What do you mean by the term Chatbot?
The simple definition of a Chatbot is a computer program designed to communicate with human users via the internet. Chatbots use either pre-programmed responses or artificial intelligence (AI), those using AI, are able to handle more complex conversations..Complex Chatbots such as Amazon’s Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant are known as virtual assistants.
What are the advantages of using a chatbot?
- Chatbots are available 24×7 to serve customers – every lead coming through the website at any time of day is attended to instantly, preventing unnecessarily lost revenue.
- Chatbots can handle multiple users at the same time – a chatbot can address thousands of queries at once, whereas humans are limited to one query at a time.
- Chatbots reduce operational costs -. According to IBM research, businesses spend $1.3 trillion on 265 billion customer service calls each year. IBM estimates that chatbots, can successfully answer up to 80% of routine questions leading to significant cost savings.
- Chatbots help improve customer satisfaction and engagement rates – chatbots ensure that the human support team is not overloaded by filtering common requests before human intervention is required.
- Improved Sales – The main draw with chatbots is an appeal to the impatient consumer: providing them with the information they need on demand. According to Hubspot research, 57% of consumers are interested in chatbots for their instant response.
What are the disadvantages of using a Chatbot?
- Chatbots have limited responses
- Chatbots can misunderstand user sentiment if they are not programmed properly.
- Chatbots can face vernacular issues, particularly if the same Chabot is used internationally, by different cultures.
Do customers like using Chatbots?
People enjoy speaking to other people, they are not so naive as to confuse a Chabot with a real person. There are however many occasions when people prefer to use a Chabot. Obviously the availability of Chatbots, means that users can engage with a chatbot when people are unavailable. Using a Chabot to ask a question, or buy a product is much faster than engaging with an actual person. If you are in a hurry there is no need for social pleasantries, the Chabot is waiting for a user input and can calculate and respond to your query in under one second. Research has found that that of 68% of respondents who used Chatbots for productivity, 42% cited ease of use, speed, and convenience as their reasons for using Chatbots. 41% used Chatbots to obtain help and information faster, often instead of performing a search. 5% said they preferred to interact with a Chabot than a person because of reduced waiting time, and another 5% preferred Chatbots to humans because they felt they were less intimidating.
Chatbots and local business
Once the domain of large enterprises Chabots are now available to all businesses. The main benefits to local businesses are:
- Improving your customers experience – A Chabot can instantly reply to website visitors who engage with them so they don’t have to wait for your business to open or search through your site to get answers to common questions.
- Automating standardized service – A chatbot can use existing documentation to answer common enquiries for you, such as opening times etc, and it can be programmed to connect customers with a person when necessary so you and your staff can focus on the most urgent or intricate requests.
- Providing enhanced marketing data – One of the best features of a Chatbot for local businesses is that they are able to collect valuable data about your customers. For example, if you allow customers to place orders via a Chabot, you’ll easily be able to track how much money your customers spend with the Chabot, what your best-selling items are and more. You can use all of this new data to improve your Chabot, customer service and marketing efforts.
Contact managed-web-services.co.uk for more information about adding a Chabot to your website.