If you don’t know what a chatbot is, it is an AI program developed to respond to a customer’s message in real time. These programs are designed to help with a variety of customer service aspects including inquiries, the completion of transactions, and even schedule appointments. It’s all about serving the customer with quick convenience.
Major brands have already spent the time, money, and resources creating their own chatbot for Facebook Messenger. From Arby’s to Louis Vuitton, marketing professionals are quickly realizing that this is an integral part of the future of online marketing.
How can a chatbot help your business? It’s all about knowing your brand and how your customer expects to interact with it.
For example, Starbucks’ chatbot allows customers to create a drink order to their exact specifications. Then, they place the order and they can then bypass the line in the morning and just pick it up. The bot also keeps track of your favorite orders for repeated use. The company tailored their chatbot specifically me their customer base’s needs.
Harper Collins, however, is a tad different. They’ve created multiple chatbots that offer book suggestions based on a potential customer’s favorite genre, book, or author. If you like their suggestions, they’ll give you the chance to buy the book right there in the conversation.
As you can see with Starbucks and Harper Collins, chatbots can be almost anything: they are specifically built to tailor to your brand and product. You have to center it around the customer experience and that’s when the profits will come.
It’s this kind of innovation that is attracting customers all over the world to chatbots. In fact, studies have shown that over 30 million American online consumers have used chatbots. One of the most notable examples is Facebook Messenger, the top performing and most popular app that utilizes bots. If that’s not enough to show that the robots are taking over, 60% of consumers have already begun to incorporate them into their everyday buying habits. As you can see, chatbots should not be ignored.
These handy bots are not just gimmicks or another way to show up on another platform. They allow your customer service department to be available in an instant 24/7/365. Less than 40% of online consumers want to email brands, and, wait 24 to 48 hours, and then the issue never finding resolution in the first place. Additionally, the desire to speak to phone reps have dwindled drastically as texting and bots have risen.
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