivering quick responses.
- Better engagement – chatbots send visual content and provide information about discounts or product details to keep customers interested.
- Personalized Experience – Businesses should deliver a personalized experience to their customers across multiple touchpoints.
Customers can interact with chatbots at any time, so they don’t have to wait for human agents to sign in. The combination of these factors and the brand’s reputation are key to retaining customers and earning positive reviews.
Chatbots allow you to showcase new products and services
A chatbots can be used to broadcast product updates (and even company updates), potentially reaching a large audience. Contact with customers is consistent and friendly, eliminating customer frustration caused by cold calls or constant emails.
In this way, push notifications are generated and new products and services are showcased. Customers will feel appreciated as these notifications will only be sent to those who are interested, instead of being irritated. Chatbots provide the best platform to explain new products to consumers.
Chatbots could revolutionize marketing
In business, it’s all about reaching the right audiences. The conventional route makes it difficult to predict and analyze customer preferences and interests. The use of chatbots can change the nature of marketing and customer service strategies.
They develop good customer relationships and can persuade consumers to buy by suggesting preferred items. A chatbots monitors consumer behavior and tracks interests to deliver only relevant notifications to individuals.
Chatbots help businesses in many ways
Chatbots provide many benefits for businesses, including lowering costs while increasing sales and conversions. With the advancement of AI, NLP, and machine learning, chatbots are set to become extremely intelligent, showing that their future is bright.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. https://www.engagebay.com/blog/benefits-chatbots/
2.https://towardsdatascience.com/how-chatbots-can-be-used-to-improve-any-business-f7f3a1ebcbba