What Are Chatbots and How Do Modern Businesses Use Them?

Can you imagine that, just a few years ago, online marketing came down to nothing more than infographics and apps? Well, we have a new player in town – the chatbot. The popularity of chatbots is rapidly increasing but it’s not just the hype, it’s something truly revolutionary.

Even though these virtual agents have been with us for decades now, it’s only recently that so many modern businesses realized how to exploit all the opportunities and possibilities these smart little bots provide. Today, you can find them on every corner, on company websites, or in messaging apps on smart mobile devices.

The truth is, nothing can replace a well-optimized chatbot as it’s the best option for a company that’s looking for the most effective ways to boost their conversion rates. Recognized as a completely new link between online users and countless services, chatbots became a new user interface.

What Are Chatbots?

By definition, a chatbot is a: “a computer program designed to simulate a conversation with human users, especially over the Internet.” It’s safe to say that these are new and innovative tools that will help companies gain a competitive edge and stand out from the crowd.

Since general user expectations rapidly change and the modern consumer wants everything on a silver platter, modern companies are always looking for new ways to improve the user experience and satisfy the needs of their consumers. That’s where these smart computer programs can significantly help them change the competitive tide to their advantage.

The Benefits Using Chatbots for Modern Businesses

There are many benefits of using chatbots in the modern business industry but we will mention the five most obvious ones:

• Limitless potential – chatbots have limitless potential thanks to the latest development of AI, Machine Learning and NLP.
• Anyone can build them – depending on your business niche and goals, it’s quite possible to design a smart program without any coding knowledge or programming experience. Platforms such as SnatchBot.me allow you to even build the best chatbot for free and according to your business needs. You can choose different templates and directories for your online store, hospitality, healthcare, and so much more.
• Build your brand and image – thanks to artificial intelligence, a smart bot can become the best representative of your company and the first line of customer service. They are perfect for maintaining communication with the customer.
• Chatbots help offer services – the more optimized they are, the better the results. The trick is to deliver only the essentials through preferred channels of communication to make sure not to overwhelm a potential customer.
• Automation – these smart programs easily automate some of the processes that are mainly basic analytic tasks.

AI, Machine Learning and NLP equals chatbots

Intelligent chatbots are the latest thing as natural language processing, machine learning and artificial intelligence help to build the best chatbot that will provide more flexible responses to customer requests, questions, complaints, and demands.

These bots learn from each interaction and then use these experiences to provide more accurate answers with each conversation. AI, machine learning, and NLP help to create a great user experience as these elements give chatbots a persona that resonates well with the targeted audiences.

AI is supposed to make chatbots think more like humans. Machine learning allows them to learn from experiences while natural language processing allows them to better understand language. When you put all these elements together, you get a bot that is able to not only provide services but “understand” the customer to a certain degree.

Chatbots provide advanced support

Since these smart programs are also known as conversational agents, using them to provide the ultimate user experience and customer support is more than recommended. In fact, it’s safe to say that, among some other things we already mentioned, it’s their main purpose.

They were created to provide the most advanced customer support to thousands of consumers when they need it the most. If a company is able to provide the necessary personalized user experience, this can significantly help to improve customer satisfaction.

Well, chatbots didn’t only improve customer service, they revolutionized it. Well-optimized conversational agents can accurately solve 85% of the customer problems.

Automated outreach and lead generation

When combined with marketing automation tools, chatbots allow modern businesses to deliver support, perform outreach, personalize brand messaging, and generate more leads. This is present especially today when these conversational agents are more human-like and therefore reliable and fluid.

They are perfect for automating tasks such as data collection and interpretation as well as lead generation, as they can significantly help target and reach the desired audiences more accurately.

In 2017, millions of internet users used conversational agents according to Forbes. It’s hard to keep track of consumers in the world of today and this is where chatbots can help. They serve as data collection software that identifies the wanted demographic of the right audience in order to engage their interest.

24/7 service

Customer service teams in companies have their working hours but what happens when their customers need that service after that time? Well, that’s where chatbots kick in. They significantly reduce waiting times which means that they are there for the customers 24/7/365.

They don’t need a break or a vacation, they don’t sleep or eat. Bots are perfect for customer support for the most obvious reason: they are always available.

So, if someone needs a piece of information, they can get what they want thanks to the advantages of modern technology. This results in an army of satisfied customers who’ll buy more because they are happy with the service.

Saving money on manpower

This is also one of the most obvious reasons why modern businesses choose to invest more in modern technology than in manpower. It doesn’t only save money but time as well. There’s an estimation that chatbots will help the business industry save billions in the years to come. Chatbots have an extraordinary ability to improve productivity and efficacy with employees by taking away repetition from their daily tasks.

So, when customers need solutions and answers, bots kick in and do their part. The direct result is reduced waiting times, manpower and operational costs. On top of all that, chatbots can handle thousands of conversations at once while a human assistant can handle only several at best.

There’s one more important thing: by taking away these repetitive tasks, companies can use the remaining manpower for more important tasks which brings them closer to achieving their goals.

Gathering feedback

Every company needs feedback from their users to check where they stand and if their efforts are worth it. It’s also a very good way to improve their engagement and retention. You can also assess the bot’s weaknesses and strengths while empowering customers by providing a more personalized user experience where their voice matters.

Most companies have already introduced response ratings as a form of feedback. It’s the simplest way to find out if your users are satisfied with your services. This also helps in establishing a better relationship between a brand and their customer base.

Businesses are actually showing that they care by offering their customers a chance to express their feelings. This is where chatbots can help as they can simply ask for feedback in order to improve their services.

So, to sum things up, we can safely say that chatbots are some of the best ways for every modern business to achieve their goals. On top of all that, these smart conversational agents are also the best way to give customers the service they need and increase their satisfaction.

These bots are easy to use and maintain and they are a very cost-effective solution to answer the ever-growing requests of demanding targeted audiences that the entire business industry depends on.

The post What Are Chatbots and How Do Modern Businesses Use Them? appeared first on Tech.

from Tech http://bit.ly/2t5vD0h