Chatbots, or chatterbots, is a digital customer support software. It’s designed to mimic the act of talking to a customer support representative.
In today’s digitized age, expecting a sales rep to be available around the clock just isn’t possible. Plenty of companies now pair chatbots with the added support of real-life employees. However, the use of artificial intelligence can help streamline your business. Additionally, it will free up your workforce for tasks robots can’t do.
Here are five ways chatbots can help your customer service team gain traction and convert questioning customers into loyal brand devotees.
1. Chatbots are available 24/7.
Own a business with normal working hours? It’s highly unlikely that you would have a team of customer service reps staying up throughout the night to field customer requests.
88% of customers expect a business to give them a response in 60 minutes or less. And depending on the time zone your business operates in, you could have an entire community of users in need of customer support during a window of time when no one is available. Add in holidays, sick days, vacation days and power outages. Then you’ve easily missed weeks of customer support requests.
That’s where chatbots come in. Regardless of working hours, chatbots stay awake to provide your customers with round-the-clock care, 24/7, 365 days a year.
2. Chatbots can adapt to communication, language, and customer behavior.
In the United States of America, one in five people speak a language other than English at home.
If your business is looking to provide accessible customer service to people in their native language, consider chatbots. Chatbots have the ability to adapt to nearly any language — some up to 28!
Additionally, chatbots get smarter the longer they’re implemented. This allows them to find and adopt your brand’s “voice”. Therefore, they will more genuinely communicate using antidotes, humor and empathy.
3. Chatbots can store and analyze consumer data.
Looking to gather data on your customer’s purchasing habits? Chatbots allow you a window into your customer’s world.
The majority of people utilize chatbots to answer questions. Therefore, you can quickly learn what your customers are searching for, how they make purchasing decisions, and what questions are going unanswered on product pages and FAQ’s.
Most chatbot programs allow you to export reports for review, making your conversations valuable points of data in growing and scaling your business.
4. Chatbots aren’t prone to mood swings.
The best (and worst) parts of customer service are the human-to-human interactions. With chatbots, you only get the good stuff.
No more cooling down from a difficult customer interaction. No more lost patience on a tricky return policy issue. Chatbots stay emotionally neutral. This allows them to more effectively diffuse tense situations and remain impartial when customers become angry, agitated or upset.
5. Chatbots allow businesses to grow and scale effectively.
As your business grows, your customer service platform will grow along with it. Chatbots allow employers to more effectively utilize their employees for higher-level customer concerns while still providing a personalized support service.
Chatbots can do more than simply responding to customer messages; they can regulate repetitive tasks like sending emails, importing contacts, delivering newsletters and answering frequently asked questions.
This utilization of artificial technology frees up your workforce for more dynamic, creative tasks that can’t be performed by bots. Even the best chatbot will still need the guidance of a real-life human from time to time. Regulating standardized tasks is the first step towards building a business that is scalable, efficient, and future-focused.
At Goalpost Group, we help our clients break the cycle of bad marketing using strategy, structure, and killer content that drives sales and wins the day. Get in touch with a member of our team to learn more about how we can help transform your marketing.
