Chatbot and its application in business

For businesses, it's important to answer the queries and solve problems of the customers to ensure consumer loyalty along with the brand establishment. In earlier days, if anyone ever tried to contact a company through a representative at a call center he experiences that how slow and frustrating the process can be. Today, Chatbot takes the responsibility. The new developments in technology have opened doors to a faster, easier solution called - chatbots. Chatbots are considered the future of customer service and management. Day by day new businesses are implementing Chatbot for their business. There are many reasons for chatbot implementations as chatbots have proved its usefulness in many automation tasks and there is no doubt that it helps any kind of business. Let's dive into the deep of Chatbot and know its effects on the business.

What is Chatbot?

Computer programs which can have real conversations are known as chatbots. A chatbot can have a conversation with a customer but isn’t limited by technology because the AI technology is built into the software. Chatbots can be used with almost all popular messaging apps. These bots can be given distinct personalities as well. Chatbots can understand written and spoken text, and interpret its meaning. Anyone can type or ask questions and the chatbot responds with the right information. Many chatbots can learn from what a customer says to personalize the interaction and build off previous interaction, but it depends on the situation. Chatbots have the ability to dig through huge amounts of data to pick out the most prominent solution for a customer, whether it is a troubleshooting solution or a recommendation for a new product to try.

Advantages of Chatbots

• Ability to engage with the customers in a natural and friendly manner

• Easy to interact using a simpler interface

• Interactions are possible through familiar platforms like Facebook chat through API

• Capability to outperform humans with the speed of handling customer queries

• Improved efficiency with round the clock customer service

• Easy to build and cost efficient

There are two categories of Chatbots

Command based Chatbots

Command based chatbots rely on a databank of replies and heuristics. The bots reply by selecting an answer that matches the context of a query. Command based chatbots cannot create new texts. These chatbots can answer a limited set of questions. The bot will require manual help for atypical questions. The chatbot cannot perform functions outside its code. To answer a question, the chatbot has to understand it first. Command based chatbots use template search or dynamic search for understanding and answering questions.

AI-based or Machine Learning Chatbots

AI-based or Machine Learning Chatbots can answer ambiguous questions. Meaning, you do not have to be specific when asking questions of these chatbots. The chatbots create replies from scratch using natural language processing. These chatbots become smarter with time, learning from past questions and answers.

How does it work?

• If a customer has a question about your customer service number, the types of products you sell, or the prices for your services, a chatbot can help. It’s far more efficient than manning the phones.

• Many chatbots use “clarifying questions” to better understand what a customer needs. For instance, the customer will type a question, then the chatbot will provide a list of “guesses” related to the words used in the question. The customer can then select the topic most related to the query.

• Most importantly, the process is interactive. The customer feels as though he or she remains in control. Unlike a telephone call, the customer can also terminate the “conversation” at any time without the usual pleasantries.

• While using a chatbot to field customer inquiries might sound cold, it’s highly efficient - for both the customer and the business. Customers don’t have to wait on hold or search for a phone number. They can just click on the box and start typing.

• As we say above, there are two versions of chatbots available. The first is the more basic form. It follows a set of rules. For example, if a customer types one phrase, the chatbot responds with a specific reply.

• The second type of chatbot is a little smarter. It uses machine learning to get to know the people with whom it communicates. These types of chatbots are more expensive to build and implement, but they’re also more successful when it comes to interactions with customers.

• For the simpler chatbot, your customers have to interact in very specific ways. Consequently, it’s helpful to ask the customer a question, then provide a list of possibilities.

Reasons why your business needs a Chatbot

To scale up your operations

Chatbots do not suffer from the limitations. Where live agents can handle only 2 to 3 conversations at a time, chatbots can operate without an upper limit. By employing chatbot solutions your business can get the boost it needs to enter new markets.

You get a lot of queries from your customers

If your business receives a lot of inquiries, chatbots can take the load off your customer support team. By acting as the first point of contact, chatbots can screen calls from customers and redirect them to human agents only when required.

You have a range of nearly identical products or services

If you are selling goods and services which are near substitutes for each other, your customers may need help in selecting the right product. Customers also seek advice when buying something expensive, such as smartphones, laptop computer, etc. Chatbots can assist customers in getting the right product or service.

You are always actively marketing content through online channels

The more you interact with your customers, the more business you get from them. If you are using online channels to communicate with your customers, then chatbots can be useful in simplifying certain tasks for you because a chatbot works 24/7 for 365 days a year.

An interactive marketing platform

Unlike apps and websites, chatbots do not present a passive user experience. You can use chatbots for a highly interactive marketing campaign. And the availability of chatbots on platforms like Facebook Messenger means you can reach out to more people at once.

Drive up organizational efficiency

If you are burning too many resources in backend support, chatbots can be your way out. Instead of employing more people for mundane and repetitive tasks, install a chatbot business solution and automate everything.

The uses of Chatbots

• Chatbots can be used for many purposes. For example, there are bots that let you check the weather, find out about the latest news, or choose an outfit for an upcoming date.

• E-commerce chatbots are designed to help consumers find the idea product, while customer service chatbots help field inquiries about the user experience and other problems or concerns.

• In Knowledge Commerce, you’ll probably want to use a chatbot that can both help customers find products for sale and provide explanatory information. For instance, your bot might help people understand what you do, what types of products you create, and why you’re qualified to teach.

• Many chatbots are built on an existing platform, such as Facebook or Slack, while others are entirely separate.

• You can program your chatbot to take care of upselling and down selling to your customers for you. Upselling is the process of convincing your customers to either buy more products or to buy the most expensive product in your lineup. And down selling is offering your customers a less-pricey alternative to something they’re considering. The bot can ask your prospects and existing customers questions, then point those people to offers based on their responses.

• Another great way to use chatbots is to help steer prospects toward other marketing assets, such as landing pages or explainer videos. Your goal is to keep your visitors on your site. Some of your programmed responses to customer queries could help them find products suited to their needs. Alternatively, you could point them to resources that provide both values as well as a marketing-related CTA.

Companies that using Chatbots

The chatbot can talk to you through different channels such as -

• Facebook Messenger, Siri, WeChat, Telegram, SMS, Slack, Skype and many others.

• Uber to book a taxi

• KLM to deliver flight information

• CNN to keep you up-to-date with news content

• TechCrunch to keep you up-to-date with techie content

• Pizza Hut to help you order a pizza

• Sephora to provide beauty tips and a shopping experience

• Bank of America to connect customers and their finances

• Amazon Alexa using voice-chatbots

Future of Chatbots

Chatbots are currently seen on websites, social platforms, and smartphones and are utilized as easy and fun ways to assist customers in their interactions with a brand. Even if the bot revolution is in its early phase, expect that a lot more advancements will come in this field. With the evolution of AI technology and deep learning, the chatbots are expected to become more empowered to offer better language processing capabilities and extensive personalization in the coming days. Let expect in the future, chatbots will get embedded in almost all the interconnected devices that you use in our day to day lives. This will fundamentally transform human interactions with digital business platforms and will open up new realms of personalized customer experience. Foreseeing this immense potential of the chatbots, organizations have started investing heavily in this space. The next generation of intelligent chatbots with more power to store, synthesize and recall data can possibly make smart purchasing decisions for you, or warn you of a bad weather condition or hectic traffic on your driveway to the office.

 

It's important to understand that it needs to serve not only your purposes but also those of your customers. Keep prospects engaged. The longer they interact with any element on your website whether it’s a chatbot or a riveting blog post the more likely you are to make a sale. Using this type of technology gives you another tool in your toolbox. You can share your comments regarding this article. Thank you!