Companies that undergo digital transformation are proving to meet customer expectations faster and more efficiently. Though chatbots have been in the market for some time, thanks to artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, chatbots now are providing unmatched service to become one of the most valuable assets to optimal customer support.
What is a Chatbot?
An AI Chatbot is an Artificial Intelligence backed software that can simulate a conversation with a user using Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) along with rule-based preset responses. Often perceived as one of the most advanced examples of interaction between humans and machines, they serve customers in almost every industry such as retail, BFSI, healthcare, etc.
Chatbots in Customer Service can prove to be invaluable. Some of the common use cases a chatbot can come to help in Customer Service:
- Putting in and tracking an Order on an eCommerce website.
- Lodging a quick complaint against the missing replacement part.
- Making a reservation at your favorite restaurant.
- Paying phone bills in real-time.
- Finding a human customer service agent without being on the phone calls for hours.
- Getting quick answers about the latest transactions from your bank account.
- Making access to FAQs and Knowledge base more pointed for software installation.
10 Powerful benefits of using Chatbots
- Round the clock service
- Faster Resolutions
- Scalability and Cost Savings
- Accessibility
- Live Chat + Chatbot
- Lead Generation
- Personalized Support
- Consistency
- Data Analytics
- Automates Repetitive Work
1. Round The Clock Service
Providing a 24/7 uninterrupted service to your customers can do wonders for your organization. Because chatbots allow customers to get help at any time, businesses can increase customer satisfaction and reduce churn.
While a continuous service by human agents is accomplishable, it often comes with massive staffing needs and training. To accomplish a similar series of tasks, a bot can come really handy by supporting hundreds of chats at one time.
2. Faster Resolution
Because chatbots proactively interact with the visitors, delivering them with instant responses and complete resolution is easier. Because a visitor no longer has to wait in a queue to just be acknowledged, this is a sure-shot way of keeping your customers happy.
Because the service is backed by advanced technology, a chatbot can fetch the right answer through stacks of data in a matter of seconds.
3. Scalability and Cost Savings
During high volume periods like Christmas, the 4th of July, an organization might end up with thousands of support requests resulting in long wait times. While with data analytics, foreseeing the support need has become easier, the operational cost of hiring and training new agents can be substantial.
According to a study by Juniper Research, Chatbot conversations are looking to deliver $8 billion per year in Cost savings by 2022. Supplementing an only human support team with a virtual assistant or a chatbot can help you manage a large volume of issues like a breeze.
4. Accessibility
The accessibility that comes with a chatbot is paramount. It can be available on every page of your website, integrated with social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or messaging platforms like WhatsApp, which makes it easier for your customers to seek help. Customers want the best user experience and they want it now, chatbots can eliminate that risk of losing impatient visitors with seamless customer communications.
A powerful chatbot also allows you to customize your bots with the right language, fonts, and color contrast, persona. If you’re in the process of implementing a new bot, check out our blog to draw inspiration.
5. Live Chat + Chatbots
Reinforcing your human service workforce with the support of a chatbot can prove to be a very helpful tactic for providing a great customer experience. A chatbot is not meant to replace human agents but to free them of simple customer queries and common questions as they focus on solving more complex Tier II and III complex queries.
Even as natural language processing (NLP) powers your bot, the human interaction element of complete customer interaction can make your visitors feel important and acknowledged. The bots can always engage with the visitors and take their necessary information while an agent comes to rescue.
6. Lead Generation
Chatbots can help businesses know and cater to their customers better. It enables you to identify the product interests, likes, and dislikes of consumers which can improve lead engagement and provide product recommendations. Chatbots are also more likely to engage customers because they are not ‘pushy’ and are prioritized to take care of the customer’s preferences, leading to an increased conversion rate and new customers. AI chatbot also collects relevant information, proposes times, and sends booking confirmations to meeting participants.
7. Personalized Support
When implementing chatbots, a personalized and tailored experience can help businesses build better customer relationships and improve customer engagement. Greeting your visitor by their first name, conveying emotions, or helping visitors make quicker decisions with things such as “products they may like” as per their demographic, location, last purchase preference, can help engage the customers throughout their journey.
8. Consistency
If your tool is powered to provide consistent responses in an appropriate language, with quick response time and availability, it can really empower your brand image. Using your bots, you can offer your visitors the right information like the latest offerings, pricing changes. Consumers are also more likely to believe the information provided by a bot than a human agent when a customer could be tempted to try calling again to see if the next rep is better.
9. Data Analytics
A chatbot is a goldmine of data that can be used to gain deeper transparency into employee and customer behavior. With the KPIs and metrics that are drawn from this data, companies can make more informed and relevant decisions and understand what disappoints their customers and what makes them come back.
Integrating advanced analytics tools to a Chatbot is a prevalent practice these days. Using a powerful analytics tool with your data collected from customer interaction can bring a lot of visibility into your process, improve dialogue, increase engagement rates. The data can be mined to improve targeted recommendations and helping in the personalization of customer experience.
10. Automate Repetitive Work
Chatbots are not meant to replace your human agents, but to supplement their work. If you’re using a tool like HappyFox Business Intelligence, you can easily track what your agent’s repetitive tasks. Driving automation using chatbots to replace monotonous work that can answer easy questions such as order status or link to installation manuals makes customer care easier to achieve for teams.
Conclusion
Chatbots represent a great opportunity for businesses to reach customers. A hybrid approach with a team of human agents and chatbots are really helping businesses bring their ‘A’ Game to the hyper-competitive markets. If you’re looking for a bot that can help you do that, check out HappyFox’s highly customizable AI-powered chatbot.
