A recent study found that brands were able to increase their sales by 67% with the help of a chatbot.
Marketers want to dig deep into understanding their customers to have a competitive advantage. Speed and convenience play a major role in creating an exceptional customer experience. And one of the biggest benefits of chatbots is to collect customer data that can be used to create a unique customer experience.
What are chatbots?
A chatbot can be defined as an automated virtual assistant that is designed to converse and assist users whenever necessary. This automated assistant is available 24/7 and is always connected with users. Chatbots can be installed on live chats, social channels, forums, text messages, and more.
Chatbots are being rapidly adopted across all industries. In fact, sales (41%) is now the most common use case, followed by support (37%) and marketing (17%).
In addition to this, chatbots are being used for a range of automated tasks such as booking appointments, engaging visitors, rerouting customers to the correct help desk, sharing information about products and services, and more.
B2C brands are twice as likely to use the benefits of chatbots than B2B brands. The most satisfied industries to use chatbots were tech (73%), retail (67%), manufacturing (57%), and healthcare (56%).
Types of chatbots
Assessing your business needs is crucial to deciding the type of chatbot you need for your brand. There are essentially three types of chatbots:
Rule-Based chatbots
These chatbots have limited capabilities and are usually rule-based. This type of bot has predetermined questions that are expected and customers can choose from options until they get a resolution. For instance, a customer wants to order a pizza. The flow of conversation is already set wherein the chatbot will ask a set of questions to determine the customer's requirement such as crust preference, topping preferences, add-ons, etc. Once the steps are completed the customer can proceed forward to place the order and process the payment.
AI-enabled Chatbots
These are intelligent chatbots that are designed to replicate human interactions. These conversations are not rule-based and these bots understand intent, language, and sentiment. They sometimes even understand typing errors too. However, these bots require a lot of data to learn and implement. For instance, Alexa is an AI-enabled bot that understands and delivers. It also engages in small talk, learns about the user, and makes recommendations based on the data collected in real-time.
Hybrid Chatbots
These bots are a combination of rule-based and AI-enabled chatbots. These bots can perform rule-based tasks and understand user intent if required.
Benefits of chatbots
Every time a customer engages with your brand, it poses an opportunity to create an exceptional experience. Here are 9 benefits of using chatbots for your brand:
#1. Save time and money
Reports found that chatbots will save a combined total of $11 billion for the banking, retail, and healthcare sectors by 2023. One of the foremost benefits of chatbots is that common questions like “what’s your shipping policy” doesn’t require an agent. It can simply be answered by a rule-based chatbot. It can also save you and your customer time.
#2. Available anywhere 24/7
The best part about using chatbots is that your brand can be available anywhere and anytime for your customers. Most chatbots can also be connected to your Facebook messenger, Telegram, WhatsApp, and other social media platforms. Customers can interact with your business at any time during the day and on any platform they choose. In fact, a study found that 71% of consumers want the ability to solve their service/product issues on their own.
#3. Seamless customer journey
If a customer wants to process a transaction on the go, chatbots are the solution. If a customer wants to view relevant products for their search, chatbots are the solution. Chatbots allow customers to shop seamlessly throughout the buying journey. Bots can streamline the buying process by offering relevant information to customers’ queries, providing discount codes, sending recommendations, and more.
In addition to this, chatbots play a major role in reducing cart abandonment rates, since it offers information and resolution on the go.
#4. Personalized conversations
Chatbots are able to collect and pull data whenever required to provide accurate and relevant information to the customer. It also allows you to share personalized promotional offers, updates, and notifications to nurture and build customer loyalty. In addition, AI-powered chatbots can understand customers’ intent, purchase history, and previously viewed items and personalize interactions to improve engagement quality.
#5. Nudge customers to action
Chatbots are capable of nudging customers in the right direction. Whether it's booking appointments or processing payments, chatbots can trigger actions that are quick and seamless.
#6. Omnichannel customer engagement
Chatbots are just not for your website. In order to ensure an omnichannel experience, it is essential to keep all your channels connected. Customers value consistency and convenience. Hence, giving customers the option to communicate and interact via any platform they choose is a great way to nurture and build customer loyalty.
#7. Increase sales
A study found that brands were able to increase their sales by 67%with the help of chatbots. A chatbot can significantly increase the chances of closing a sale. For instance, a chatbot can automatically engage with a customer that’s browsing your site and guide them to your store. In addition to this, it can also help the customer with the correct products and demos that can ultimately result in a purchase.
#8. Foundation for Conversational commerce
One of the greatest benefits of chatbots is the ability to power Conversational commerce. The AI-powered bot will engage in conversation, respond to the customer’s query, and guide the customer through the funnel. The rise of conversational commerce has changed the way customers shop online. A chatbot eases the shopping process and creates exceptional experiences that convert.
#9. Understand customer behavior
Chatbots can track purchasing patterns and analyze consumer behavior. This data allows brands to create a unique PII for each customer to personalize their experience. Using this data, you can send relevant content, send push notifications, and more.
Conclusion
AI chatbots are perfect assistants for your commerce and customer support operations. It can enhance the brand experience, reduce costs and boost profitability. Are you ready to use chatbots to their fullest potential? Book a demo with Vizury today!
Content credit Vizury To learn more, please visit https://vizury.com/.
