You may have heard of this little tool called a chatbot if you’ve been designing websites and integrating things like automation tools. More importantly, is how in the next few years, almost every business is going to have some automatic messaging incorporated on their websites (and over half of them already have them) and Facebook business pages. Say hello to the chatbot, an automated messenger of sorts that has been around for decades but is being used primarily by businesses to make everything a lot easier.
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AI of the Future – Controllable by Us
People commonly confuse what a chatbot is. The truth is that chatbots are an integral automated intelligence built by programming it, and we have to program them. Fortunately, many of today’s chatbots don’t require programming languages. You practically program them to respond to questions and give them the answers they are to say. This is exceptionally useful, though, because while we have ultimate control of the bot, you can personalize one any way you choose.
Why a Business May Want to Consider Using One
Chatbots offer a plethora of support on their own, but most importantly, what you put into your bot is what’s important. Some people like talking to bots when they’re bored. Don’t believe me? Just ask the people who like to ask them to tell them jokes, as people constantly do with Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and even Google Assistant. People hate talking to robots and automated text. But they love talking to ones with personality! This brings us to our next topic.
Using a Chatbot the Right Way
You never want to use a chatbot in the sense of sales so that you’re like, “Hey! Buy this product!” and BAM, you get slammed with an advertisement to buy your product. However, subtle suggestions go a long way. There are ways that a business can succeed with chatbots. For example, did you know that almost all businesses on Facebook use bots to answer frequently asked questions? This exceptional support is something that you can do to make the business show that you care about your customers.
At the same time, you can push the envelope with your bot because people like testing them out as well. For example, if you want to be a marketer, you can appropriately integrate Facebook and Google ads into your chatbot and make your customers enjoy talking to them.
Speaking of using a chatbot the right way, here’s a good tip. Do you type with an instant answer to people’s questions or comments? Or does it take you a second or two (or thirty)? In this regard, you can help your business succeed by adding timing delays (which makes it appear like your chatbot is “typing”). This brings a little humanity to your bot so your customers can feel like they’re talking to a person. Using things like animated GIFs and more can help. Want to know something even cooler? Keep reading!
They Help Conversion Rates and Marketing Strategies
This sounds silly, right? Well, fortunately for you, a lot of chatbots have ways to collect data from the people who talk to them. For example, a chatbot company called ManyChat has incorporated a way to generate leads based on the information you collect from your Facebook users that talk to your bot. Not only that but since the majority of the world is online these days, let alone on Facebook, you can even incorporate e-mail marketing into the mix and program your bot to collect e-mail addresses so you can contact people.
Another way that chatbots fix conversion rates, especially if you have an online product or store, is that people often go to a store and abandon their cart, leaving it for months without ever visiting your site again or just continuously adding things. By integrating social media and bots with your website or web store, you can use tools to help fight cart abandonment, as many people do with their Shopify stores.
Do I Have to Have a Chatbot?
The true answer to this question is no. Not every business is going to need one. Some people would rather have a team of individuals ready to answer anyone’s questions and have helpdesks to support their customers. At the same time, despite the bandwagon of chatbots out there, if you search about them telling you that you have to have one, you need to realize that with any fine-tuned machine, you need to have your chatbot fully developed before you decide to launch it.
If your chatbot’s not made right, then you may be in for a heap of trouble because as soon as you launch it, all heck will break loose. The fact of the matter? Even though many businesses can succeed with a chatbot, people still would rather talk to other people.