BOT FRND
What is a chatbot ?
A chatbot is software that simulates
human-like conversation with users via text messages on chart.
Its key task is to help users by providing answers to their questions. Chatbots can chat with multiple users at the same time and provide information within seconds. Because of that, they are now used on a wide scale to help both businesses and consumers communicate with each other on websites and mobile messaging apps.
How do chatbots work?
Chatbots are powered by pre-programmed responses, artificial intelligence, or both. Based on the applied mechanism, a chatbot processes a user’s question to deliver a matching answer. There are two main types of chatbots, and those types also tell us how they communicate. They are rule-based chatbots and AI chatbots.
Why do businesses need chatbots?
Technological progress has radically changed the way people communicate. Face-to-face interactions have been largely replaced by online messaging. This has forced businesses to adapt to a new type of communication. To achieve success, brands need to provide a seamless buyer's journey. They need to respond to customer questions around the clock and across multiple channels.
But living up to rising expectations of “always-connected” customers is not the easiest and cheapest task. The more your business grows, the more it costs to deliver 24/7 quality customer service. This is where chatbots come in handy. They allow brands to scale up their support services at a low cost. More and more often, companies are deciding to introduce chatbots into their marketing strategies because they allow for delivering personalized and consistent brand experiences. Long term, that translates into better brand perception and more sales.
Marketing
Brands use chatbots to diversify their customer-engagement strategy. With chatbots, businesses engage website visitors proactively and, eventually, sell more products.
It’s for good reason that more and more companies are hiring chatbot conversation designers, which are people who know how to write engaging chatbot scenarios. Businesses have already realized that a well-written chatbot can work as a successful lead generation tool. It can collect newsletter subscribers, sales contacts, beta testers, or even job candidates by helping companies reach out to a larger audience with their message. One of the brands that took their online service to the next level using a chatbot is Sephora. The company uses a chatbot to educate customers about their cosmetics. Their AI assistant offers makeup tutorials and skincare tips, and help customers purchase products online. The company even enables its customers to try new makeup using AR technology implemented in their chatbot. By doing this, Sephora has managed to deliver their personalized customer experience both in-store and online.
Customer support
Customers want their problems handled immediately and via the channels they prefer. Chatbots make that possible by redefining the customer service people have known for years.
They support customers 24/7 and enable them to solve simple problems, book appointments, or submit complaints. Take, for instance, Mastercard. The brand offers a chatbot on Messenger to help customers easily check their account transactions anytime they want. Online food delivery platform, such as Zomato, use a chatbot to help customers order their meals online. Customer service chatbots allow companies to scale their services at low cost, but, more than that, meet changing customer expectations.
Before purchasing a product, every customer must go through the sales funnel. Chatbots can take customers by the hand and walk them through all the stages of that process: awareness, interest, decision, and action. A Gartner report shows that businesses that utilize chatbots in their sales strategy can achieve up to 30 percent higher conversion rates.
By integrating into social media platforms, chatbots let brands connect with plenty of users and increase their brand awareness. Take, for example, National Geographic. The company has used a Messenger chatbot to carry out a daily quiz with users. By doing this, the brand attracted users' attention to their new e-book, Almanac. The brand’s bot also encouraged users to purchase the title by offering a 10% discount, which boosted its sales.
Harper Collins, the world-leading book publisher, is using the Epic Reads chatbot to help their community members find another book to read. The bot conducts a short survey with every user to find out what might interest them and recommends titles matching their preferences. By supporting prospects, the company helps book lovers make a decision and builds positive relationships with them.
Another global giant, Starbucks, uses a chatbot to help customers compose their favorite coffee drink. It enables customers to order a drink on the go and pick it up at a chosen cafe. It translates into a better brand experience because customers don’t have to stand in a long line.
Chatbots can be of great use for sales teams as well. They help businesses eliminate unqualified leads and connect sales reps with qualified ones. This helps sales specialists spend less time on acquiring leads and focus more on building relationships with prospects.
On top of that, AI assistants are a great repository of knowledge about customers. The more the chatbot chats with your prospects, the more data it gains about their needs and preferences. This helps companies better tailor their offers and messages.
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