How Chatbots Can Improve the Customer Experience
Chatbots are providing brands with an entirely new way to interact with their customers. And when implemented the right way, they can improve the customer experience as well as reduce customer service costs.
All signs point to chatbots continuing to play an increasingly important role in customer service. In fact, an Oracle survey found that 80 percent of brands are either already using chatbots or plan to use them by the end of 2020.
So chatbots have well and truly arrived.
Let’s take a closer look at their potential benefits and how they can improve your customer experience.
What are chatbots?
At a basic level, chatbots scan keywords in a customer's text-based enquiries and deliver pre-packaged answers. While this sounds fairly rudimentary and might have you thinking about your first less than amazing experiences using Siri, it’s surprising how far chatbots have come in recent years.
The progress in chatbots to the point where they can provide very detailed and human-like responses is due to the fact that artificial intelligence (AI) is the technology that underpins them. And AI has been making rapid advances of late. The current generation of chatbots use AI and machine learning technologies that together utilise advanced natural language processing algorithms that can understand the intricacy and complexity of human conversations.
The benefits
There are many direct benefits that chatbots provide that span cost and time saving, the customer experience, and competitive advantages. Some of the key benefits include:
Live chat - Having a chatbot allows for live communication between your business and the customer. Rather than having to wait on the phone or for an email response, customers can get an instant reply. And if they still need additional assistance they can reach out to the business via the chatbot.
24/7 customer service - Service doesn’t stop at 5pm, nor on weekends. Chatbots offer true 24/7 customer service, at a fraction of the cost of traditional 24/7 customer service. While people might not necessarily get a human response straight away, your business is always replying 24/7 and most information that people request can be delivered via the chatbot service. This provides an immediate competitive advantage over other companies in the industry providing traditional 9 to 5 only service.
Better customer management - Chatbots are a great way to begin a conversation with your brand. They allow people to interact for the first time with your brand via the text-based medium that the majority of people are most familiar with and comfortable using due to the ubiquitous nature of smartphone use.
Record keeping - Chatbots record answers and the flow of the conversation, which provides employees with easy access to relevant customer history information on any issues before ever making contact with a person. They can also provide your business with detailed data on your customers biggest pain points, which helps in improving products and services over time.
Ready to chat?
Chatbots are much more than a way to replace service staff with lower cost alternatives. They are a new communications medium to engage with your customers in a way that enhances their experience, increases brand recognition, and helps drives conversions. Now is the time to look into how chatbot technology can be integrated into your business to engage your customers in a whole new way.
To find out more about the latest capabilities of chatbots and how you can use them to great effect with your brand, talk to the tech experts at FinXL.