If you are not in the IT services, AI or engineering field, chatbots might sound like a foreign term. But these days, this automated technology is gaining popularity as more and more businesses are integrating chatbots into their routine processes to leverage its unique benefits. So what are these Chatbots and why are they getting so much attention? Also, how are these actually helping to develop online marketing strategies in the business world? In this blog we will thoroughly discuss the answers to these questions to give you some clear insights on the role of chatbots in the changing technological landscape.
Now, some people might get surprised by the fact that they have actually had an experience with a chatbot software even before consciously knowing about its exact function. Do you remember the time when you went to an online shopping store or beauty product website where they asked you a bunch of questions first before offering you some personalised products best suited to your needs? Or the time when an online dating site first asked your preferences for a suitable partner before providing you with a list of suitors? Well, you’ve guessed it right! All this time, you’ve actually been chatting with an AI powered software rather than an actual human being. And these automated softwares is what the technology industry calls the Chatbots.
A chatbot is basically an AI powered software application used to conduct an online chat conversation, in place of a conversation with a live human agent. In recent years, major tech companies have started to incorporate chatbots into their marketing strategy as they allow businesses to automate conversations with consumers and reach them on their widely used platforms (e.g., popular messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook messenger). On Facebook messenger alone, more than 300,000 chatbots have been deployed till mid 2018. Many industry observers claim that chatbot development will actively replace app development.
Nowadays, people want to get personalised services, 24 hour accessibility to services and instant replies to their queries. These sorts of demands can’t possibly be fulfilled by human agents which is why automated chatbots have gained traction. When it comes to lead generation, management of processes or providing real-time chat support in digital marketing businesses, chatbots are the most effective tools to include in your online marketing strategy as it is an even more direct form of one-to-one communication.
Now that you’ve got a basic idea of what chatbots are, let’s dive into the ways you can use it in your online marketing strategy. Here are some of the most effective ways to incorporate chatbots into any digital marketing strategy.
Communication with potential customers
One of the most popular and useful bot actions is to communicate with your potential customers. Whether you run a small online business or have a big brand of your own, customers from various domains would want to know about your products and services and expect to get their queries answered as quickly as possible. Chatbots can prove to be immensely helpful as they can take the workload off your hands and provide a seamless experience for both you and your customers.
Gather initial information from customers
In businesses such as matrimonial services or even while hiring new employees for any organization, there are certain details you need to gather from the customer’s end (like contact details, bio, preferences etc) before you can actually offer them your services. Chatbots are extremely useful and efficient in gathering specific customer information. Moreover, chatbots can serve you 24*7 and can take on more numbers of customers than human agents.
Personalizing user experience
These days, more than 70% of customers prefer services that are customized to suit their tastes and preferences. With the help of Whizard chatbot solutions, personalizing conversations with customers is a lot easier than you think. One of the ways is to program the chatbot to take data from users using a series of simple questions and turn that into a personalised experience.
Safe platform for customer engagement
WhatsApp is the most widely used messaging app in the world. Using this as an advantage, businesses can easily integrate this technology with their customer service process to engage their customers in a healthy, transparent and safe conversation. You can send helpful and informational messages to your clients in an instant and create a secure environment for the exchange of private information through WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption facility.
Apart from these, there are more ways in which you can utilise chatbots and make your business processes faster, precise and more efficient than ever. With the help of Whizard WhatsApp chatbots, businesses can effectively automate their routine operations to bring efficiency to the forefront and drive sales and revenue to boost business growth.