Like never before, chatbots are revolutionizing the customer interaction space. Yes, patience is a virtue, but not all of us are blessed with it. Imagine having to wait several hours, on a seemingly unending queue, before speaking to a customer care representative. The behavioral dynamics of humans have been metered, and inferences show that technological advances are the cause. As our patience wanes, businesses are in search of quick solutions to speed up processes. And they have every reason to do so. For instance, most customers expect their queries to be answered within an hour. Assuming that the business receives fifty of such questions every minute, it is humanly impossible to give quick replies to everyone, except, of course, if there was a medium that could grant instant gratification like chatbots.
Facebook’s acquisition of Ozlo, an AI startup, in 2017, redefined business trends automatically. What was seen, after the transaction, was a fast-paced Facebook where users enjoyed speedy and smoother interaction with brands on the platform. Similarly, Google followed suit by recruiting a chatbot startup in San Francisco to become part of the growing community of AI adopters. If trends are to be believed, Google and Facebook’s acquisitions will influence more businesses to adopt customer service AI chatbots in the future, bringing investment predictions to approximately $1.23 billion in the next five years.
Why You Need Chatbots
Chatbots are programmed to sift chunks of data to provide you with quick answers in nanoseconds. Hence, they are great for repetitive jobs that demand simple tasks and questions. The game-changer, consequently, is the rare ability to be in a continuous phase of work and availing businesses the advantage of efficiency and productivity. In a customer interaction platform, for example, chatbots eliminate redundancy without pleading for a raise. Meanwhile, if your business invests huge capital on customer service already, acquiring AI chatbots or customer service chatbots can reduce operational costs, improve sales funnel, and encourage seamless interaction with customers. More precisely, chatbots can improve response rates, improve customer service, automate online purchases, and provide better communication.
The big picture, indeed, is that chatbot overlords will usher in a new age of efficient customer service. Perhaps you’re wondering how a couple of AI chatbots could launch more effective business practices. Here’s how:
1. Better customer communication
Do you wish you knew your customers better? Many businesses experience the common difficulty of providing spotless customer care service. Enter, automated customer service chatbots. Think of a system that pools data about an individual customer, especially their preferences, to build a personalized experience for them. As such, you can use these detailed insights and reports to design your customer service. Customer service chatbots are critically designed to decrease talk time and provide faster solutions. Additionally, over the years, businesses have improved customer engagement with these methods. You don’t want to be left out.
2. Round-the clock customer support
If your business still uses redundant traditional messaging platforms such as phone calls, emails, or live chats, it’s probably time you embraced chatbots. Nowadays, customers demand immediate responses from businesses, and traditional tools are losing their value. No one wants to wait several hours before they are attended to, even during off-business hours when queries pile up in large numbers, and your staff is enjoying a well-deserved nap. But no one cares. Some customers are quick to discredit a ‘slow’ brand, forcing them to search for ‘more effective’ competitors. And the difference between your brand and the competitor’s is a lack of AI chatbots.
Since chatbots do not sleep, they are available 24/7 and are capable of instant replies. No matter how mundane the message, chatbots can provide helpful answers, thus, increasing the chances of converting first-time visitors into active customers.
3. Everyone likes to save money
Using chatbots in your business process is a shortcut to saving more than 30% in customer service operations. Chatbots are capable of answering routine questions and reducing response time. IBM’s prediction shows that 85% of customer interactions, by 2020, will proceed without human intervention. Adopting chatbots is a win-win situation – reducing your expenses while availing customer satisfaction.
4. The right agent gets the right message
Automatized chat systems allow human agents to step into conversations and provide solutions. But chatbots are capable of more! Because they understand conversation contexts, AI chatbots can designate the right department to relevant messages. Hoteliers, for example, can handle booking-related queries more efficiently since the chatbot transfers them to the reservation’s team. As an inherently efficient method, customers are both satisfied and willing to return for more business.
5. Getting rid of language barriers
One of the biggest problems in customer interaction is friction in communication. Employees and customers experience communication gaps from time to time, and as it is impossible to have an all-knowing staff, chatbots will suffice. Instead of risking the loss of a potential customer, implement a chatbot in your communication system. Chatbots, by virtue, run on NLP (natural language processing) standards that enable them to understand different tones and languages with ease.
During an active conversation with guests, customer service chatbot stores different words and sentences related to customer problems, which makes it easy to develop and increase the existing knowledge base. Eventually, chatbots tap into their vast knowledge stream to deliver selfless and accurate customer service. Artificial intelligence and machine learning power the self-learning feature of bots, making them capable of approximate answers to queries for which they have not received training.
Numbers Don’t Lie
A comprehensive report by SurveyMonkey shows that chatbots are winning, statistically. Also, Gartner predicts that business owners and CEOs will manage 85% of their business without human interference by 2020. It also means that customers can also manage their relationship in the absence of the human element. In the same 2020, Oracle report says that 80% of businesses plan to adopt or have integrated artificial intelligence in their operations. Hence, the numbers will skyrocket as more mainstream businesses tap into the existing potential of chatbots.
CommBox Artificial Intelligence Solutions
Unfortunately, artificial intelligence is often inaccessible to a few businesses due to many factors. What if there was a platform that could help you scale up your customer communication by leveraging AI? And indeed, there is. CommBox, mission is to integrate automated customer communication, provides automated customer service and tools so that businesses can launch new communication systems in their operations. With clients such as Kimberly-Clark, Passport Card, AIG, and DHL, CommBox is the first of its kind to implement effective customer communications at low costs. Integrating chatbots in your business just got easier with CommBox!