New high-tech features have been a great service to the business industry in this day and age, and many will be developed in the coming years. Nowadays, business owners and developers do anything to keep up to date as e-commerce is prospering. Raging innovations, such as wearable apps, cloud storage, online purchase, and cashless banks, are used to optimize and increase the value of businesses.
They also engage in the advancement of chatbots to promote the experience of their potential customers that visit their sites.
What are chatbots?
Chatbots are basically marketing means that automate business websites either in text or voice conversations. These intelligent virtual assistants have encouraged businesses to improve their customer service around the clock. Sophisticated algorithms mixed with user data ensure the personalized outputs. The target is to imitate actual human interaction, trying to be more efficient.
About five years ago, chatbots emerged since Facebook offered developers to build them using Messenger. You can only imagine how chatbots have been developed, and many more firms have joined in the trend.
How are chatbots helpful to businesses?
A chatbot acts like a receptionist on a business website, welcoming you upon entrance and asking how it can be of help. Although chatbots work best when used specifically, they are most useful for commonly asked questions and regular tasks that are always implemented upon the business’ services.
Along with customer experience enhancement, chatbots provide consumers with information about products that the business sells or serves. They are also a potent tool to communicate with customers. They can help brands collect feedback through conversations and allow their business the convenience of upgrading products or optimizing the website.
Since consumers often use mobile phones to reach sites nowadays, a business teams up with a mobile application development agency way beforehand. It can improve not only website features but also mobile-friendliness. Mobile commerce or m-commerce is another trend that’s booming in the business world right now.
A chatbot is also a remarkable way to observe purchasing patterns and analyze consumer behavior by monitoring user data. With the data found, companies find it easy to market their products or services in different ways and expand their exposure and traffic.
Aside from that, the companies pay less for employees’ training, salaries, and insurance because of chatbots.
Do all businesses need chatbots?
It is not guaranteed that all need chatbots. Just because chatbots are trending doesn’t mean that you must have one, too. Of course, certain companies use them for optimization and marketing purposes.
Also, there are more specific things to examine before investing in a chatbot. Your decision depends on how much more you need to improve and maintain.
Chatbots in retail are made to help users find products they may appreciate. Queries about color, size, and product categories are common. According to a study, over 20% of online retail consumers prefer to get recommendations from chatbots to help them decide what to purchase.
Insurance is another industry that can benefit from chatbots. Since it is known for confusing jargon and tedious processes, the conversational method makes it easier for both parties to solve a certain query.
Other industries that need chatbots on their sites are healthcare, hospitality, and banking.
How are chatbots helpful to customers?
Interestingly, in another study in 2017, researchers found that 41% of users find it easier and faster to obtain information from chatbots than from internet searches. Also, 5% of users prefer to interact with a chatbot than with a person because of the much shorter waiting time. Another 5% likes chatbots better because apparently, they are less intimidating to talk to than humans. The users worry less about being judged and embarrassed.
By 2021, chatbots will have vastly become more advantageous to consumers online, according to the statistics.
Problems With Chatbots
While chatbots are most favorable to many, their troubles are naturally inevitable. For example, when a customer needs to express their inquiries more specifically and distinctly, chatbots can’t know how to helpfully respond to them. They just reply in a way they normally do. This might not be reliable, especially if an emotional trigger drives the customer.
According to a survey conducted by The Startup, approximately 75% of the respondents said that they wouldn’t bother to use a chatbot again if they had a negative experience.
It might not be wise to have a chatbot if you don’t have a certain amount of publicity to gain audiences. Since chatbot installation is a very complicated process, it might become a liability for your business once a customer gets a bad or worthless experience from your chatbot.
Since chatbots benefit both businesses and consumers, they can improve a lot more in the following years.
