As artificial intelligence becomes more prominent, conversational chatbots are starting to become more popular with consumers and businesses alike. But what exactly are these chatbots and how can they benefit your business? This article will discuss the value of this emerging technology, why it’s so useful and how you can use it to grow your business!
What is a Conversational Chatbot?
A conversational chatbot is an artificial intelligence program that uses machine learning algorithms to mimic how humans converse. Similar to voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa and Google Home, conversational chatbots are capable of understanding human language in order to interact with them through spoken or written communication.
However, unlike other virtual assistants that only react to predetermined commands, a conversational chatbot is capable of carrying out full conversations with users based on provided instructions and existing information. For example, if you wanted to find out what movies were playing tonight at your local theater, you could ask your voice assistant for show times. If you wanted to know what movies were playing tomorrow night instead, however, you would need to rephrase your request accordingly.
With a conversational chatbot, though, you could simply tell it which day you’re interested in seeing a movie and it would be able to respond appropriately. This type of functionality makes conversational chatbots ideal for use by businesses as they can provide customers with more personalized assistance than traditional virtual assistants can.
Benefits of Using Conversational AI Chatbot
AI chatbots can streamline your customer service, give you more opportunities for conversions, allow people around your world to connect with each other and build stronger relationships, provide real-time sales analytics and automate repetitive tasks. In fact, there are plenty of benefits that AI chatbots can bring for your business! Let’s take a look at some examples:
Streamline Customer Service
If you run an ecommerce store or have any kind of customer service department, then chances are that your customers would want to reach out to you via different channels such as email, phone calls or social media. With AI chatbots in place, all these channels will be covered by one single bot which will help reduce friction and boost engagement levels among users.
Provide More Opportunities for Conversions
An AI chatbot is capable of having personalized conversations with your customers based on their previous interactions with it. This makes it easy to nurture leads into becoming paying customers, since they don’t feel like they are talking to a machine but rather another human being who understands their problems and requirements better than anyone else.
Allow People Around The World To Connect With Each Other
One of the biggest advantages of using an AI chatbot is its ability to converse in multiple languages. It doesn’t matter where your customers live; if they speak English, Spanish or French, your AI chatbot will be able to understand them perfectly well and respond accordingly.
Build Stronger Relationships
When you use an AI chatbot for your business, it becomes easier to get closer to your customers and make them feel special. For example, if a customer has been waiting for something important from you, instead of sending him/her a message saying we will get back to you shortly, an AI chatbot could send him/her a friendly reminder message saying I know how excited you must be about [XYZ]! Would you like me to keep you updated?
Provide Real-Time Sales Analytics
As mentioned earlier, an AI chatbot can learn from every interaction it has with your customers. And when used correctly, it can analyze data and provide insights about what works and what doesn’t work for your business.
Automate Repetitive Tasks
There are certain things that humans do best while machines do others much faster and more efficiently. So, why not combine the two together to achieve optimal results? That’s exactly what AI chatbots can do. They are capable of performing repetitive tasks, thereby saving your time and effort.
Save Time and Effort
AI chatbots can save you a lot of time and effort. You won’t need to spend hours responding to customers, especially those who aren’t really interested in your products or services. Instead, you can focus on the customers who are ready to buy from you.
Help Create Brand Loyalty
According to a recent study, 87% of customers say that good customer service is the key factor for creating brand loyalty. With an AI chatbot in place, you can easily provide your customers with the kind of experience they expect from you.
Increase Productivity
Thanks to AI chatbots, you can get more done in less time. Whether it’s handling customer support requests or taking care of repetitive tasks, AI chatbots will always be there to lend a helping hand.
Get a Good Night’s Sleep
With an AI chatbot in place, you can rest assured that your business is in safe hands. Even if you forget to check on your website or app for a few days, there will be no negative impact on the performance of your business.
How to Use a Conversational Chatbot to Grow Your Business?
While you’ve likely heard of chatbots and artificial intelligence as buzzwords within marketing circles, you may not realize how powerful—and useful—this technology can be in real-life business situations. From customer service assistants to virtual merchandisers, conversational chatbots provide new ways for your company to interact with current and prospective customers. Here are just a few examples of how these AI programs can help grow your business.
Give A Data-driven Approach to Customer Engagement
When done right, chatbots are an incredibly powerful tool for interacting with customers, giving you data and insight into what your customers are looking for. They also give you direct access to customer needs and desires in a way that’s easier than ever before.
A well-designed chatbot can take on a variety of roles within your business, from lead generation to service interaction. The key is knowing how to get started and then building on top of it over time. In order to do that, though, you need to be able to answer these three questions:
Who is your target audience? What kind of information will they want? And finally—how do you want them to interact with your brand? It all starts by taking a look at why chatbots are useful in any context.
Boost Your Lead Generation across Customer’s Journey
Using conversational chatbots for lead generation makes it possible for businesses to scale their sales operation and improve customer engagement. It’s worth noting that even though these tools are designed to facilitate conversations, they are not intended to replace human-to-human interactions; they are simply nudges that can help your customers find what they need.
As such, it is important to have human support teams in place so that your customers don’t need to wait indefinitely for answers when using live chat. Some of these bots can also be integrated with CRMs, which will make it easier for sales reps to access information about leads as well as manage communication.
With all of these benefits at hand, there should be no reason why you shouldn’t consider leveraging conversational chatbots today!
Track and Monitor Consumer Data for Insights
The growth of social media has led to an increase in consumer data. Many businesses are collecting consumer data, but not all businesses are using that information to their advantage. In fact, many companies are missing out on valuable insights into their customers’ preferences, behaviors, and buying habits.
A conversational chatbot can be used as a tool for tracking and monitoring consumer data. The bot would provide companies with real-time updates about what consumers are saying about them on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
This data could then be analyzed to gain actionable insights. For example, if your company is launching a new product soon, you could use your chatbot to monitor conversations related to your product category or industry. If there is any chatter surrounding your upcoming launch, you can address those concerns before they become bigger problems.
You can also use a chatbot to track competitors’ social media activity. You might find that one of your competitors is planning something big—and by keeping tabs on their activity, you will have time to respond accordingly.
When it comes to customer service, a conversational chatbot can help streamline communications between customers and businesses by providing direct access via messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger or Slack.
Bolster Your Conversational Marketing Strategy
Yes, chatbots are artificial intelligence-driven applications that can interact with customers in natural language—but they’re really just advanced versions of IVRs (interactive voice response systems) that allow for natural conversations. That makes them excellent additions to an existing CRM, allowing customers or clients to schedule meetings, provide feedback or complaints, access knowledge bases, and so on.
If you haven’t yet considered how they can add value to your business, it’s worth giving it some thought. They aren’t meant to replace humans. The key takeaway here is that conversational chatbots are a powerful addition to any marketing strategy.
You don’t have to be an ecommerce company to benefit from these tools; as long as you have leads and sales, you should consider implementing one into your mix of customer service channels. And if you do sell products online? It’s time to get excited about chatbots!
Automate Key Processes across Departments
While you may not be able to automate every single process, there are likely many processes in your business that can be streamlined by using artificial intelligence. For example, if your sales department is having issues making its numbers for the month, a chatbot could help them reach out to customers and follow up with leads more easily than it would be for an employee without these resources.
You could even use a conversational chatbot to have your customer service team field basic questions from new customers or prospects while they’re waiting on hold—allowing your human employees to focus on higher-level concerns.
By automating key processes across departments, you’ll free up time for employees (and yourself) to focus on other projects that will take your company further in 2023.
Ensure a Hassle-free Customer Journey
When customers have an issue with your service, they might not always contact you directly. With a conversational chatbot, you’re able to provide round-the-clock support and give customers an immediate response—even if they don’t know who to contact.
And, if they do get in touch with you, it’s far easier for them to get help with just one simple message than it would be via an email or phone call. Not only that, but providing 24/7 support means fewer complaints and lost customers; which ultimately leads to higher profits!
Today’s consumers are very used to getting their problems solved immediately. They want answers right away and often feel disappointed when businesses aren’t willing or able to provide them.
A chatbot can improve customer experience by allowing people to connect with brands at any time of day without needing to go through multiple channels. So why is there such hesitation from businesses?
Devise an Omni channel Strategy
One of the biggest trends in marketing is omnichannel or multichannel marketing, which is simply an integrated approach to customer engagement across all channels (web, mobile, social media, email).
One way you can use conversational chatbots as part of your omnichannel strategy is by using them on multiple platforms—for example, by integrating your Facebook Messenger bot into your website and then directing users who want more information about your services there.
This allows you to capture leads from potential customers wherever they are. In addition, it’s easier for people to interact with your business if they’re already familiar with your brand; people don’t have to learn how to navigate a new system if they already know how to use one aspect of it.
Omnichannel strategies can also help you reach a wider audience than ever before, allowing you to make connections with new audiences at every stage of their buyer journey. By utilizing tools like artificial intelligence, chatbots and virtual assistants can become valuable additions to your omnichannel strategy.
With these tools at your disposal, it becomes possible for businesses to improve interactions across every channel—and not just in terms of capturing leads but also in delivering exceptional experiences that build trust and loyalty over time.
A Quick Wrap
It’s no secret that technology is advancing at a rapid rate. In fact, some experts have predicted that by 2025, artificial intelligence will power 85% of all customer service interactions. That means that if you aren’t already thinking about how you can leverage conversational AI in your business, you may soon be left behind. If your goal is to create an engaging and memorable experience for your customers, then it might be time to consider how a conversational chatbot can take your business to the next level.
