Today’s chatbots should not be equated with chatbots of the past: technology is more advanced, and customer experience is similarly intensified. Historically, the opportunity cost of an awful experience occurred due to chatbots often outran the cost reduction component due to ticket deflection. But thanks to upgraded AI and machine learning capabilities, chatbots today play a vital role in streamlining and optimizing customer service operations.
No more will chatbots be the next significant thing – as they are already here. Chatbots have frequently become popular in recent years, with 2017 becoming known as the “Year of Chatbots.” As chatbots have grown and improved, businesses such as American Express and H&M have begun to use them to provide proactive support and supercharge their customer service experience.
Chatbots connected to Facebook’s Messenger grew from 30,000 in 2016 to more than 100,000 in 2017. By 2020, 80% of businesses wanted their own bots, and 60 percent of the young population already uses them daily.
Chatbots are slowly changing the way businesses connect with customers. The boom in on-demand messaging is also the reason why the way consumers interact with brands has changed.
35% of consumers want more companies to use chatbots. That is why more businesses today are looking to integrate chatbots into their processes to provide better customer service.
There are many advantages to using chatbots, and how a business uses them will always be a critical factor in enhancing the customer experience.
More businesses are taking advantage of them to improve their communication strategy and provide a better customer experience. Your business can thus automate customer communication and thrive in a competitive space.
To help you develop a robust business case for implementing chatbots that will resonate with decision-makers, we’ve compiled some of the top benefits that will help you show that chatbots are a no-brainer for your brand.
Importance of Chatbots
- 73% of customers say that admiring their time is the most important thing an organization can do with good online customer service.
- 48% of consumers have interacted with the chatbot in the last one year for customer service inquiries.
- 37% of customers say that they would prefer to get instant help from a chatbot rather than having to wait just three minutes for a human.
- 55% of visitors say they would welcome the idea of a chatbot in the customer service process.
- 65% of Millennials want chatbots to be involved in the customer service process.
Benefits of Chatbots
1. They offer 24-Hour Availability
According to studies, more than 50% of customers expect a business to be available 24/7. Waiting minutes for the next available operator hasn’t solved a problem yet, but chatbots are the closest candidate to eliminate this problem.
Maintaining a 24/7 response system leads to continuous communication between the vendor and the customer. Of course, this profit is proportional to how good the bots are.
Bots that cannot serve simple customer queries fail to add value even when they are available 24/7. The foremost concern at this point is how well chatbots can understand and solve customer problems. Finally, highlighting 24/7 availability can create a backlash if a bot is down due to security issues or maintenance.
2. They Facilitate Seamless Live Communication
No one likes to wait around for a solution. When a customer has a problem with your products or services, they will quickly lose patience if your brand doesn’t fix the problem promptly.
Several reports state that humans’ attention span is similar to that of a goldfish, and although this may not be entirely conclusive, the fact is that the way people interact with brands is changing.
If you’ve a chatbot integrated into your customer support system, people can easily engage with it without any learning curve or prior training. Through NLP, chatbots can analyze questions and respond with the most appropriate answers.
As many companies now use it in smartphone apps and on their websites, customers don’t have to waste time contacting them. Live Chat works seamlessly across devices and across popular messaging apps like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
3. They Help in Redirecting to an Agent
Chatbots can be used at the beginning of a conversation to get information from the customer. By asking for details like the nature of the inquiry (technical issue, invoice inquiry…) or customer number, the chatbot can help temper the request and redirect to the right communication channel. When equated to a Digital Customer Interactions Platform, it will then be able to pass the conversation to an agent.
4. They Give your Company a Face
Chatbots can help you present your company in front of your customers by giving your company a face. A chatbot is your business’s first touchpoint for many users, which can be much more personal than a conversation by mail or phone.
The personality of a chatbot has a massive impact on the user experience and is a deciding factor in how the user perceives the conversation. To develop a chatbot personality that suits your digital marketing company, several factors, such as your brand identity, the functions the bot performs, or the preferences of your target group, play a crucial role.
5. Quicker Issue Resolution
Providing immediate feedback is valuable, but having a quick resolution is arguably even more critical to the customer. Customers don’t just want to be heard; they want action quickly. Chatbots collect information about the customer and release it ahead of time; agents will be equipped with all the data they need to solve the problem most efficiently.
An added benefit is that if the agent has follow-up questions, the customer can also answer in real-time (instead of waiting if they are making inquiries via another channel such as email).
6. They Help Cut Down on Operational Costs
Each year, approximately 265 billion customer support requests are made, costing businesses $1.3 trillion to service. With the help of AI chatbots, these costs can be reduced significantly. According to Chatbots Magazine, implementing a virtual agent or chatbot can help businesses save up to 30 percent.
And it makes sense: as we mentioned, for example, hiring agents with a 24/7/365 presence, and adding the resources needed to support customers around the clock, is a lot for many companies. It may prove cost-effective. But chatbots help avoid these costs.
Companies like Autodesk receive general inquiry calls that can be handled quickly by chatbots. Virtual agents or chatbots are also the first contact points for more complex queries that can be quickly passed to human agents, improving customer service and reducing costs. According to industry research, chatbots are predicted to handle 90 percent of all customer inquiries within five years. It means that by 2022, it is expected that they will cut business costs by $8 billion. If you need further assistance with how you can grow your business through chatbots, you can contact us. Our Digital Marketing experts are here to help you with that. Call now