“We appreciate yesterday, but we’re looking for a better tomorrow.”
Jack Ma
This quote by the founder of Alibaba precisely sums up our quest for evolving better and more efficient technologies to tackle the challenges our future holds. Businesses in the modern world are somewhat apprehensive or slow in adopting AI technologies because of the risks and uncertainties associated with these newfound automation techniques. But if we draw a comparison between the merits and demerits of employing these technologies in routine business processes, then the advantages far outweigh the risks.
The technology industry is constantly evolving and creating new ways to overcome old problems. When people wanted to connect with each other, mobile phones were invented. Similarly, when people want to connect with businesses and other service providers through faster means and without standing in lines, chatbots have emerged as their knight in shining armour. The emergence of conversational bots have completely revolutionised the customer service departments of various organizations. According to Google Trends, interest in chatbots have significantly increased over 5 times over a period of 5 years.
Customers are undoubtedly the main focus point of any business. Chatbots in today’s digital era are the best tools a business can use to fulfill the expectations and desires of current and prospective customers. These automated bots provide a faster and more engaging way to offer on-demand customer service to help take customer experience to the next level.
Now think to yourself, would you rather put your customer’s calls on hold or provide them with quick responses anytime and from anywhere in the world?
Chatbots are moving at par with customer service representatives to identify leads at the right time, reduce cost, give more prompt replies anytime of the day and drive conversions. Let’s look at the top benefits that a chatbot can offer to any business as a modern alternative to conventional customer service representatives.
Increased engagement
A chatbot software is designed in such a way that it can connect and engage with multiple customers at once. Businesses can use it to their advantage as chatbots are accessible 365 days a year, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Customers can easily get their queries sorted by getting instant replies from a customer service representative that never sleeps.
Data collection and analysis
Chatbot is a great tool that understands all the needs and preferences of customers by seamlessly gathering customer data in a convenient and reliable way. In order to carefully offer personalised suggestions, chatbots gather data from the customers, analyse it and make necessary inferences to recommend suitable products and services to make customer experience more enjoyable and hassle-free.
Cost optimization
Chatbots significantly help in reduction of customer service staff. There is no doubt in saying that if this smart technology automates business processes in an efficient and cost-effective manner, then there is less need for physical manpower.This leads to cost optimization as they help in reducing recurrent expenses which makes the automation process simpler and customer experience better.
Identification of leads
Another advantage of using a chatbot is that it helps businesses to effectively identify leads in time to act upon them and turn them to successful conversions. This automation tool directs customers through every stage of a sales funnel and makes the entire conversational process more engaging and effective.
A friendly guide who never gets bored
WhatsApp chatbots are like a friend who never gets bored of repetitive questions or requests and patiently answers every query till their friend, the customer, is fully satisfied. Like a normal customer service representative, a chatbot will never ask for increments nor will it ever feel demotivated or get diverted from its work. Chatbots continue to work with the same speed, efficiency, and cost.
Digital technology and Artificial Intelligence are strong forces that are shaping the future of businesses in the times to come. With evolving time, the needs and expectations of customers have also changed considerably. In this age, conforming with these changing preferences is more important for businesses than it has ever been. In this view, chatbots are a very effective and efficient alternative to traditional customer service representatives when it comes to driving revenue, leads, conversions, brand image and loyalty of customers.